I have received several press releases that may be of interest to you, including these:
Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski have introduced a new tapas menu at Cochon Butcher. The small plate dishes bring Spanish influences to the Old-World butcher and charcuterie shop. “With so many people canceling travel plans this year, we thought it would be fun to bring a little piece of Spain back home,” said Stryjewski. “We have a small bite for every taste, and everything is made in-house.”
The tapas menu that will change frequently includes dishes like bombas (fried potato and manchego cheese), boquerones (white anchovy), sardinas (house-cured sardines), camarones (grilled shrimp), atún (fresh tuna), botifarra (garlic sausage), and four-year aged Butcher jamón. Prices for the tapas range from $3 to $18.
Special bebidas (drinks) will also be available—apertivos, vinos, digestivos, and three Spanish beers, including Naparbier Paradise Pilsner; Edge Sangria Sour, a fruit ale; and Basqueland and la Donostiarra Saison.
I like Spanish food, and I know those kids will do it well. They do everything in-house and they do it well.
In other news, Boucherie has this to offer:
Nathanial Zimet, executive chef of Boucherie, has announced he has reopened with a new menu and an expanded outdoor dining area. “We are excited to have this new enlarged outdoor dining area, giving us more room to spread out physically so we can still be together socially,” said Zimet. “We’ve also rolled out a new menu which also includes a COOLinary prix fixe menu and lots of Cajun favorites.
The outdoor dining space, hand built by Zimet and his long-time staff member Amilcar Bautista, features a permanent covering surrounded by trellises growing new evergreen wisteria vines, picnic tables and benches, as well as smaller four-top tables and purple chairs to match the vines as they bloom. The new dinner menu offers a chilled sweet corn soup, grilled hearts of romaine Caesar salad and local arugula salad to start. Small plate options include blackened shrimp and grit cake, steamed mussels, hamachi ceviche, and crispy skin duck confit. Large plates feature smoked wagyu beef brisket, whole hog pulled pork, W Black Farms wagyu skirt steak, creamed corn gnocchi, duck breast, pan seared puppy drum and applewood smoked scallops. All meats at Boucherie are smoked and cured in-house. Boucherie also offers a robust wine lists with wines available by the glass and by the bottle. Traditional New Orleans cocktails and seasonal fruit forward cocktails are served and make the perfect beverage to enjoy outdoors on the new patio.
The COOLinary prix fixe menu is available through September 12, 2020 and offers a first course choice of blackened shrimp and grit cake, Alabama style BBQ scallop or Hamachi ceviche. The second course is a choice of pan seared duck breast, whole hog pork cake or pan seared drum. Three dessert options include Krispy Kreme bread pudding, Thai chili chocolate chess pie or chocolate ganache terrine. The COOLinary menu is $39 per person. For an additional $20, a wine pairing can be added to the menu.
Where Boucherie is concerned, I am absolutely biased, as I count Nathanial as a friend and he catered my wedding. I have no issue promoting his restaurant or his food because he is wildly talented and he cares about the food he puts out.
Here’s another release from a restaurant I love, in this case G.W. Fins. They did not cater my wedding, but it is a place I have taken my wife for anniversary dinners and I believe it is one of the best restaurants in town:
GW Fins is offering one lucky person the opportunity to host an exclusive Saints Game Viewing Party in their Private Dining Room this Sunday for them and up to 20 of their friends.
Even though their dining room will be opening at 5:00pm on Sunday, they’re going to open their Private Dining Room at 2:30pm, exclusively for one lucky group to watch the Saints Season Opener in style!
They will have a big screen TV for guests to watch the game, as Executive Chef Michael Nelson creates specially prepared appetizers and cocktails ahead of kick-off. Then they’ll be serving entrees at Half Time, in order not to disturb the on-screen action … but of course cocktails and wine will be flowing throughout!
For those interested in securing GW Fins’ Private Dining Room for the ultimate Saints Home Opener, please contact Group Sales Manager, Rhegan Wollerman at 504-756-7344 or at rhegan@gwfins.com to reserve the Private Dining Room for the game.
Or, if people rather watch the Saints Game at home GW Fins has you covered there too. Guests can order their favorite Fins dishes via Delivery or Curbside Pick Up for a Saints party at home here from 2:30 – 9:00 p.m. The dining room will be open for dinner from 5-9 p.m.
If you have been paying attention you know that I am involved in the City of New Orleans’ Mass Feeding Program in my role as co-founder of Chef’s Brigade.
In the event you are not familiar, the program feeds people who need meals because of the COVID-19 virus with dishes cooked largely by local restaurants.
We started the program in the first week of July, and since then we’ve served hundreds of thousands of meals to residents of New Orleans. It has been a logistical nightmare, but that was to be expected given that the program was the first of its kind anywhere, ever.
We had growing pains for a while, but we’ve improved every week and we’re now running so smoothly that I am able to sleep every night as if I were a normal human. Perhaps some of you know what that’s like?
The program is up for renewal by FEMA. I hope that happens and that we are able to continue serving the residents of New Orleans. If you qualify for the Program, it’s not too late to sign up.
