Perfect Picnic Picks in Faubourg St. John

While it's not quite as cool as we'd like it to be yet, we have gotten a little break from the sweltering heat of the summer.  With that ever so slight breath of fall weather comes the perfect time to have a picnic.  And we just happen to live and work in a neighborhood that has great little spots to pull out the blanket, pop open your favorite bottle, add a little cheese and salami and you are set!

Fortier Park

My favorite spots include the tables in Fortier Park (across the street from the shop).  The tables double as chess boards so you can play a leisurely game while you sip on some wine.

Banks of Bayou St. John

Bayou Saint John has many wide green spaces to throw down a blanket but I particularly like the spot by the Cabrini walking bridge under the big oak tree.



City Park offers so many secluded, hidden nooks or more populated spaces for great people watching.  I personally love the area under the old, sprawling oak tree with the huge wind chimes near the big lake.  The sounds coming from those giant chimes automatically put you in a serene, relaxed state while having lots to occupy the rest of your senses as you can watch the boats on the lake and walkers on the path or feed the ducks some of your bread.


And of course we have everything you need at the shop for you outing.  Perfect sparkling picnic wines like the Avissi Prosecco ($14.99) or Ca de Medici Lambrusco ($12.99) go great with cheese and are a festive, inexpensive way to start your feast.  Refreshing palate cleansing whites like the 2010 Frisk Prickly Dry Riesling ($9.99) the 2010 Domaine Pichot Vouvray ($17.50) or the 2010 Taburno Falanghina ($17.99) are a joy with cheese and antipasti and just plain fun to drink.  Lighter style reds like the 2010 Terre Nere Etna Rosso ($18.50), the 2010 Pierre Chermette Beaujolais ($15.99) or the 2009 Tilia Bonarda ($9.99) have enough fruit and weight to accompany both your meats and cheeses.

Now onto the what you can fill that picnic basket with...a nice rotating selection of artisan cheese from St. James Cheese are freshly restocked weekly. Our best sellers include the triple cream wonder Brillat Savarin, the nutty almost butterscotchy Prima Donna Aged Gouda, the crumbly, tangy goats milk Miticana, the semi-soft, buttery Appalachian and of course the ever popular sheeps milk Manchego.  We usually hand select 12-15 cheeses per week to fill the cooler and sample on our cheese plates at the bar.

Cured meats like Columbus Cacciatore Salami, Palacios Chorizo, Creminelli Sopresatta or maybe you'd like to try the new to-die-for house made duck pastrami from St. James or their house made country style pate?  And since pate is not complete with cornichon, we have those and a selection of olives, pesto, crackers and fresh Boulangerie breads Thursday-Saturday.  And we are crossing our fingers that very soon Cheryl Scripter will have her new location of Bittersweet Confections up and running so we can restock our chocolates.

So what are you waiting for?   Come over pick up your picnic accouterments, grab a blanket and enjoy this weather while we can!  Need a few cups or napkins?  Want to pair a specific wine and cheese? Just ask, we'll do whatever we can to help you have the perfect picnic!

Go Native, Indigenous Varieties for Adventurous Palates

Our "Go Native" Tastings have always been a hit in the shop and we're taking this one to another level as we pair these obscure grapes with cheeses from their same regions.  And what better portfolio to raid for this tasting than that of Matt Lirette, our local go to guy for European wacky varietals.   On Tuesday, August 10, Greg Knapps, former sommelier of Stella!, who now works with Matt, will present 5 wines from Italy, Spain and France focusing on indigenous and sometimes little known varieties and the eco-systems they thrive in.  And Ron is  working with our friends over at St. James Cheese to find new cheeses to pair with from the same regions for our "Go Native"  cheese plate.  The tasting is $12 and reservations and prepayment are required and please let us know if you'd like to reserve a cheese plate for $12 as well.  Please call 504.304.0635 for reservations.

Here's a preview of what we'll be serving:

France's Loire Valley

The Cheese:  Selle Sur Cher - Like many goat cheeses from the Loire Valley, the outside of Selle-sur-Cher is coated in edible ash. The ash is flavorless but adds a stunning visual contrast against the stark white goat cheese.  Sweet, nutty, and peppery with mildly tangy acidity. The texture varies depending on ripeness, but it is typically dense and chewy.  

