St. James Cheese Company

My name is Jenny and I have a problem. I am addicted to cheese. It all started at a young age with an innocent block of cheddar, but its is truly out of control now. I love goat and brie, and I even like cottage cheese. Burrata can literally bring tears of joy too my eyes. So when I'm feeling compulsions to relapse and enter cheese bliss there is only one place I go, St. James Cheese Company. Like myself, both the staff and guests here struggle with cheese addiction. Michal, my best friend from summer camp (who serendipitously went to Tulane with me and now lives in New Orleans!) is one of their best customers, and may have the worst case of cheese addiction I have ever seen. So of course, this is our favorite place to go together.

As you can tell from the menu above, this place truly is heaven for cheese lovers like me. But whether you can't live a day with out parmigiana or you really couldn't give a flying hoot what type of cheese is melted on your sandwich, you will love St. James.

It's friendly and charming in all the right ways. Surrounded by mounds of beautiful cheese, it's hard to not be happy in this light blue cafe. Not to mention their adorable balcony and courtyard seating.

You really can't go wrong with any choice at St, James. I'm usually a panini or pressed sandwich type of girl, but the meat on the hardy bread pictures above was phenomenal. So good that it made me question whether I liked it more than the sandwich below. This mozzarella panini is served with pesto and salami (and I dip mine in honey). If the prosciutto above came in the ciabatta panini below it would be perfect. And luckily the staff at St. James is incredibly friendly and always willing to accommodate all my strange requests (even a side of honey to dip my savory sandwiches in).

My all time favorite sandwich at St. James is not currently on the menu but will hopefully be back come Christmas time. The "Noel" is a baked brie pressed sandwich, served with sweet mustard and fruit chutney and of course ham. But this isn't any ham, this is warm delicious rosemary ham. I know, right?!?!?! They seriously make my wildest cheese fantasies come to life!

However, this is not Michal's favorite sandwich, and as she is a more regular customer, and has less strange taste in food, a lot of people might find her advice more helpful. Michal's go to number 1 pic is the Gruyere, really just a fancy grilled cheese made with swiss and carmalized onions on pressed multigran bread. Very simple and incredibly scrumptious. It'll make you wonder how you ever like craft singles as a kid! I usually try to order the strangest thing on the menu wherever I go, but whenever I try a bite of Michal's sandwich (as I always do) I remember why people say, "less is more."

So the next time you need your brie fix, you know where to go!

PS If there are any lactose intolerant folks reading this I'm sorry for teasing you, take a lactade and head on over to prytania, believe me it's worth it!