A mere 10 minutes later, the same piece of cheese has exploded in color. Its mold, once lying sort-of-dormant, is now a sea of blues and grays. Even more color will develop as more time passes.

Amazing what a breath of fresh air can do!

1. Back by SUPER-POPULAR demand: Truffle Mac ‘n Cheese! Rejoice!
2. The full menu is available ALL DAY on Saturdays. Order any item all day long (11am-10pm)!
3. We carefully paired each item with the perfect wine and listed it on the menu so ordering is simple (and delicious).

We hope you enjoy the additions!

All in all, I and my co-judge Jenny Harris of Tria in Philadelphia, tasted about 30 cheeses. Arduous, huh? We tried new products from established and newbie cheese makers alike. Of all of the cheeses I tried, most would have a welcome spot on our shelves. In fact, you can watch for a number of them to be arriving soon. Of course, there were some cheeses that needed work. What amazed me was that these artists (and scientists) wanted honest feedback. They were incredibly eager to make their cheeses tastier, more attractive, and more approachable price-wise.

One of my favorite cheeses overall was from a young Pennsylvania Dutch couple from Nittany Valley Organics. They showed a wonderful Pepper Jack, Baby Swiss, and Smoked Cheddar. The best story, however, was the “experimental” cheese that they formed into a wheel and allowed to age (at an odd angle) in their cave. This cheese was one of the ugliest pieces of food I’ve ever seen and I say that with great admiration. He had aged this wheel sort of on its side so if you can picture a huge wheel of cheese (about 18 inches across) that was round except for one side. It looked like a flat tire. But my was it delicious! Just goes to show you - you can’t judge a cheese by its cover :)

Look for some new creations to head our way from Chapel’s Creamery, Yellow Springs Farm, Gootessa, Keswick Creamery…. the list goes on and on! I’ll let you know when they arrive.

Before the judging began, I sat through a lecture on various bacterial cultures. I knew there were myriad cultures to choose from when making cheese and that each one would have a different effect on the final product, but when I say I had no idea how intricate this science was, I mean I HAD NO IDEA! I will be writing about the two educational sessions (this one and another by Peter Dixon about food safety for the artisan cheese maker) separately because I learned so much that I must dedicate another entry to it.

Till then, signing off!

After prepping for the cheese class, I attended my first ever preschool open house. I’ve waited in lines for Metallica tickets that were more touchy feely. I sure hope we get into this school because it’s the only place I want to send my daughter. And I can’t go to another open house. Please.

So, back to tonight’s cheese class. It’s always fun to prepare for one of these because even though the basic topic is one I have taught many times, the cheeses and wines always change. It’s fun to select them and then pray that they taste good together. In general, there are rules for pairing wines and cheeses, but once in a while, you happen upon a really unpleasant combination. When that happens in a class, you have to pretend like to did it on purpose in order to illustrate the importance of careful pairing. Remember: every mistake we make is totally on purpose.

Tomorrow night is the last session of our Evening in Uruguay Wine event. 8 Wines. 6 Cheeses. A bit different from tonight, where we are tasting 11 cheeses ranging from Buffalo Mozzarella to Beemster 4-year Gouda to Honey Goat. For wines, we have a wonderful Kabinett Riesling from Germany and a yummy Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara. The best part of my job is that I get to drink as I teach (it’s only responsible to experience the class with the students).

So, bring it on, Wildcats! Cheesetique is ready to rumble!

This month’s wine event is An Evening in Uruguay. Check out details on our Events page! Sign up quickly…

Cheesetique will be hosting a special New Year’s Eve dinner party this December 31st. We are featuring a special menu of decadent small-plate delights. In addition to our usual wine list, we will also have “guest star” selections available that evening only.

There are two seatings: 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Reservations are required. Please email to reserve your spots.

A few notes about New Year’s at Cheesetique:

• Seating is available at our upscale bar or at tables. We will try our best to accommodate special requests, but seating is limited, so please be flexible.
• We ask those of you in the 6:00 seating to please be sensitive to those diners who will be joining us at 8:00.
• A credit card is required for all reservations. Unfulfilled reservations will incur a $50/person charge.

Again, check out the special menu here.

Finalists (each gets a $25 gift certificate to a great little cheese shop I know):
Finalist #1: B. Kyle, who ardently recommended Doughnut Plant. Good call!
Finalist #2: E. Grossman, who sent me to the best breakfast place ever, Norma’s.
Finalist #3: A. Massey, who pushed for Veritas, source of one of our excellent dinners.
Finalist #4: A. Kim, who promoted both Pickle Guys and Doughnut Plant for snack-time.

