The Savvy Gourmet

In 2001 founder Dr. Aaron Wolfson began organizing cooking classes for friends in his home. He found an eager audience of local New Orleanians who were unsatisfied with the tourist-oriented offerings of existing local cooking schools. Like any good piece of gossip in New Orleans, word spread like wildfire about the unique Savvy experience, and there were literally too many cooks in Aaron’s kitchen. Savvy began holding larger classes in the Mike Miley Playground Teaching Kitchen taught by some of the top chefs in New Orleans. Peter Menge, another local boy returned home, came on board and got Savvy classes started at Lulu’s in the Quarter to take advantage of a professional kitchen. Later, classes were moved on to the larger Lulu’s in the Garden on St. Charles Avenue.

After nearly 18 months of painstaking buildout, The Savvy Gourmet finally opened its doors for business in August of 2005. It just so happens that the opening coincided with the largest natural disaster in American History, Hurricane Katrina. After evacuating the city for several weeks, Wolfson and Menge made their way back into New Orleans, and with great relief found their store largely in tact. They decided to re-open as a restaurant to feed relief workers and brave souls who ventured back to the devasted city. After a few months, cooking classes returned, and now the business has expanded to include classes, catering, a lunch and brunch restaurant, as well as high end kitchen design and fabrication.

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