Midnight Menu is live from Thrive at The Laurel Street Bakery this week. Ray and Margo start out the show by welcoming “the genius behind Thrive” (Ray’s understated hyperbole) Peter Menge.  

Ray and Margo turn to the main course of the evening, Seth Hamstead, owner of Cleaver and Co. a whole meat old fashioned butcher shop . Seth explains how being a chemist then economist in Chicago eventually led him to owning and operating his own high class, locally sourced butcher shop on Baronne Street in Uptown New Orelans. 

Seth then welcomes his good friend and rogue baker Graison Gill from Bellgarde Bakery. Graison explains how he and Seth first met when he wanted to incorporate Seth’s cracklings into a new type of bread. Graison also emphasizes the art and commitment that goes into traditional baking and how that has been lost in recent years. 

Finally they wrap up the evening by sampling a delicious Thrive steak dinner by Chef Matthew Ratcliff who purchased their meat from Cleaver and Co.