The Winner (this lucky person will receive a $25 gift certificate and dinner for two at the Cheese & Wine Bar):
A. Massey, step right up!!! Your recommended experience was our favorite of all. Veritas was a beautiful restaurant with a massive wine list and a warm, outgoing staff. Thank you for sending us there - we’re still talking about our dinner!

I want to send a huge thank-you to all who sent in recommendations. Also, major thanks to our dear friends, David and Grace, who weathered through what felt like 5000 food places with us. Here’s to great friends who will do anything for you, including eat themselves sick!

Then we walked some more.

We ended up at Obika Mozzarella Bar down the street (yes, I realize we had just eaten, but I couldn’t pass this up). The place is in the lobby of a big office building and feels a little oddly placed. They serve a few types of mozzarella. The name means something in a southern-Italian dialect, but if you didn’t know better, you would swear it was Asian. The outfits look Asian. The writng looks Asian. It was a really weird culture clash thing. Anyway, the mozz was tasty, but for a place that’s a self-professed mozzarella bar, I would have like to see more mozzarella.

I love me some French fries. So what better place to grab a snack than Pommes Frites in the East Village? Much like Pickle Guys, Pommes Frites is very appropriately named. You order a size. You order a sauce. That’s it. No whistles and bells (that is, unless you consider like 50 sauce choices to be whistles and bells). Fries were potatoey and delicious - super hot and fresh (they are all cooked to order). The sauces were excellent, particularly the Irish Curry.

Finally, we were at our final destination for some soothing brothy goodness: Momofuku Noodle Bar. It was so cold and we had eaten SO much food over the past couple days that nothing sounded as pleasing as a light soup. HA! I should have remembered that as I kept ordering stuff. It’s never a good idea to look around at other customers too often because if you’re like me, you will continue to order everything that they get. The rice cakes were little chewy/crunchy pillows in spicy sauce. The pickled veggies came in their own jar. The Brussels sprouts were cooked with porky bacon. The soup was steaming and delicious.

No wonder this guy has his own cookbook. I can’t stress to you how absolutely perfect this “last supper” was for us.

After our visit at Mast Brothers Chocolate, we moved onto Marlow and Daughters butcher shop. This chock-full-o-tasty meat shop was just the right size. The front display cases had all sorts of beautifully displayed cuts. The back of the shop had a huge butchering table where the butchers were doing a heck of a lot of butchering. In particular, they were taking apart a new cow they had just received. The butcher with whom we spoke marveled at the dark, almost-purple flesh. He said the steaks were so earthy and attributed it to that darkness of flesh. I couldn’t help but gawk at the display, but that’s all before he invited us into his walk-in. OH MY LORD! Every shelf was covered with cuts of meat, many in various stages of dry aging. Additionally, there were entire half-pigs hanging from hooks (see photo).

The most amazing thing, however, is that with all this gooey meat lying around, you could have eaten dinner off of the floor, it was SO clean. Not a drop of blood or a piece of steak out of place. After purchasing a t-shirt, I left Marlow and Daughters humbled by the excellence that surrounded me.

The next stop on our Brooklyn tour was right next door at Marlow and Sons. Sadly, we only had time for a cocktail at this beautiful locale. We ordered the most interesting sounding ones - all old fashioned recipes with Marlow and Sons’ own twist. Service was warm and friendly. Appearance was dark and cozy. Very brown in a snuggly sort of way. I felt as if I’d gone back in time, except that everyone in the place was dressed really hip. Wish I could have stayed for dinner. Next time!

Final stop after a LONG day in Brooklyn: dinner at Rye. Have you ever had one of those nights where all the stars just align and you wind up with the perfect melding of great service, great ambiance, and great food? This was one of those nights. Our lovely server, Catherine, made us feel so incredibly welcome and took care of our every need. The food was sensational, the steak for two being quite possibly the best steak I’ve had (and I don’t say that lightly).

The cocktails were perfectly crafted and the wine perfectly chosen. Such a beautiful, old-fashioned “joint”. When we got there, it was a little quiet, but when we left at about 9:30, it was slammed. Good for the folks at Rye!

All in all, Brooklyn was a sight to behold. I only wish the weather had been more forgiving so we could have roamed around more freely. But I guess that’s just my excuse to go back!

