Kitchen Witchery in New Orleans
EDIT: Sadly, Kitchen Witch was forced to close a couple of years ago.
There are so many reasons to visit New Orleans. The food. The architecture. Its location is in one of the most storied American states and the magnificent friendliness of its people. Little old reserved British me was saying hello and chattering away to strangers within 24 hours of landing because everyone says hello to you. One of my best chats was with a street cleaner at 6 am who told me all about the unique challenges he and his colleagues faced keeping the city clean. Another time, I listened in on the most charismatic female taxi dispatcher I have ever heard as we rode from the Quarter to the Warehouse District and my God, there was a drama script in the rough. Who wouldn't want to be addressed as 'sweet baby' in that accent? You definitely catch more flies with a little sugar. And then I met Debbie from Kitchen Witch cookbooks and had the best chat of all.
Being a book fiend, Debbie Lindsey and Philipe LaMancusa's store was my numero uno Nola destination, after chef Chris De Barr enlightened me about its existence via Facebook. Chris has cooked at the store's Taco Tuesdays. This is one of the events that make this such an amazing community-embedded business and a place of pilgrimage for cookbook squirrels. It's not just the wealth of books they have in store but the knowledge and love that Debbie and Philipe have imbued the business with. We arrived fairly early in the morning, and Debbie opened up for us, straight out of the shower, dog curled up behind the desk, and for a couple of blissful hours, we had the store, and Debbie, to ourselves. All I can do is urge you to go when and if you are in the vicinity (and I would regard a 400-mile drive as 'in the vicinity’ so good is this place) or consider using their mail order service if you are not. Either way, if you love cookbooks, get in touch with Kitchen Witch and start a dialogue. It will enrich your life immeasurably, and they really, really need your support.
I asked Debbie and Phillipe a few questions, and in return, they've given us a fabulous guide to some of the best Nola-themed books. Tales From Topographic Kitchens has never seemed a more appropriate description for a place.
How did Kitchen Witch come into being?
Philipe opened Kitchen Witch nearly 20 years ago on N. Rampart -- but high rent, poor location, and a dreadful landlord caused it to close 4 years later. Kitchen Witch remained active via limited online and phone sales, but the 5,000 books basically enjoyed a couple of years of retirement at home. Then in 2005, along came Katrina and our French Quarter apartment, and the books were unharmed. So, in October. with the city still rather "damp" and its population depleted (tourism virtually at zero)) Philipe asked (after several beers) if I wanted to open a cookbook shop. I said, "hell, no," and the next day, we looked at a space for rent, and with the world's smallest bank loan, we went into business together and opened 3 months after Katrina. So you could say that Philipe's unresolved dream of a cookbook store, beer, and me being still in a state-of-shock from Katrina--that Kitchen Witch began in full earnest. Ya, live through Katrina, and you figure what the hell...let's do this.
What is unique about your store?
Our shop is uniquely "New Orleans". We are weirder than dirt and proud of it! Seriously, there are only a handful of cook bookstores in the country. Also, we are just not your usual bookstore--music blares, twinkle Christmas lights are strung all about, wine is offered, dogs are welcomed, we love tourists and pretty much adopt them! (I can vouch for all of this!)
What inspired your love of cookbooks?
Philipe is a chef by trade, passion. Love and professional training, and culinary school. He was taught by a chef mentor years ago that he should read and acquire knowledge and books. Our opening inventory was his 5,000 cookbooks from his personal library (yep, same inventory he opened his first location with--needless to say he sold very few there - he was running it alone and supporting the shop's overhead with 50 plus hour work weeks as a chef). I did not begin my love affair with cookbooks until I met him, and of course, my love and knowledge of culinary books grew with our shop.
Who are your customers?
Since we began our shop in the Quarter, tourists and visitors to our city naturally made up our core base. When we relocated out of the Quarter 3 years ago, we were eager to add to our base "locals". We then (now) had free parking and were easy to drive, walk or bike to if you are New Orleanian--but frankly, we are still better known in Australia than "around the corner" in New Orleans. But slowly, locals are discovering us. And while we have lost the day-in-day-out foot traffic of the Quarter, we still have loyal tourists who drop by whenever in town and, of course, new ones find us. Tourists search out what to do and see when travelling and take the time to visit places that locals never think to see.
How do they react when they see the store? (I was in heaven!)
Tourists and locals alike seem to be delightfully surprised when they enter. We try to make it magical and very funky. The look of wonder is the most flattering thing for me--I am made proud when this happens.
What is special about the local cuisine?
