SLIDELL, La. (KLFY) — Chef Karlos Knott of The Cajun Saucer in Arnaudville has been named the 2025 King of Louisiana Seafood.

Knott defeated 11 other chefs to win the 18th Annual Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off held Friday at The Harbor Center in Slidell.

Knott prepared a dish he called “All Roads Lead to Arnaudville,” a Roman-style pizza with butter-poached Louisiana shrimp.

Knott, a former U.S. Army cavalry scout, developed a passion for well-crafted beer while stationed in Germany with his wife, Stephanie, and son, Cory. In 2009, the family founded Bayou

Teche Brewing in Arnaudville.

Following Louisiana’s legalization of restaurants within breweries in 2018, Knott delved into the art of Neapolitan pizza-making in a wood-fired oven. This led to the creation of Cajun Saucer, which seeks to blend Italian-style pizza with Cajun and Creole flavors.

“I grew up in Cajun country so seafood is automatically special to me. But it reminds me of growing up because we’d have seafood on all special occasions. You can have meat every other day, but seafood just means special occasions to me,” Knott said. “It’s still hasn’t sunk in that I was able to win this competition with the amazing chefs here this evening. I found myself looking around to see who won and then suddenly I realized it was me. This is amazing.”

The 2025 Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off judges included Chef Nealy Frentz, co-owner of Lola Restaurant in Covington, Damian Chapman, owner of Orlandeaux’s Cross Lake Café in Shreveport, Kim Chauvin, president and co-owner of David Chauvin’s Seafood Company in Dulac and James Fox-Smith, publisher of “Country Roads” magazine.

“Every year it gets bigger and the competition gets tougher,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “We have more and more chefs that want to participate and wear the crown as the King or Queen of Louisiana Seafood. This year’s competition was no different. After seeing all the amazing dishes prepared tonight, I am looking forward to a Louisiana reclaiming the title King of American Seafood when we are represented by Chef Karlos Knott in New Orleans in August.”

Knott will represent the state in the 21st Annual Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans Aug. 2. Also, Knott will serve as a Louisiana Ambassador for seafood for the next year.

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