The smells wafting from the Heart Mountain Hall kitchen tickled nostrils in a way most haven’t been tickled for quite some time as the Powell Medical Foundation’s Mardi Gras fundraiser finally got back on track after the in-person event was canceled the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walking into the busy kitchen well before the front doors opened to the public Saturday night for the rowdy party, the prep work was at a fever pitch and moving in unison to guitar-heavy rock and roll blasting from a boombox near the wash station. Cajun chef Ashley Robichaux’s cheeks were rosy as she stirred huge pots of grits and sunk half-ears of corn in a seasoned steam bath. She isn’t fond of being hot, which is exactly the reason she moved north to Billings.

Getting away from the humidity and the constant scorching heat of her former home in New Iberia, Louisiana — home of Tabasco producer McIlhenny Company — is just what the doctor ordered for heat intolerance caused by multiple sclerosis.

She was diagnosed with the disease 16 years ago. Doctors advised her she could be confined to a wheelchair within a year and to consider retiring and taking disability. After mourning for a short spell, she decided she wouldn’t let that be her destiny.

“I told myself I’m living to live," she said. "I’m not living to die."

But just so you’re not confused, while she can’t physically handle hot environments, she loves a fork-full of heat to eat. She’s the owner and chef at Cajun Phatty’s, the only Cajun establishment anywhere close to Powell. The Billings restaurant started as a tent at special events, eventually moving into a food truck, and now is also a small brick and mortar eatery at 2564 King Ave. in the Magic City.

She still has special ingredients flown in from New Orleans and uses her family’s secret recipes to create her dishes. They can test the tenderness of your tongue, but you had to add sauce at the Mardi Gras event to work up a sweat.

“They asked me to tone down the heat a little for the party,” she said.

Robichaux replaced Tim and Lynnae Seeley, a pharmacist and nurse twosome who not only cooked Cajun cuisine for the past 11 years of Powell Medical Foundation’s Mardi Gras event, but suggested the entire celebration as a fundraiser for the group, said Powell Medical Foundation Executive Director Amy Wells.

Tim and Lynnae were crowned king and queen for the 2023 event, a gesture to honor them for their huge contributions over the years, Wells said. Yet, it was time for them to retire from their reign in the county fair’s kitchen. Wells, a frequent customer at Cajun Phatty’s, was thrilled when she found out Ashley could bring her cuisine down to Powell to keep the tradition going for the party.

“I’m super in love with her food. She's from Louisiana, a real Cajun, and serves authentic Cajun food. When we found out that Tim and Lynnae were no longer going to cook, I knew she was the one,” Wells said, adding “She has a heart of gold and her food matches.”

Robichaux was recently honored in Yellowstone Valley Woman magazine for her “Pay What You Can Afford-Ward” days at the restaurant — a quarterly event when customers pay only what they can afford.

“I don’t care if it’s a penny,” she said in her thick accent. “If you can afford more, you can pay more. But if you can’t, you’re still welcome.”

She removes prices for her cuisine from the menu for the quarterly feasts. But she won’t even take a single penny from veterans attending the special events.

“Veterans gave me something I can't give back. But I can cook, so I feed them,” she said.

Some veterans attempt to refuse to take the free meal, but they won’t get away with it — at least not without a tongue lashing. She isn’t fond of not being able to give back what she can to men and women who have put their lives on the line for America.