WHITE CASTLE — Nottoway is hiring. Less than two months after a devastating fire reduced the South’s largest antebellum mansion to a smoldering memory, there is still no cause to the fire that the feds are now investigating. Yet, signs of rebirth are emerging.
Randolph’s Restaurant, once a centerpiece of fine dining on the plantation grounds, will reopen and is actively seeking staff. Executive Chef Matthew Morgan is leading the effort to revive the kitchen, calling on experienced servers and cooks to help bring the restaurant back to life.
“Nottoway is in dire need of employees to help make this restaurant succeed,” Chef Matthew wrote in a public announcement. “Any help is immensely appreciated. We want Nottoway to persevere.”
The restaurant is now accepting reservations, and guided tours have resumed for $15 per person. Despite the ash and uncertainty, a determined community is working to restore what it can—and redefine what Nottoway will mean in this next chapter.
MORE FROM UWK: “I tried to show both sides” | Beloved Nottoway tour guide reckons with the complicated legacy of the South’s largest plantation
Nottoway Plantation + Randolph’s Restaurant | A new beginning
As Randolph’s Restaurant prepares to reopen, some see it not just as a return to fine dining—but as a quiet tribute to the man who made food a bridge between the past and present. Johnny “Jambalaya” Percle elevated cuisine into a unifying force, blending bold Creole flavors with warm hospitality and open dialogue.
The hum of the kitchen, the laughter of guests, the clinking of plates—it was all part of the symphony he orchestrated. Today’s efforts to rebuild the restaurant are built on the very spirit Johnny instilled in the place: resilience, reconciliation, and the belief that food can heal what history broke.
On May 15, 2025, flames consumed one of the South’s most iconic antebellum mansions. But in the embers of this devastation, a deeper story emerges—one of reconciliation, healing, and the complex beauty that can rise from pain. At the heart of that story is Johnny “Jambalaya” Percle and his family, who were a big part of transforming Nottoway into more than a symbol of oppression but a place where people of all backgrounds gathered in peace.
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“I hold both truths” | A Place Built on Contradictions
Nottoway Plantation, completed in 1859 by well-known sugar planter, John Randolph, was the largest surviving antebellum mansion in the South. With 64 rooms and soaring white columns, the estate loomed over acres of rich farmland along the Mississippi River. In 1860, Randolph enslaved 155 people who lived in 42 cabins and toiled in his sugar fields.
Despite this painful legacy, in the modern era, Nottoway evolved into a venue for weddings, concerts, and lavish celebrations. The White Ballroom, where brides posed in elegant gowns against all-white walls, became one of its most photographed spaces. And yet, that very splendor was rooted in exploitation.
Mandy Percle Broussard, daughter of two longtime Nottoway employees, knows that contradiction intimately.
“I hold both truths: that Nottoway is a thread in the fabric of my family story and a monument to injustice,” Broussard said.
“He loved serving people” | The Light Inside the Mansion
For nearly 20 years, Chef Johnny Percle served as the heart and soul of Nottoway’s culinary and cultural experience. Known affectionately as “Johnny Jambalaya,” his signature Louisiana cooking attracted tourists from around the globe, helping generate millions annually for the local economy. But his impact was more than economic—it was deeply human.
“He loved people. He loved serving people, but he still had those hard conversations. And I admired that about him. I still do,” Mandy said, emotionally. “He was a safe place.”
Working side-by-side with his wife Terry, who served as Nottoway’s food and beverage director, the couple turned a symbol of division into one of unity. Together, they not only brought in high-profile events and renowned musicians like Dr. John, but also created an environment where a diverse staff felt seen, heard, and respected.
“My father knew the complexities of working at a plantation-turned-resort, and he never ignored the racial undercurrents. He never sugar-coated it,” Mandy said. “But in his own way, he brought people together with what he knew could do that—food, music, and people.”
“We can’t whitewash it” | Childhood on the Grounds of Contradiction
Mandy and her brother grew up with Nottoway in their backyard—literally and figuratively.
“We lived in Plaquemine, which was adjacent to White Castle, and my dad was the executive chef there, and my mom was the food and beverage director,” she explained. “So they worked holidays and nights and weekends, and we spent a good bit of time there too, just lots of memories on those grounds and in that house.”
As a child, she admired the grand White Room, the haunting painting with eyes that seemed to follow you, and the music room with its handmade rug and antique harp.
“As a kid, I didn’t realize how special it was… it was just part of our lives.”
Over time, however, Mandy came to understand the full weight of the plantation’s history—learning from her parents, from black friends’ stories, and from her own evolving perspective.
“We can’t whitewash it. We can’t talk about the weddings without mentioning the devastating history and past,” she said.
Broussard admits, while acknowledging the past, she still mourns the plantation for all the beauty it brought to her life and the joy it brought to those who came to experience it. Since the building has burned down, many people have taken to social media with their fond memories.
“I recently got married at Nottoway Plantation, and we had the most amazing experience!!”
“Nottoway is a BEAUTIFUL venue. I loved having my wedding and reception here.”
Nottoway Plantation Fire May 15, 2025 White Castle, Louisiana Nottoway Plantation Fire May 15, 2025 White Castle, Louisiana Nottoway Plantation Fire May 15, 2025 White Castle, Louisiana Nottoway Plantation Fire May 15, 2025 White Castle, Louisiana Nottoway Plantation Fire May 15, 2025 White Castle, Louisiana
“It was part of my story” | Ashes and Ambivalence
The fire that destroyed Nottoway brought an outpouring of grief and conflicting emotions. Online comments ranged from lamentations about the lost beauty to renewed debates about the place of plantations in modern memory.
For Broussard, watching Nottoway burn was like mourning her father all over again.
“Losing the plantation is kind of like losing him again, which is hard. But that’s how he’s remembered, I think, by me and a lot of other people—his staff, everyone there. It was a family.”
Her recent Facebook post summed up the heartbreak and the complexity:
“Growing up—learning, unlearning—I came to recognize that the beauty I once admired stood on foundations of brutality and suffering… Now that it’s gone, I’m left holding ashes and ambivalence. It wasn’t mine to mourn, not really—but it was part of my story. And reminds me so much of my dad and what he brought there in terms of music, food, and friendship, which were his holy trinity.”
A Legacy Worth Remembering
Johnny and Terry Percle’s work at Nottoway did not erase the plantation’s past—but it did reshape its present. Through hospitality, culture, and courageous conversations, they helped transform a monument of oppression into a space where moments of dignity and humanity were possible.
“He found connection through food service and small moments,” Mandy said. “Even in a place built on oppression, he created moments of dignity and humanity. That’s who he was.”
Nottoway’s grandeur is largely gone, but its story is not. Neither is the legacy of those—like Johnny Percle—who dared to plant something beautiful in soil tainted by sorrow.
In the end, it is perhaps the fire itself that most symbolizes Nottoway’s complicated truth: a painful cleansing, a reckoning, and an opportunity to remember all of it—the horror, the healing, the grandeur and the humanity in between.
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