(Debbie) I will answer as a lover of food but not as an expert: Our food here is steeped in history. So much, so many cultures, so many influences have shaped our cuisine. Our food is just damn good, full of flavour and spice, and attitude. We live for food; we wake up thinking about what is for dinner before we even finish our breakfast. We are defined by food in so many ways. We celebrate food here--pretty much worship it!
What might a typical day be for you?
We both are up early and hit the ground running--our lives are bigger than we are! Never enough hours. The shop is at the center of everything--7 days a week and rarely time off. You know you are in need of a day off when you look forward to a colonoscopy. Any hoot, Philipe is our spice blender/maker/creator (this is a part of our business) and therefore works on that at home. He also works as a culinary tour guide and is our forager/shopper and takes care of all this, plus our shipping and other errands, so that leaves me here every day with my imaginary cyber friends as I try to drum up business and make connections for Kitchen Witch on social media at my desk. I type and network for hours a day, and since there are few customers, I get to vacuum the floors a lot. We love our life, but it is exhausting at times.
6. If readers wanted to really gen up on the food of Nola and Louisiana and its culinary history and customs, what books would you recommend, and why?
Chef Folse and the Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole. ( The everything book--history, culture, food, photography and tons, tons, of recipes.)
Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen (The Bible of Cajun and Creole.)
Sara Rohan's Gumbo Tales (This informative book is a love story to our city and her (our city) food culture--I read it when I truly needed to fall in love AGAIN with this city.) (I concur, this is one of the books I brought with me to Nola.)
Cooking Up A Storm, edited by Judy Walker and Marcelle Bienvenu (A compilation of recipes from the Times-Picayune newspaper's food section of many years--after Katrina, most households lost their cookbooks and recipes, and these two food writers found them and made this book with and for The Times-Picayune.)
Creole Soul by Austin Leslie (I could talk about this man and his chicken forever! Google him--worth the read!!)
Buster Holmes (Great soul food.)
Talk About Good Jr. League of Lafayette (Junior League...that says it all)
Dooky Chase by Leah Chase (Because she is a goddess! Need I say more?)
La Bouche Creole by Leon Soniat (Excellent Creole.)
New Orleans Cookbook by Richard and Rima Collins (Another bible of Creole and Cajun.)
AND a Wonderful out of print must-read: Creole Feast by Nathaniel Burton and Rudy Lombard ( 15 influential African American Chefs that shaped the kitchens/restaurants of our city--the somewhat unsung heroes of creole cooking--they came before the "Celebrity Chef Thing!")
I also recommend viewing HBO's TREME Created by David Simon--this TV series really captures our city, Katrina, food, customs, culture, and the funk of life post-2005.
Life and Death in the Big Easy by Cheryl Gerber (a photo essay of our city--no food but delicious and has outsold my cookbooks on several occasions!)
And a lovely read by Dan Baum is Nine Lives-- a true yet stranger-than-truth book that spans 50 years -- from Hurricane Betsy to Hurricane Katrina. Very insightful and engrossing.
This region has more indigenous cookbooks (etc.) than any other state in our country. I truly could fill this rather large shop with JUST Louisiana and especially New Orleans.
What might you recommend from your stock if readers were looking for Nola- themed rarities (books about food)? (I covet a book about the food of Louis Armstrong called Red Beans 'n Rice.)
I would recommend all the above plus more! AND, we have stocked each and everyone, and if out, we can always order more. Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen and Austin Leslie are my top sellers, perhaps because we really believe in them.
And what is your book equivalent of the holy grail? (Philipe answers this)
A copy of Calpurnia's cookbook would be my holy grail. If you recall, Calpurnia was the cook in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; well, the cast of the film got together and wrote and published this cookbook, and Harper Lee was so incensed that she had all the copies rounded up and destroyed. A very few managed to escape, and they are out there somewhere, and I would LOVE to get my greedy little hands on one; it would be one that I would never consider selling...irreplaceable.
I still look out for the first editions of The Picayune Cookbook 1900 and What Mrs Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking by Abby Fisher c.1895. Also, the Apicius Cookbook c1937 and a signed Salvador Dali first edition, Diners de Gala.
"Find Kitchen Witch online at kwcookbooks.com, where you can also order spice blends," Debbie says.
"Our spices have gained much attention via tourists sales, and what with the small amount of crack cocaine in them, they have taken on a life of their own! ( The label for the Original Kitchen Witch seasoning has CREOLE CRACK on it.) Very addictive.
"Kitchen Witch Cook Books also has a FaceBook and Instagram -- Twitter has never really helped us, so I will leave that social media outlet to Trump to further embarrass our country."
