1 of 6
Christine and Randy Boodram, owners of Bon Temps
2 of 6
Bon Temps is located in the Buford Court Commons shopping center at 8000 Buford Court in Chesterfield.
3 of 6
The dining area inside Bon Temps
4 of 6
A Lord Shorty record, along with other albums on the wall, nods to the Boodrams’ Trinidadian roots.
5 of 6
More seating inside Bon Temps
6 of 6
Spouses Randy and Christine Boodram both grew up in Piparo, a small village on the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. While their paths didn’t cross until later in life, their origin story is woven into the offerings at their new Creole-Caribbean bistro, Bon Temps. Located in the Buford Court Commons shopping center at 8000 Buford Court in Bon Air, the 60-seat restaurant is the brick-and-mortar translation of their food truck, La Bete, which launched in 2018.
The Boodrams live close to the restaurant and knew the owners of Hang Space, the now-shuttered business that previously occupied the space. They made a simple request of the proprietors: If you ever want to leave, let us know. The call came while the couple were beachside on vacation, and their answer was an immediate yes.
For the past two years, the duo have been updating the building and fleshing out their vision, with Bon Temps allowing them to operate with fewer restraints than their mobile business. “The restaurant will be notches above what we do on the food truck,” Randy says. “We’re trying to get back to cooking great food, comfort fare, and filling a void in Bon Air and the greater Richmond area.”
In the days leading up to their Feb. 13 opening, the scene inside the restaurant was a family affair — a reflection of the heart that keeps the venture pulsing. Randy and Christine’s mothers were in the kitchen with aprons on, along with Christine’s brother and cousin, prepping for the first night of service.
“We’re starting off family heavy,” Randy says.
Their mothers are the ones who introduced them, and, Christine says with a smile, “eventually, we grew to know each other.” At the time, she was attending college in Virginia, and she and Randy had a long-distance relationship before he made the move to Richmond.
Randy, who serves as chef of the operation, says his connection to the kitchen began at a young age, shaped by his curiosity, competitive nature and the Caribbean culture around him. “I started wanting to cook and do my own things from maybe 6 years old,” he says.
The youngest of three brothers, he recalls time spent outside together, catching fresh snapper and burying it in charcoal to cook it for his siblings. That memory makes its way to the menu with the fish en papillote, which arrives wrapped in banana leaves and served with garlicky potatoes and vegetables.
He also admits being just as drawn to fast food as he was to his mother’s fried snapper — a favorite to this day — and other home cooking. “Growing up in the Caribbean, KFC is huge.”
A tropical backdrop in the Bon Temps dining room
But Randy’s culinary background stretches beyond his Trinidadian roots. Raised partly in Brooklyn, New York, he says he would ditch school early to eat his way through the local bodegas and markets. His first deep foray into cooking was through Cantonese food, popular in Trinidad because of Chinese immigration to the island. That diverse history informs both the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago and that of the Boodrams’ restaurant.
“Trinidad represents and the cuisine represents hundreds of years of a true melting pot,” Randy says. “After slavery was abolished, Indian and Chinese indentured laborers came during the Revolutionary War, Gullah Geechee people [formerly enslaved people who fought for the British in the War of 1812] were freed there. So, all of those factors shaped our cuisine, and we have a little bit of all of that on our menu.”
At Bon Temps, the menu blends New Orleans-inspired Creole fare with Caribbean and Virginia influences. Starters include pimento cheese and Edwards country ham beignets, Cantonese pepper shrimp with ginger and Scotch bonnet peppers, wings dressed in sauces from Buffalo to tamarind chutney, shrimp wontons seasoned with Caribbean herbs, and a rotating aguachile (spicy seafood) appetizer.
“It happened organically,” Randy says of the menu development. “It’s the things we like to cook and eat.”
Po’boys, with options for either half or whole sandwiches, come with lightly fried Gulf shrimp or blue catfish; the menu notes the latter are delicious but invasive in the Chesapeake Bay and encourages diners to “eat ’em up.” Hot buttery blue crab rolls, a La Bete signature, will soon be available and arrive with jumbo hunks of steamed crab, brown butter and herbs on toasted brioche. Creole shrimp tacos, a Brooklyn Beef Dip with smoked prime rib, beer-battered fried chicken tacos and the La Bete Beastly Burger round out the handhelds.
Mains include shrimp and grits with blue crab gravy, heirloom pencil cob grits and sharp cheddar gratin. Boodram also dishes out two gumbos — a seafood version studded with shrimp and blue crab, and a rendition with smoked Rohan duck leg and D’Artagnan sausage — plus stewed oxtail with lentils, rice and pikliz, a spicy Haitian slaw. Steak frites are available with wagyu beef, lamb or duck.
For dessert, Bon Temps delivers banana au rhum beignets filled with rum-infused banana pudding; the Deep N’ Delicious chocolate cake; and Strawberry Dream, a light strawberry sponge cake with jam and fresh fruit.
The bar area inside Bon Temps
Inside the restaurant, a wallpapered corner bursts with tropical leaves and shades of green from chartreuse to forest. Black-canopied lights hang overhead, and pops of wicker recall the beach. Island, Creole and personal touches are visible throughout — a gold crocodile on the bar, black-and-white photographs of sugarcane fields, and records dotting the wall that speak to the Boodrams’ life together. Albums from high-energy, rhythmic calypso and soca artists including Lord Shorty are a nod to home, while a record by Father John Misty harks back to the days when Randy burned CDs for his wife.
For cocktails, sip a soursop daiquiri, a rum punch swirling in the slushy machine or an Old-Fashioned done the Trinidadian way — with good rum, Demerara sugar, lime or sour orange, and bitters. There is also a lychee martini, a margarita with cane sugar and a handful of beer options.
“Our cocktail menu is going to be super about representing the flavors we grew up with,” Christine says, “so we want to introduce a lot of flavors that people aren’t familiar with, but also simple, really good cocktails.”
The Boodrams hope to establish Bon Temps as a late-night destination, staying open until midnight on the weekends and eventually launching brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.
“What you see is kind of us, you know, a little bit of who we are, our culture,” Christine says. “I hope that our customers will see that, not only through the food, but being in the space. We’re fun, we love music, we love great food. It’s just bringing a feel, a vibe.”
Bon Temps is currently open Tuesday and Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday from 5 p.m. to midnight, Saturday from 4 p.m. to midnight, and Sunday from noon to 8 p.m.