The Wine:  2008 Jacky Preys Cuvee Fie Gris - Before there was Sauvignon Blanc, the storytellers and wine historians say, there was Fie Gris. The believed “mother” of the white grape that produces some of the most lively wines in the world, Preys Fie Gris is made from ancient pre-phylloxera vines, some more than 100 years old.  It delivers all the delightful and racy mineral energy one finds in the best Sancerre and Pouilly Fume, but with a flavorful complexity that even the top wines can only hope to match.   

From Northern Spain

The Cheese:  Galician Tetilla cheese is made from milk from herds of cows in the area, basically Friesians, Alpine Browns and Rubia Gallega.  Its flavour is creamy and slightly salty, its texture is fine and its colour yellowish ivory, although undoubtedly its greatest characteristic is the peculiar breast-like shape that gives it its name (tetilla means small breast). 

The Wine:  2008 Descendientes de Jose Palacios Petalos del Bierzo, WA 90 pts.  From steep hillside vineyards ranging in age from 60-100 years planted with Mencia, the indigenous grape of cool-climate Bierzo. The vineyards are biodynamically farmed and the wines are bottled without fining or filtration.  Beautiful nose of lavender, incense, spice box, black cherry, and cranberry, with nice weight on the palate, intensity, and layered fruit.  

Southern Italy

The Cheese:  Burrata is one of the most sought after cheeses in the world today and restaurants and consumers have gone burrata crazy! From the Puglia region of Italy, the heel of the boot, came this incredibly deliciously creamy cheese created in the 1920s in the town of Andria.  For the uninitiated, the cheese looks like a ball of fresh mozzarella with a tiny topknot. But cut into it and the center, a tangy core of cream and stracciatella ("little rags") of mozzarella curds, oozes onto the plate.  Sweet, creamy, lusciously and delicately textured it is irresistible. 

The Wine:  2009 Torre Quarto Rosato - This juicy rosato from Puglia combines the great spice of Primitivo with the fruit and flesh of Uva di Troia.  Weighty with good structure with succulent red berries cherries and roses with a touch of pepper on the finish. 

Northern Italy

The Cheese: Fontina Val d'Aosta - Reflecting its origins in the high, Alpine slopes, Fontina is actually an Italian cousin to the French Gruyère.  Raw milk is sourced from cows that graze 6,500 feet up on foothill pastures to make this rustic cheese with grassy, sometime truffly aromas. The dense, semi-soft paste has small openings, and is made from pressed, lightly cooked curds. After several months of brushing, washing, and oiling in the caves, a burnished, crusty rind protects a pale golden interior. The uniquely rich flavor is subtly fruity, earthy, mushroomy, and woody, and pairs great with roast meats and truffles. 

The Wine:  2007 Mayr-Nusser "Elda" Schiava - A delicate and summery red wine from a tiny producers whose estate is virtually inside the beautiful city of Bolzano. Smoky, red berries with a hint of fig and citrus notes, a deliciously interesting made from 100% Schiava.  

Abruzzo, Italy

The Cheese: Ok, this was a tough one as we could not find a cheese from Abruzzo to pair with this so we decided to go with the producer's recommendation of a blue cheese. We went a little further north in Italy for the Toma Blu, a mountain cheese  made from pasteurized cow's milk. This is a blue-veined toma that has been seasoned for two months on wooden planks, followed by an extended aging period in oak barriques filled with aromatic herbs and hay. This cheese has bold earthy and herbal flavors combined with a pleasant spiciness. The finish is long and pleasant,with woodsy notes. 

The Wine:  2007 Ciavolich PECORINO Colline Pescaresi “Aries” - Not the cheese but rather the wine! This Pecorino is certainly a wine experience. This small production white from Abruzzo is rich and full bodied with a deep golden yellow color. Soft and structured with elegant floral notes, hazelnuts and peach. The texture is velvety with a honey flavor; full and harmonious.The Ciavolich family has been cultivating the land between Chieti and Pescara in Abruzzo since 1853.

A Salute to Excellence

That handsome guy sporting his Saints black and gold is our very own Ron Dietrich at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago last month. While he was there hobnobbing and networking, he received a "Salute to Excellence" award that recognizes and celebrates the future leaders of the industry. Ron will be graduating this fall from the University of New Orleans with a Business degree in the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism program where he also served as student president of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. We're really proud of him and his achievements so congratulate him next time you see him in the shop!

And besides helping me with the wine buying, managing the bar and all of the other demanding duties that come with being the only guy in the shop, Ron's new unofficial title is the "cheese guy" with his first responsibility being that of selecting and designing our new cheese plate. So, check out this month's "Ron's Pick" featuring 4 new cheeses with some great accoutrements!