White Wine & Butter plans to have fun with Cajun-Creole cuisine

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He had no idea who he was cooking meals for that night at the Westin Poinsett.

“It was like, super secret, no matter what,” recalls Chef Michael Sibert of the unusual night at the downtown Greenville hotel in 2013 while he was still enrolled in school. Culinary of Greenville Tech.

Something great was cooking, that he knew. The general manager of the hotel was in the kitchen and the chef hovered over everything he was doing, as were the men in the Secret Service, who watched his every move.

WW&B signature voodoo fries. Photo by AA Torres Photography

“It was a little weird,” he says. He would later learn the identity of the guest of honor: President Barack Obama.

In mid-November, the 30-year-old Greenwood native and his 14-month-old wife Sam Aupied plan to open White Wine & Butter, their first restaurant. The restaurant will take its place among five other vendors operating in the Cartwright Food Hall in Greer.

Aupied, whose Cajun last name is pronounced OH-pea-aid, brings to the table her deep roots in New Orleans, where she says her stepfather worked for decades at Clancy’s, the 1940s restaurant. famous for its Creole cuisine.

This is – with a twist – what you’ll find at White Wine & Butter, a chef-centric operation starring Sibert, as well as two longtime colleagues he calls brothers: chefs Troy Arnold and Savalas Barnes. Their combined experience exceeds three decades, says Aupied.

Pasta, of all things, takes center stage at the restaurant named after Sibert’s favorite sauce, a béchamel. One of WW & B’s signature dishes, along with Voodoo Fries, will be PastaLaya, a dish that shows Sibert noodles with jambalaya, Louisiana’s rice-shrimp-sausage staple.

Aupied describes their planned menu of less than 15 courses as a mix of fine NOLA cuisine and an authentic Italian trattoria (read: casual and family-friendly) – another nod to the mystical culinary stew of his hometown.

Much of their inspiration, she says, comes from a 150-year-old cookbook passed down to her.

“We take traditional flavor profiles that date back hundreds of years to my great-grandmother and apply them to new dishes that will literally blow people away,” says Aupied, 29, the brand’s chef.

With COVID-19 forcing the delays, Aupied insisted they spend a month in Crescent City. In March, Sibert apprenticed at kitchens such as Clancy’s, Langlois, and “grandmother’s houses,” to learn the secret sauce of Cajun-Creole cuisine, she says.

Said Sibert, “I was, like, I can make jambalaya, yeah, I can make okra, and I actually tried doing it for a real Cajun, and I felt hurt. I was completely oblivious to the different flavor profiles of New Orleans. I humbled myself.

Chef Michel Sibert. Photo by Dove Light Photography

To date, Sibert has shown his talents in places such as Euphoria, Greer’s Dine on Trade, a VIP tent at Fall for Greenville, and as a chef at the Holly Tree Country Club, among others.

Chefs usually dream of opening their own restaurant, both say – and their opportunity presented itself when one of Cartwright’s owners approached them.

“They are really fascinating people,” says Elaine Kang, dining room co-director. “He’s such an amazing chef.”

White Wine & Butter will operate from a 300 square foot kitchen in the food hall at 215 Trade Street, which occupies a street-front building and connected transport house built in 1904.

“They were just thrilled that you didn’t have to put in as much as you would in your own restaurant,” Kang said.

Aupied, who until recently owned a hairdressing business, says it opens its doors with much less debt than most.

This is in part thanks to the company they launched three years ago under the same name: a luxury catering business. Their high-end clients, who sign nondisclosure agreements, pay up to $ 200 per person to have Sibert and his team prepare and serve five-course meals at clients’ homes.

Their custom catering operation will continue, they say, with their new venture, which Aupied says may be the only restaurant in the Greenville area owned and operated by a minority chef.

“We will showcase our artists, our conductors and really focus on education and expanding our reach,” she says. “We’re just two young American kids trying to make this dream come true.”

Photo by AA Torres Photography

White Wine & Butter joins a handful of other vendors at Cartwright Food Hall in historic Greer Station in Greer. These include:

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