Welcome back. I celebrated my birthday this past week, and had a couple of wonderful culinary adventures (one of which you’ll be reading about soon) at The Midwesterner. I ate my first gazpacho of the season and took part in some socially distant outdoor meals. I hope you’re healthy, are avoiding power outages and able to relax. Now, let’s take virtual trip down South.
In New Orleans And Nashville, Twin Disasters Mean Pivoting
The first time I walked into Coutelier in New Orleans in 2016, I felt as excited as Holly Golightly in Tiffany’s.
I’d heard about this unique, chef-run cutlery store from friends and read about it in food magazines. I was already familiar with Oak Street in Uptown, where a number of businesses moved after Hurricane Katrina, while some had always been there.
In Coutelier, I discovered a candy store for people who love to cook, whether professionally or in their own kitchens.
The centerpiece is a vast selection of knives, many of them from Japan, where I’ve lived. Meanwhile, there are shelves loaded with books and goodies, and pegboards with numerous kitchen accessories.
Best of all are the owners, Jacqueline Blanchard and Brandt Cox, who met while cooking together at August, one of the city’s most elegant restaurants.
After half an hour chatting with them, I felt like I had made new friends. I’ve gone back on every trip, and I was excited when they opened a sister shop in Nashville, another town I love to visit.
This year should have been a time to celebrate for Coutelier. The original store just marked its fifth anniversary, a huge milestone. According to the Small Business Administration, four out of five small businesses close before they turn five years old.
The Nashville store, meanwhile, was marking its second year, and attracting a loyal group of customers to an evolving side of town.
Then, in March, the world turned upside down — literally, in the case of the Nashville store.
An ill wind blows through
Late on the night of March 2, I watched with growing dread as severe storms bore down on Nashville. “I hope Coutelier will be okay,” I thought before I went to bed.
It wasn’t. A tornado tore the roof off the store and the interior flooded. Jacqueline says they still felt fortunate: no one was hurt, and the damage could be repaired. “Everyone around us was leveled,” she recalls.
But that wasn’t Coutelier’s only problem.
The COVID-19 pandemic swiftly followed. The New Orleans store closed to customers, and Nashville would have closed as well if it already wasn’t out of commission.
“It wasn’t a great start to the year for us,” she says.
Like restaurants and retailers all over the United States, Jacqueline and Brandt were forced to pivot. But pivot to what?
They had prided themselves on personal service in knife sales — an increasingly rare specialty.
While you can buy knives at Macy’s and Williams-Sonoma, there are only a handful of shops across the country that focus primarily on them, such as Northwestern Cutlery in Chicago, which will soon move from its longtime West Loop location.
When I went into Coutelier, I was able to hold knives in my hand until I found a brand that seemed most comfortable. For me, it’s Tojiro, made in Nigata, Japan, but I might not have known that if I hadn’t been able to weigh each brand, and gotten their advice on its pros and cons.
But with that practice off limits during the pandemic, Jacqueline says she and Brandt doubled down on being available to customers. On their social media, they stressed that shoppers should call if they had any questions, and spent hours simply chatting with shoppers.
“People get bored. They’re cooking the same things over and over again, myself included. It was an awesome opportunity to showcase some ideas: if you’re stuck at home, try this.”
Meanwhile, they scoured their lineup to see what other products might be marketable on its website, which was now Coutelier’s primary source of commerce.
Expanding the lineup
The solutions: cookbooks, and a pantry section.
Coutelier has always sold a limited number of books and some upscale culinary magazines, but now, many more joined their lineup. Their timing was sadly fortunate.
In 2019, Kitchen Witch, a perennial favorite among cookbook lovers, closed its doors. It was long a first stop in New Orleans by shoppers looking for a new or vintage cookbook. But with Kitchen Witch gone, Coutelier had an opening.
Jacqueline began to stock more vintage cookbooks, including titles by Edna Lewis, and the Dooky Chase Cookbook featured in last week’s CulinaryWoman Newsletter.
Beyond that, Coutelier’s gourmet audience was perfect for interesting food items, which Coutelier previously carried in small numbers, like the cane syrup produced by Charles Poirier, or sugar cubes meant to be used in sazaracs, a favorite local cocktail.
Now, Coutelier’s website abounds with fascinating titles, and intriguing food stuffs such as condiments and snacks. Jacqueline also created packages with kitchen tools, like pasta tools sold with a pasta cookbook, and bread wands aimed at newly skilled sourdough bakers.
The Web business has been so strong that it’s like the Christmas season every day. Before COVID-19, about a dozen packages went out the door on a daily basis. Now, Jacqueline estimates it’s 30 to 50 boxes.
She’s learned one key lesson: “You have to separate yourself from Amazon and the way Amazon does things,” she says. Consumers have gotten used to the e-commerce giant’s promise of two-day delivery, and Coutelier simply can’t match that speed.
“Hey, we’re under a global pandemic, it’s going to take a couple more days,” she says.
And, website photography, which she does herself, has to look more accurate, so customers have a clear picture of what will arrive on their doorstep.
An escape from the kitchen
For her and Brandt, the shift to retail was an unexpected detour from their culinary careers. They’d actually left New Orleans, and were cooking in San Francisco when they began exploring the idea of a cutlery store.
The cheapest place to do so seemed to be back in Louisiana, Jacqueline’s home state (Brandt grew up in Oxford, Mississippi, about a seven-hour drive away).
