Entry 2 in a series on New Orleans
In 2017, we visited New Orleans and were on a giant, long walk headed back towards the city from the Garden District. We made it to St. Charles and had hoped to catch a streetcar back to town but that line does not seem to have nearly enough cars. We walked for days. We stopped in at one bar which really sucked, and left after being ignored by the bartender. Walking a little further along, we found The Avenue Pub. It looked friendly. We went in.
That visit ended up being one of my favorite stops at a bar/restaurant ever. Our beertender was delightful, the food was amazing, we sat and drank beers and talked Belgians and Brews for hours. We walked out to cooler air, and oh! A streetcar. And made it back to our hotel before the skies just parted and the city was awash.
We knew we wanted to go back. The Avenue Pub was open 365/24/7 there in the pre-pandemic days, but now is not. It was Sunday, we knew they were closed Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday we had plans, so yes please. Let's go now.
You may be surprised to learn that nothing has changed with the streetcar situation on St. Charles. Not sure what's up with that. Is there only one street car? We waited on line for a half hour and gave up and took an Uber over to the bar.
Doug started with the Failed T-shirt Company from Rally Cap Brewing in Baton Rouge. It was a wonderful Oatmeal Stout, very malty and chocolatey. Usually on a hot day I wouldn't go in for a stout right off the bat (pun intended for the brewers) but we didn't walk all the way to the pub, and it just sounded good. I was happy he ordered it, and I had a good sample of it.
By the way, I've been trying to drink less beer for my A1c lately, so I opted for a soda and vodka with lemon. I know, lame but. I'm trying to lower my numbers and I knew overall this trip was not going to help. At least Doug isn't against sharing.
I was about to order a sandwich or something more substantial than the salad when our waiter, James, came over to let us know that shortly there was going to be a Boon Brewery and a Chimay tasting, with a cheese board featuring Chimay Cheese. No need to order that sandwich, we are in. He described the cheese as "brie and cheddar had a baby" which hooked me completely, and that there would be two pieces of cheese. We thought the pieces of cheese were going to be small. But now. They were huge wedges and wonderful.
The beer "flight" for the tasting was a few ounces of the Chimay classics we call White, Red, and Blue here in the US for their label colors.
As you can see from the image below, the cheese board was amazing, the three Chimay chalices beautiful. We've had plenty of Chimay in our lives over the years. In fact, there are these same three sitting in the fridge that Doug got Geoff for Christmas this past year and he is "saving them for a special occasion." Maybe we'll get some cheese and build a board just like this.
My only complaint about this cheese board was the grapes had seeds. Other than that, this was perfect. We absolutely enjoyed every part of this, from the baby arugula, the perfectly toasted bread, the berries and walnuts. It was so perfectly done. I couldn't resist taking so many pictures of it.
The Chimay distribution rep was in house, so she came over to chat with us after I had mentioned the beer blog to James. We had a great chat about Chimay, the brewing situation in NOLA, and how Guinness has helped the craft brewing scene in Maryland.
All told, I feel like the Avenue Pub will always be a visit for us in New Orleans. Already can't wait to go back!
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