FROM THE LENS W H Y DIDN’ T I T HINK OF T H AT?
Adult Lunchables Former brewery tour operator Elizabeth Choto’s pandemic pivot into charcuterie —Graze Dat! — is keeping her plate full. BY A S HL EY MCLE LL AN PHOTOS BY SAR A E SSE X B R ADLEY
NEW ORLEANS CULINARY ENTREPRENEUR
Elizabeth Choto transformed a love of food and a need to soak up some boozy nights, into a burgeoning catering business with the launch of Graze Dat! charcuterie this past August. Since then, her works of culinary art have garnered the former educator-turned-brewery-tour-guide a wide following on Instagram, catching the eye of clients from all walks of life for parties, celebrations, family gatherings and more. After moving to New Orleans four years ago, Choto dove headlong into the city’s love of food and drink, creating a brewery tour business, Big Easy Beer Tours. When COVID-19 shut the tour business down, Choto pivoted online, and from those virtual interactions, her newest venture came about. Graze Dat! was born out of a practical necessity, spurred on by Choto and her brewery guests’ big love for those “big boozy beers.” “Graze Dat! was a complete accident! I had a brewery tour in New Orleans when the pandemic hit and that forced me to shut down physical beer tastings,” Choto said. “Months later, I hosted virtual tastings and during one of those, my guests and I got sloshed. My sister suggested that I have some sort of food. I reached out to everyone for the next tasting and encouraged them to have food. I made myself a charcuterie plate. During that tasting, no one cared what about the beer at all. They were really interested in what I was eating, and it just felt like I’d struck a chord. The next week, a few people asked me to make them a box and that was the birth of Graze Dat! I officially launched my little company in August 2020.” Choto was originally born and raised in Zimbabwe, moved to the United States in 1991 to finish her studies, and soon found
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BIZ NEW ORLEANS
DECEMBER 2021
