Behold the pleasing geometry of fine cheese. I shot a whole bunch of photos at the Cocktails and Curds booze-and-cheese pairing competition at La Thai on Prytania Street in New Orleans, with the help of the rightfully beloved St James Cheese Company next door. My Simon’s Rock friend Laura Byrne competed, pairing her English Beat concoction with Jasper Hill cheddar.
Other bartenders created cocktails using such ingredients as infused beet liquor, mushroom brine, and lava salt, paired with everything from Greek-style Chevre to one delightfully stinky blue, Mycella. The ultimate $1000 winner was Jennifer Rogers with her Montresor concoction, based partially on Cava and rimmed with aforementioned black lava salt.
What I like best about New Orleans? An event like this was carried off casually and with no pretension, and everyone was actually having fun rather than attempting to out-hipster one another. I call it a success. Also, why I want to move back here very, very badly.
Oh, yum! Sigh. Not to mention the fantastic farmers markets. Turns out that we’ll be joining you on that side of the planet a little sooner than we had expected. Not sure where we’re going to land quite yet, but we’ll certainly be at least tripping down to NOLA sooner rather than later.