Lula Restaurant and Distillery

Cleopatra Queen 2017

On the first night of parades this year - a very wet first night - we ended up in the newly opened Lula Distillery and Restaurant on Saint Charles. By asking our waiter, Byron, some questions about the distillation process, we got a private tour of the distillery guided by one of the owners, Jess Bourgeois. Jess's story can also be found on the Lula web site.

The space is very big - half an event space and half the restaurant and distillery. I wish I had taken photographs... the still is behind glass and is beautifully shiny. Jess probably spent 20 minutes or so with us and walked us through the entire distillation process. I learned on his web site that he attended several courses on distillation, including one at Cornell University. Cornell is big in the wine industry, too, so I recalled fondly a course I took way back when with Dr. Smart when he came out to the Paso Robles wine country in California. I think he was visiting with UC Davis, but I honestly don't recall; it was a long time ago. I liked a trellis system about which he educated us, Smart-Dyson ballerina.

Anyway, a nice respite from the rain at the restaurant. My cucumber collins was quite refreshing. I enjoyed my Creole Slaw salad and the cheeseburger was delicious. I had the boudin egg rolls, too, which I enjoyed, but did need to use the molasses fig sauce to cover up some of the gaminess of the boudin. (Was that liver in there? I know organ meats are rich in nutrients, but I still can only really enjoy foie gras.)

The spirits have not yet been entered into competitions. I think they are still working on the formulas/recipes. The make vodka, gin and rum.

I will happily go again.

over 10,000 views!

I think I may have been used by some folks trying to up their statistics, but it's fun to think that maybe some of the people who have seen my blog have actually read and enjoyed it.

OMG - a little German Family History

Without telling me she was doing so, or even that she had the information, my mother mailed me a substantial box filled with wonderful family history. If I were to guess, I'd say a lot of it was used to create the book "Our Heritage" written/assembled/gathered by my grandparents after WWII and privately published in 1955. Much of it, is 'modern', though - being birth announcements and news paper clippings about weddings and engagements. I also have some items in German which I will need to scan and post to the German Genealogy Facebook page I use and where I find very thoughtful and kind fellow users. As I write this, I realize that much of the files my mother gave me are for my mother's maternal line, the Dommerichs and the Siedenburgs.

Louis Ferdinand Dommerich - immigrant

Reinhard Siedenburg - first generation

As I write this and think about the current immigration situation here in the United States, I reflect on the fact that these men developed wonderful careers and amassed some wealth for their families and participated in the US economy. L.F. Dommerich had a dry goods store, Oelbermann, Dommerich & Co. and R. Siedenburg was the President of the New York Cotton Exchange. They both participated significantly with New York German banks and Insurance companies. It seems perhaps I have not written about these men yet, but I wrote about the Siedenburg immigrant here. 

I seem to have reflected a bit more on the Dommerichs - examples are here and here.

Oddly, though, some of the daughters of the Siedenburg line choose to take their father's money and head back to Germany and hitch themselves to some wealthy industrialists or titles.

(Researching the spelling of LF Dommerich's partner I found the link above. I will have to contact Mr. Walter Grutchfield to see what his connection is with the dry goods store.)