If I were to move to New York, I would definitely live in Brooklyn, except for one small thing: I’m not nearly cool enough to live in Brooklyn. And I mean that as a genuine compliment to the town. What an amazing collection of beautiful businesses and interesting people. The shops are not only uniquely conceived and designed, but in nearly every place we went, the owner was behind the counter. There’s nothing like it. The weather was abysmal (cold and rainy all day) but it could not dampen our spirits. Go Brooklyn!

First stop was Bierkraft, which has hundreds of beers to choose from, including about 20 on tap and three cask ales. We stopped here for lunch and I enjoyed the ultimate manwich – a hulking Italian creation on perfectly crusty bread. Paired with my Flower Power IPA from Ithaca Beer Company, this sandwich made one heck of a lunch.

Next stop: Bklyn Larder, which had an amazing cheese selection, lots of gourmet goodies, prepared foods, and a gorgeous custom-built cheese “cave” with a see-through window. So impressive. It also reminded me that I’ve got to find a better way to hang salamis behind the counter. Nothing like a bunch of salamis on hooks to get the tummy rumbling. Their cheese mongers were super-nice and helpful, taking lots of time to talk about cheeses and sample them out. Bravo!

Ah, Stinky Bklyn. Such a lovely cheese shop. The coolest part was the 5 or so hams displayed on the front counter. These artisan hams are sliced by hand. I spoke to the owner about the painstaking process and he explained that his customers understand they will get a more rustic (a.k.a. thicker) cut, but they just love it. Way to go! Very cool store – with a very cool name. A real treat.

We asked the owner of Stinky Blyn to tell us a couple places we couldn’t miss (nothing like local recommendations from the locals themselves) and he pointed us toward Los Paisanos butcher shop and One Girl Cookies.

Los Paisanos was everything a butcher shop should be. What a selection! Bustling and tight on space, mainly because there was just SO MUCH MEAT!

When I say that One Girl Cookies was one of the most visually pleasing shops I’ve ever visited, I mean it. Gorgeous baked goods (the whoopee pies were out of this world). When I asked the woman behind the counter if I could take a photo of their offerings, she insisted on rearranging it all to perfection first (not that it wasn’t already perfect looking to me). Based on her attentiveness, I asked if she was the owner. “No, I wish. I’m just anal.” God bless the anal people of the world.

It was so wet and gross outside, we ducked into the nearest cute storefront and were greeted with the most charming kitchen shop I’ve ever entered, Whisk. They had beautifully displayed every possible cooking device and kitchen gadget imaginable. The woman behind the counter was so amazingly pleasant. Not only did she recommend her favorite restaurant for dinner (see Rye below), but she even called and made us a reservation. Now that’s service with a smile. Thank goodness we listened to her recommendation because our dinner was one of the great highlights of our trip.

We had to pop into Bedford Cheese Shop because I heard they had expanded. I visited the shop before Cheesetique opened over five years ago. At that time, they were a teeny tiny spot with a small but special collection of cheeses. Now, in their expanded space, they have greatly added to their cheeses (a nice big selection) and have more room for specialty food accents. One of their pleasant cheese mongers allowed me to taste a Roquefort I had never seen: Mons. It was outstanding – it would definitely stand up to our Papillon brand. Just a beautiful shop.

Heading out from Bedford Cheese Shop, we briskly walked/sloshed to Mast Brothers Chocolate. I must admit that I was most nervous about this destination based on two things. First, anyone who makes chocolate by hand is a serious food person and must be seriously focused and seriously attentive to detail. In other words, they must be serious. Science and art blended into one, it’s not all Willy Wonka land, people. Second, once I visit the web site and checked out the matching bearded brothers, I thought, “these guys are way out of my league”. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I entered the shop. Not only was one bearded brother there, but both beards were present. Very quickly, however, I was made to feel completely at ease (see photo below).

I watched them sort beans, tasted some amazing exotic chocolates, and even got to peek at the chocolate-making room (a.k.a. the inner sanctum). Rick Mast explained how he worked with a local friend/engineer who built his machines. I took some beautifully wrapped bars home with me in order to select which flavors we will carry at Cheesetique. Watch for them soon.

I still have to cover a few more Brooklyn places, but I’m going to sign off for now. Check for updates tomorrow!

Once our friends arrived from Penn Station, and while my husband was still in his conference, we decided to strike out and try Mama Mexico, a highly recommended Mexican joint near our hotel. The guacamole presentation was the most impressive I’ve ever seen. It was delicious, too, as was the rest of our food.

The service was pretty spotty, especially when the same waiter tried to take our order twice after he had already taken it. For all the attempts at order taking, you would think the food would be out quickly, but I feel like I aged at least a year while waiting. Luckily, it was exceptional Mexican food. However, service is next to godliness in my book.