Looking back now, their initial investment seems remarkably small — only $18,000, versus the hundreds of thousands it can cost to get a decent restaurant up and running. With such a tiny shop, and so little money to play with, she did not keep much inventory on hand.
In the beginning, “I sold one knife, I bought two knives. I sold two knives, I bought four knives,” she says.
Neither of them knew anything about retail, but they were ready for a change from long days in restaurant kitchens, where Jacqueline had spent 16 years.
“You kind of get to the point where your body gives up, even though you want to keep plugging along,” she says. “My energy sort of shifted. I hated that feeling. I never thought it would be me.”
Initially, their culinary friends were their customers, and they continue to have strong ties to the New Orleans restaurant scene. One feature of the store is a jobs board, listing places that are looking for staff.
But they now have such a strong fan base that shoppers drive from as far away as Indiana, Kentucky and Texas just to visit them.
Recently, a woman customer came over from Melbourne, Florida, just to buy knives. “I said, ‘that’s awesome, thank you so much,’” Jacqueline says.
Jacqueline says business in New Orleans actually rose 10 percent in June versus June 2019. However, Nashville is off by about 50 percent from 2019, although it is breaking even.
With both shops back open, Jacqueline says the immediate focus is on making sure all her customers feel as welcome.
“We know there’s a lot to navigate,” she says. “It’s a massive way to say that brick and mortar hasn’t died.”
She recalls a recent text from her father, who wrote, “I see you in your little shop, you’re kicking ass, and taking names. I’m so proud.”
And you can’t blame him: she’s beaten a tornado and she’s battling a pandemic.
A gift for CulinaryWoman readers
Jacqueline and Brandt are offering you this special deal. Enter the code BLADIES2020 to receive 10% off at the Coutelier website. Or go visit them, if you’re in New Orleans or Nashville, and use the code on your in-person purchase. Give them my love!
A cookbook from the Middle East
By Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley
Those of us who love Middle Eastern food often wind up dining on Lebanese, or Israeli, or Syrian dishes. But Palestinians deserve a place at the big table, too. Falastin, by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley, shines a light on an often overlooked style of Middle Eastern cuisine.
Sami has been the executive chef at Yotam Ottolenghi’s London restaurants, and he’s also the co-author with Ottolenghi of Jerusalem, the well-received cookbook that came out in 2012. I read that cookbook like it was a novel, so I was excited to come across Falastin.
As Sami explains, Palestinian cooking gets its influences from many different cultures. It also relies on the ingredients most readily at hand, which in modern times are often vegetarian, although there are a number of meat dishes, such as Chicken Musakhan, which Sami grew up eating. Here’s a historical view of Palestinian cuisine, in case you’d like to understand its roots
The link for this book goes to Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, Mich., a shop that’s been incredibly kind to me ever since my first book was published 25 years ago. I hope you’ll patronize Nicola’s or another independent book seller (including Coutelier), because all these small places need your business.
CulinaryWoman of the Week
Ann Maloney is a quiet voice in the culinary world. She’s an ultimate professional who loves her job and does it well.
Ann is the recipes editor at the Washington Post, and she has been with the New York Times group, but I met her when she was part of the food team at her home town New Orleans Times-Picayune.
I knew its restaurant critic, Brett Anderson, and food writer extraordinaire, Todd Price, and I was eager meet the female member of the group, aka the Julie Barnes of this culinary Mod Squad.
Ann and I got to be friends first on social media through Where Nola Eats, an extraordinary Facebook group that was a highlight of the Times-Picayune’s food coverage.
Along with her humor and kindness, Ann was indefatigable, scouring New Orleans for the best St. Joseph’s Day altars, and asking readers to share their tips on home cooking which she then turned into lively and informative round ups.
We finally met in person over lunch at Susan Spicer’s Bayona, and Ann invited me to her charming house afterwards to join a judging team that was sampling King Cake ice cream. We’ve been pals ever since.
After a brief stop at the New Orleans Advocate, which took over the Times-Picayune last year, Ann wound up at the Post, which is extraordinarily lucky to have her.
She’s already brought fresh zing and some New Orleans flair to the Post’s recipe section, and you just know that more fun ideas are in store.
It’s worth subscribing to the paper just to see what their food section is up to.
I’m delighted to name Ann Maloney as our CulinaryWoman of the Week. Bon temps are rolling in D.C.
The best First Lady with a heck of a cookie recipe
On this day, in 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned. Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president, and Betty Ford became First Lady. My parents knew the Fords (my mother grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Fords’ hometown) and I am so glad I got to meet them.
Last Thanksgiving, The Takeout assigned me a story on unusual things that First Ladies served at White House celebrations. I got in touch with Susan Ford to see if she’d share one of her mum’s recipes. Back came this one, for double chocolate cookies.
They’re very rich, and they help you understand why the Fords were so sporty - they needed to burn off the calories from these cookies. Bake some in honor of our best First Lady - a tireless supporter of the ERA, who helped thousands of people achieve recovery. And, remember a good president, too.
Recommend us to your friends and networks!
Are there some culinary people you’d like me to talk with, or are you spotting trends I should know about? I’d love to hear directly from you. Email me at mamayn@aol.com.
Follow CulinaryWoman on Twitter @culinarywoman. I’m also @michelinemaynard on Instagram. If you let me know you’re a newsletter subscriber, I’ll be happy to follow you back. Thanks to those who have!
Feel free to share this newsletter with your friends and networks. Stay healthy, wear a mask, and see you next Sunday.