17 louisianacookin.comCopper Vine is celebrating one year in September.
How have things changed over the last year?
We have extended our dining areas. We’ve grown the
courtyard to be a place where folks want to come and sit
and hang out, and we added a retractable roof to make
it more inviting in the heat. And we’ve touched up the
menu, putting some things on that we think the fans are
going to enjoy.
Can you tell us about some of those new things?
We have a dinner series called Between the Vines, and
we’re taking three items from those dinners and putting
them into a three-course chef ’s tasting on our menu. It
gives the kitchen a chance to spread its wings, but it also
gives our guests a way to taste some of the foods from
the wine pairings.
How did you design the menu with wine in mind?
Well, in a previous life, I used to be the sommelier
at Commander’s Palace, so I know a little bit about
putting food and wine together. One of the keys to it
was to make sure our menu was approachable with
wine pairings. And we wanted to be somewhere folks
could come in every night of the week and experience
something diff erent. One night you could come in and
get the short rib with a big cabernet, and another night
you could get the pork belly with a pinot noir. It makes
it versatile and fun for people.Copper Vine has a pretty happening happy hour.
Tell us about that.
We o ff er our tap wines and house wines by the bottle
at half price. And we have our snacks menu, with
everything from marinated olives to fl atbreads to our
house-smoked salmon. We do fi ll up quite a bit. It runs
from 3:30 to 5:30, and at about 5 on a Friday aft ernoon,
you’re going to be hard-pressed to fi nd room in the
courtyard.Downtown New Orleans got its fi rst wine pub last fall
when Copper Vine opened in the building that was
once home to Maylie’s, a restaurant that opened in 1876.
Set in a beautifully designed space that includes Maylie’s
original bar, Copper Vine is known for its extensive
selection of wines on tap and equally tempting food
menu. We recently caught up with Executive Chef Mike
Brewer to talk about what’s new at Copper Vine.
CHEF CHAT