The accountant/chef: ‘There are a lot more opportunities in Texas’

Roosevelt Pierre still has many ties to New Orleans.

Before he and his wife, Wendy, moved to Texas after Hurricane Katrina, Pierre worked as an accountant. He still handles tax returns for many residents of the Crescent City.

Several times a year, he returns to New Orleans to meet with clients, usually scheduling his trips around a Saints game — he is still a season ticket holder.

“Most of my clients are in New Orleans,” Pierre said. “They trust the way I do it, so old habits are hard to break.”

On those return trips, he notices the changes taking place — many of them for the better.

“I think they’re on the verge of being something better than they were before,” Pierre said. “It’s a lot of different people moving there and that’s a good thing because it diversified the economy. It diversified the population. Eventually, it will lose some of the identity.

“That’s just the way change goes.”

Also a talented chef, he opened Pierre’s Mardi Gras Cafe in Arlington to provide the dishes that were common in New Orleans. He found the pro-business climate a welcome change from back home, where getting permits was more challenging.

“If you have that entrepreneur spirit, there are a lot more opportunities in Texas,” Pierre said. “There’s a lot less red tape.”

Pierre closed his restaurant in 2012 because of issues with the building and difficulty retaining employees. He now works as a chef in a hospital and still has a catering business.

His wife, Wendy, said adjusting to her new life in Texas was hard.

Her mother and two sisters still live in New Iberia, outside New Orleans, and she goes back to visit about four times a year.

“It was hard for me,” Wendy Pierre said. “It was really, really hard for me. For me to be so far from my family, I didn’t adjust well at first. After a few times of going home, I realized it wasn’t the home I left.”

She transferred her Postal Service job from New Orleans to downtown Fort Worth.

“It’s been an adjustment, but I’m happy to be here,” Wendy Pierre said.

The Pierres’ home near Lake Pontchartrain was flooded with about 2 feet of water, but they were able to repair and sell it.

“We made out pretty well,” Roosevelt Pierre said.

The couple have made friends with most of their neighbors in Mansfield, but Pierre said he misses the sense of community back home.

“You would see people every day of your life,” Pierre said. “You would go to the grocery store. You would go to the theater. You go to the bowling alley. Then one day you scatter. There’s quite a few people you wonder what happened to them.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2015 at 11:07 AM with the headline "The accountant/chef: ‘There are a lot more opportunities in Texas’."