Frey Smoked Meat Co.

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Frey Smoked Meat Co. is opening next Friday on the 11th at 4141 Bienville. I've included a full press release below: Frey Smoked Meats Opening in Mid-City November 11th On November 11th, local chef Ray Gruezke and charity barbecue team Frey Smoked Meat Co. team open a full service restaurant and bar at 4141 Bienville in the offices at Mid-City Market. The menu will feature classic barbecue plates alongside more modern dishes. Brisket, ribs, and buttery biscuits will share the menu with smoked oyster salad and grilled redfish on the half shell. After it’s success as a side at Rue 127, macaroni and cheese will get it’s own section of the menu beside Rue 127’s “Endymion Fried Chicken,” which was only served once a year as the parade rolled down Carrollton. Frey Smoked Meat Co. will also bring “freakshakes” to New Orleans with “Nutella peanut butter” and “coffee& donuts” versions of the monstrous milkshakes. “We’ve been working on this for such a long time, I can’t wait to finally open and get the food out there. This is a much larger space than Rue 127 which brings a whole new set of logistical challenges, but I think if the food is good and the seats are full, the other problems take care of themselves,” says Chef Gruezke. Construction is finishing in the expansive space at 4141 Bienville which will hold eighty diners inside, and through the large roll-up doors, another twenty will sit on the patio. The 18 foot bar will serve over 50 different beers and 50 different whiskeys. Frey (pronounced ‘fry’) Smoked Meat Co. is a group of family and friends who compete in the annual charity barbecue competition “Hogs for the Cause.” In 2013, the team’s first year, the members tended the smoker overnight through torrential rain and sold ribs over a folding table. Since then, the team has raised $40,000 for the families of children with pediatric cancer. After winning “1st place Ribs” and “2nd Overall” in a field of 90 teams, the members decided to go full time and open a permanent location. The team tapped the talents of their pitmaster and local restaurateur, Chef Ray Gruezke, to run the kitchen. Chef Gruezke was born and raised in New Orleans before traveling to Hyde Park, New York, to study at the Culinary Institute of America. Since then he has worked at Commander’s Palace and served as sous chef at Le Foret under Certified Master Chef James Corwell. Ray is currently the chef/owner at Rue 127. The namesake of the restaurant is Chef Gruezke’s Great-Great-Great-Grandfather, Andreas Frey, who sold meat at the French Market in the 1850’s. When the next generation joined the family business, “L.A. Frey and Sons” was born. For over one hundred years, L.A. Frey and Sons made meat products ranging from steaks to bologna. With an abattoir in Lafayette and a meat packing plant in the Bywater, the Frey name was known throughout Louisiana. Frey Smoked Meat Co. will open for dinner on the 11th and 12th and then for lunch and dinner seven days a week with take-out and delivery available. More news to come at freysmokedmeat.com.