Warning: Charming Cheese Monger Alert! We next hopped on a train and headed down to Essex and Delancey to visit Saxelby Cheesemongers in the Essex Street Market. We were lucky enough to meet Anne, who was in the middle of cutting a thousand tiny pieces of cheese for a special order. It reminded me why we don’t cut pieces of cheese for special orders. Yikes!

Anyway, Anne was delighted to talk about her business, as any proud owner would be, and she just glowed, despite the arduous task in which she found herself immsersed. Her selection was small but thoughtfully and beautifully presented. My favorite feature, and one that we would see several more times on our tour, was the see-through walk-in where her extra cheeses were stored. What a lovely feature! If only we had the space, it would be my next addition.

Next stop: Pickle Guys. The name is actually a bit misleading, because despite being called Pickle Guys, these guys sell pickles (ok – that was a little joke). Their barrels are filled not only with pickled cucumbers, but pickled watermelon, string beans, tomatoes, carrots……. They pretty much pickle anything that will sit still long enough to be immersed in vinegar. I’ve never seen, much less tasted, so many pickley treats. And they were SO super nice, letting us try all sorts of things. Lucky for us, they ship, so it will not be long before our pack-o-pickles arrives.

After the vinegar adventure, a little something sweet was in order. Off to Doughnut Plant! Once the owner found out what I did for a living, he insisted that I try the carrot cake doughnut filled with cream cheese frosting. In fact, he ripped open three of them before he found one that he deemed cheese-filled enough for me. It did not disappoint.

All in all, we tasted crème brulé (he actually torches the top so it’s crunchy), marzipan, coconut cream filled, jelly filled, carrot cake, and cinnamon sticky bun. The place is tiny, consisting more of kitchen than retail space, but it’s big enough to get the job done (the job being to get a pile of doughnuts in a bag for us). Coolest feature: his filled doughnuts still have a hole in the middle so there’s not this big puddle of filling in the center like a typical doughnut. Instead, he pipes the filling throughout the entire circle so each bite has a perfectly-distributed amount. A genius!

I had to visit Di Palo’s in Little Italy. It is the place to go for fresh Mozzarella, which they leave in a pile, simply wrapped, on the deli case. Ours was still warm when we tasted it. As we pulled it apart with our fingers, it actually leaked whey all over the sidewalk. It was that fresh. I, of course, could not be dainty for long, and proceeded to eat most of the remaining ball like an apple. Juicy and tasting of fresh cream. It lived up to and exceeded my expectations.

The folks behind the counter were SO nice, which I didn’t expect since it’s a super-old and super-established business, but everyone was lovely – and they even gave me chocolates as I was leaving. Thanks, Di Palo guys!

Next we visited the Tenement Museum and learned about the lives of Irish immigrants in the 1860’s. Suffice it to say that I left feeling very fortunate that I am not an Irish immigrant in the 1860’s. Fascinating but sobering. Also not food-related, so I’ll move on now to…

SoHo! I could walk for hours in SoHo. There’s just so much to see. We happened upon Rice to Riches, which has like 50 different kinds of rice pudding. I love rice and I love pudding, so the two in combination were heavenly. We chose Mascarpone with cherries. It was so creamy and rich that the sourness of the cherries was the perfect complement. This place was totally cute and had the funniest signs throughout. We spend a good amount of time just reading them. What a great little place!

We really needed a cocktail so we popped into Mercer Kitchen. The hostess upstairs was super-nice but the gentleman host downstairs at the bar was so snooty and nasty, we left. Poor form.

Obviously, we hadn’t eaten enough yet, so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at Veritas. The restaurant was super-cozy and accommodating. We also sat next to some really cool Portuguese guys. And oh what a wine list! We started with a wonderful Sauvignon Blanc and then moved onto a California Syrah that we paired with the rest of our 4-course menu. Each course was better than the last. Wagyu filet was outstanding. After dessert, they brought out more little tasty treats like macarons (I love when places do that). If wine is your thing, get thee to Veritas.

Phew! Time for bed. We have a lot of work (a.k.a. eating) to do tomorrow.

