St. James Cheese Shop Plus Dessert!

Continuing with our trip to New Orleans… We had planned to take the St. Charles Street trolley line out to the Garden District to walk the neighborhood and check out the beautiful old homes.  Of course, I also had to do a little research to find somewhere that looked promising for lunch…

We decided not to have lunch in the Garden District.  Commander’s Palace is right in the middle of that neighborhood…but I was fascinated with the fact that a short trolley ride to the Uptown neighborhood would bring us to Trip Advisor’s #3 ranked restaurant/food source in New Orleans!

This is the St. James Cheese Company.  Trip Advisor shows it has 79 Excellent or Very Good reviews, 1 Average review and 0 “Zero” negative reviews…

The St. James Cheese Company is a tried and true delicatessen…but it doesn't offer the typical sandwiches that an east coast deli would offer.  This place is first and foremost a gourmet cheese store that also has a nice selection of meat.  The sandwich menu is somewhat limited but there are a number of salads available as well.  

Now this is a selection of cheeses!  There were many that I’d never heard of before… How about Abbay de Belloc, Brillat Savarin Affine, Challerhocker, Fortsonia, Garrotxa, Humboldt Fog, Piave Stravecchio or Thomasville Tomme?  All are new to me…but I’d love to taste them!

Still more cheese!  You can order cheese on-line from the St. James Cheese Company and it’s an extensive selection.  Check it out at http://www.stjamescheese.com/products#.

Let’s add some sausage and other various cured meats to the offerings… I must admit that I was tempted to order a cheese and charcuterie board instead of a sandwich...  

FYI…This is the largest selection of blue, bleu, Roquefort, Stilton and related cheeses that I’ve ever seen in one place.  This big cooler is packed with just these types of cheese!  If we lived near a store like this one, our cheese expense would be through the roof...

It was a late lunch following our walking tour of the Garden District but there was still a line at the St. James Cheese Company.  You could dine inside, street side or in this little courtyard.  The street side tables were full and the only table we could find outdoors was way back in the far corner of the courtyard.

 

It took them quite a long time to make up our sandwiches but we weren’t in a hurry… They may have misplaced our order or it came up out of order.

Dawn Marie ordered the day’s special, the St. James Cheese Company’s version of a Croque-Monsieur. ($10.95) It’s called the Croque Monster and it’s made with ham and alpine cheese on white Pullman bread topped with bruleed crème fraiche cheese sauce.  It was very good…

For her lunch Laurie ordered the “Il Mostro”. ($10.50) This creation includes spicy capicola, rosemary ham, rosa salami, provolone, pickled red onions, herb/pepperoncini mayo, lettuce, tomato on Bellegarde ciabatta.  It was a really good sandwich.  I can attest to that fact as I ‘had to’ help her finish it!

My choice for lunch was the Smokey Blue Sandwich. ($9.95) It was made with house smoked Mycella blue cheese, some very nice thin sliced roast beef, Worcestershire mayo, tomatoes and lettuce, all on toasted Wild Flour multigrain bread.  This sandwich had a lot going for it and it delivered!

Our sandwiches were all very good and if you’re ever out in the Garden or Uptown Districts of New Orleans around lunch time, you should check out the St. James Cheese Company… While it’s not the best deli we’ve ever eaten at, it is in the top 10 and it was very good indeed!  Check out their website at http://www.stjamescheese.com/.

  

When we walked from the St. Charles Trolley line stop near the St. James Cheese Company, we passed another ‘food spot’ that grabbed our attention…and we were on vacation so what the heck!

     

How about a little ice cream for dessert!?  The Creole Creamery is almost next door to the St. James Cheese Company… What a combination!

This 1950s-style ice cream parlor is located in a historic bakery in this foodie enclave of Uptown New Orleans.  This place is worshiped by locals.  The Creole Creamery’s “ice cream chef” concocts creative flavors daily, like Goat Cheese and Fig, Lemon Mascarpone, and avocado.  A local favorite is the Creole Cream Cheese ice cream. 

Since we’d just eaten, we showed a little restraint.  After tasting a couple of flavors, we each ordered a single scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone. ($3.50) The scoops were generous and the quality of the ice cream would be hard to beat!  

We have a top notch ice cream shop in Loudon Tennessee, (Tic Toc), but the Creole Creamery is even better.  In our experience, only Capannari’s Ice Cream in Mount Prospect Illinois can compare with the Creole Creamery.

Of course, both “Tic Toc” and “Campannari’s” are closed for the winter. So sad…but if you’re visiting New Orleans this winter you can still indulge by visiting The Creole Creamery.  Website: http://www.creolecreamery.com/.

It is interesting to note that the Tic Toc Ice Cream Parlor in Loudon Tennessee is owned by former residents of New Orleans! 

This is the neighborhood that both the St. James Cheese Company and The Creole Creamery are located in.  It doesn’t look like New Orleans does it?  I noticed the Thai Restaurant on the corner.  Trip Advisor lists LA Thai as the #1 Thai Restaurant in New Orleans.  This is indeed a ‘foodie’ neighborhood! 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and helping us indulge in some good food!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave