Story by Lynn Grisard Fullman

A freckle-faced Christopher Conover never tires of driving in the morning's darkness to reach Beau Rivage, where he works as the resort's only master coffee roaster.

On Conover's office door is a Sir James MacKintosh quote that fuels him as he roasts pound after pound of coffee beans for guests of the resort and casino on the Mississippi Coast.

A couple of centuries ago, MacKintosh, a Scottish author and statesman, observed, "The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional to the quality of the coffee he drinks."

"I am insanely passionate about coffee," confesses Conover, a Florida native who takes his life's work seriously.

Single-handedly roasting 10,000 to 15,000 pounds of coffee beans a month for Beau Rivage's visitors, Conover has grown accustomed to seeing people smelling packets of his coffee, ordering lattes and espressos, asking questions, buying coffee paraphernalia such as French presses and home roasters and sitting quietly as they sip the fruits of his labors.

"I think a lot of people don't expect to find that we roast all our own coffee," observes Conover, who makes his selections after roasting small samples of beans furnished by suppliers.

He does his tastings in his small and cluttered office just off the main lobby of Beau Rivage, which has 1,740 guest rooms and 12 restaurants.

"Roasting our own beans is quality assurance; this way we know how old the coffee is," explains Conover who worked a three-year apprenticeship to learn the intricacies of the roasting business.

These days, Conover is often found standing alongside a shiny brass roaster where buckets of beans, just scooped from hemp or burlap bags, are poured into a hopper, then tumbled and heated in a drum that reaches some 400 degrees.

Conover monitors the beans' temperature, smells the beans as they roast, observes their changing colors, and listens for crackling sounds. "You don't want them to roast too fast or too slow," he explains, yanking a lever that allows just-roasted beans to tumble into a revolving cooling bin. Once the beans land, Conover, almost with affection, stirs and pokes.

Passersby often pause outside plateglass windows to watch Conover at work and to discover the source of the tempting aromas that waft through the resort's main level.

Many watch, then are lured into the adjacent coffee shop, The Roasted Bean, to order a cupful or to purchase a bagful.

The roasted beans are just a beginning. From there, Conover adds flavors to some batches, choosing from options such as chocolate-covered bananas, German chocolate cake, berry, apple pie, bananas Foster, dreamin' orange, hazelnut, and pumpkin spices. "By roasting our own coffee, we can guarantee freshness and maintain quality control," Conover explains, offering a handful of the just-roasted beans. "Smells good, doesn't it?" he asks, adding that Beau Rivage "is the only casino in the area that roasts its own coffee."

Conover, who also bags, packages and delivers Beau Rivage's coffee, is a selfconfessed "whole roasting plant by myself."

Freshness is the key for the coffee which stays warehoused no more than three days before being brewed.

"It just makes sense."

"Roasting our own beans shows how much we strive to be the best of the best," Conover observes.

Crowds have been known to gather when tables grow hot in the casino at Beau Rivage in Biloxi.

Few people, however, take notice when the ovens heat up at the Mississippi Coast resort where a pastry kitchen staff produces desserts worthy of the finest bakeries.

Eleven and 12-hour days are the norm for the resort's Executive Pastry Chef, Eric Bilodeau, who oversees a 23-person crew that is always stirring, blending, baking, filling, icing, sculpting and plating.

While slots jingle and dice roll just out of sight, the pastry makers work around the clock to supply the resort's dozen restaurants and to feed banquet-size crowds that usually range from 450 to 800 people.

The work never stops and the ovens never cool. Although the routine varies based on the crowds, without fail a night shift turns out pastries-Danish, croissants and éclairs among them-for the next morning's breakfast.

And then come the day workers who, for starters, produce cheesecakes, rice pudding, bread pudding, macaroons, Key lime pie, and pecan pie.

"The key is to be ready in advance," explains Bilodeau, who was born in New York and raised in Europe and Canada.

Bilodeau's 23 years of experience date to when he was a teen in France and watched a pastry chef create a parrot from sugar.

"I knew right then I had found what I wanted to do," says the 37-year-old Bilodeau, who lived and cooked in eight countries before taking over the helm of Beau Rivage's pastry kitchen in fall 2002.

"I have traveled a lot and I have experienced a lot which opens your mind," the leader of the sweets gang observes when explaining the diversity and intricacy of pastries served at the resort.

As slot machines spew out coins, pastry chefs turn out brownies, cakes, pies, éclairs, fruit tarts, chocolatedipped strawberries, mousse, candy, praline, chocolate butterflies and, on occasion, blown-sugar pieces that can take hours to create. Bilodeau recently spent one hour on a sugar dolphin which easily might have taken a less experienced chef eight hours to create.

"The technique is like working with glass," explains Bilodeau, who began his apprenticeship in Bordeaux, France, his mother's homeland. He later worked in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, where he owned a restaurant for several years.

For VIPs at Beau Rivage, Bilodeau and his team often labor over blownsugar creations-such as red roses and white roses-with the key being working with sugar at the correct temperature of 60 to 80 degrees.

You soon learn to "do it right or do it again," the pastry guru muses, adding that because of the time involved "not a lot of pastry chefs work sugar."

The sugary creations are not merely tossed onto empty plates. Instead, they are pleasingly displayed.

"You eat first with your eyes; that's why presentation is very important," observes Bilodeau, who has been known to whip out tropical fish and seaweed, all made from sugar and both winners in last year's (2003) Mississippi Gulf Coast chefs' competition. Bilodeau and assistant John Lacroix won gold, silver and bronze medals for their art.

"Working with sugar is not complicated. The key is patience and constant practice," Bilodeau notes. "People love to eat at Beau Rivage and they love to eat sweets."

"When guests come here, they expect the best and that's what they get."

Coffee and Pastry Recipes
Coffee Nudge	Beau Rivage Latte	Mississippi Mud Diverted