La Boulangerie

Yesterday morning Nicole and I went to La Boulangerie (4526 Magazine). "Boulangerie" is a French word. It means bakery. La Boulangerie is a French bakery.

And it's every great thing you would want in a French bakery--a real Frenchmen who knows his dough and produces fantastic baked goods in a charming setting. The muffins have moist interiors, and the danishes have delicate crusts. The coffee's good, too. Like St. James Cheese, La Boulangerie is primarily a specialty shop with some seating. They sell all variety of breads and desserts as well as pastries. And it's simply excellent.

Once I was in line there, and I overhead a conversation between two ladies ahead of me. The first said she was from New York city and that La Boulangerie was better than some of the best bakeries there. That's how good it is! Of course, I'm hesitant to let this cat of out bag. I wouldn't want the place to become so busy that it's not practical to stroll in and enjoy my cherry danish and large coffee. Thank god no one's reading this blog!

The only meat they serve is in ham and cheese croissants or one variety of their mini-pizzas. (Usually, mini-pizza's turn me off, but theirs are good.)

My rating: A horn of plenty worth 3 tomatoes.

St. James Cheese Company

Last night, I took Nicole to the St. James Cheese Company for Valentine's. St. James is a cheese shop, recently opened by Richard and Danielle Sutton. Before returning to New Orleans, Richard managed Britain's oldest cheese shop, supplying cheese to the royal family, among others. Suffice to say, they know cheese. So we were really excited to there, and it didn't disappoint us.

After tasting some generous samples, we ordered a seven cheese board. While the cheese was prepared, I went next door to the Wine Seller and got a bottle of Coq du Rhone. After providing us with glasses, out came the lovely cheese board and baguettes, garnished with grapes and honey-drizzled walnuts. My favorites were the Cambozola, a Camembert-Gorgonzola hybrid, and Durrass, an Irish cheese. (One clerk, a friendly Brit, corrected my pronunciation of the latter, instructing me that it doesn't rhyme with "ass.") Well, it was delicious, and though I'd intended it as a snack, it was so satisfying we skipped dinner. (And most importantly, Nicole was very happy this Valentine's Day.) On top of all of that, it was a real bargain, less than $20.

St. James is primarily a specialty shop, though they do serve sandwiches and salads until 3 pm. My only complaint as a vegetarian was that all of their sandwiches featured some of the cured meats they sell. I love my own grilled cheese sandwiches--I've got have one of those crazy, Prince-Charles grilled cheeses! Come on, St. James, make it for me!

My rating:



A horn of plenty meriting 3 tomatoes.