When you walk into a Michelin-2-Star restaurant as highly praised as Alto, you are bound to be disappointed. So imagine my surprise when in fact, my expectations were surpassed. What a delightful evening! Our seat was amazing: we were perched high above the larger dining room on a little glass-enclosed balcony. It was the ultimate people-watching perch and made me feel like I was flying. Please see my poor excuse for a photo here:

On to the rest of the experience: I love a restaurant where the server wears a suit. Like a real suit (not a hipster suit-as-uniform suit). He looked like an adult – a super-knowledgeable, super-friendly, super-professional one. He knew everything about the menu (believe me – I tried to stump him). He immediately sent over the somellier who kindly helped us select one of the most delicious Chardonnays I’ve ever had. This one was from Piedmont, Italy, and it defied all expectations (and biases) I have regarding Chardonnay. No oak. No butter. Just a silky, full body that took me effortlessly through seared scallops, spicy lamb/mint pasta, and roasted Branzino. We finished our meal with a cheese course. Perfectly done, Alto! The cheeses were appropriately at room temperature and were served with simple but delicious accompaniments, including warm toasted raisin bread. It’s a cheese presentation I would have done myself and it reminded me that Raschera is one of the best cheeses on the planet (and the glass of Moscato didn’t hurt, either). Overall, a sublime experience. 

Back to breakfast:
Well, imagine my bliss when I realized that the “Crunchy French Toast” was crunchy because it was coated in Rice Crispies. Snap crackle pop, baby!

The toast itself, being about 2 inches thick, falls into the “there’s no way you can eat all of this” category but I gave it the old college try, making it through one piece. It came with two little glass bottles of syrup, but who needs syrup when there’s caramel sauce? So I put them in my purse for my daughter (she, being small, likes all things small). This menu is fantastic. I’m sad I was unable to order more than one item because man oh man do they have a lot of sinful starchies. Every type of pancake, waffle, toast, and crepe you can imagine – and many you can’t. Surprisingly, the woman next to me is eating Muesli. MUESLI!!! With yogurt!!! What is wrong with this person? At least her date is making up for her transgression by shoveling down a huge pile of gooey pancakes with some sort of creamy pudding on top. Good for you! Do not cave to the Muesli eaters of the world!

Ah, he just refilled my OJ. I really want to marry this man. Oh wait – I’m already married. Honey, I’d like my bacon crisp.

Next stop: Magnolia Bakery. Only cause it’s on the way back to my hotel. And cause they have cupcakes.

Sitting on the Acela Express into Penn Station. Just finished what I refer to as my first culinary experience: Jujyfruits. Perfectly chewy. Tangy yet sweet.

As I sit here listening to Robert Earl Keen (Note to self: when listening to music on your headphones, do not start humming or singing along - others CAN hear you), I am reveling in the knowledge that for the next three days, my sole job is to see and taste of as many culinary destinations as possible. After arriving at my hotel room, I will head out solo to check out what’s in my immediate neighborhood. I can’t go too far because we have a reservation this evening at Alto, a 2-Michelin-Star restaurant specializing in Northern Italian cuisine. Perhaps the only thing I love more than Italian food is Italian wine. Those from the Piedmont, for instance, are as near to heaven as I’ve tasted. Drawback: only one bottle? I think a tasting menu might be in order, so at least I can try as many wines as possible.

Oh – and apparently, we were upgraded to a suite at the hotel. Cause Lord knows one tiny NY room will not be large enough to fit my food-filled self!

Side note: We just passed a concrete building on the outskirts of Philadelphia. The structure was covered with huge graffiti tags. One of them was “CHEESE”. I question: who is “Cheese”? How did he/she earn that moniker? Is it considered a compliment? One wonders… Regardless, I will consider it a good omen for my upcoming trip.

In December, I will embark on a 3-day “culinary tour” of New York City and I’m looking for recommendations of places I “cannot miss”. I will narrow them down (the top three get a $25 gift certificate) and the winning recommendation gets dinner for 2 at Cheesetique. PLEASE NOTE that this is not the contest for you if you’re shy and private. I will blog all about it. It’s not like I’ll post your last name or social security number, but be prepared to have me talk about your recommendations, OKAY?

FAQ:
1. How is the winner determined?
Out of the three finalists, it has to be the one that rocks my world. Subjective? YES! (See FAQ #5)

2. How are the three finalists determined?
Out of all recommendations I receive, I will pick the ones that sound the coolest. Subjective? YES! (See FAQ #5)

3. Does my recommendation have to be cheese-related?
No, but please make it food related. Don’t try to send me to this “great little children’s boutique you visited”.

4. Tell me again about the prizes.
The top three recommendations will get a $25 gift certificate to Cheesetique.
The winner (chosen from one of the three), will be based on the overall wow-ness of my experience, and will ALSO win dinner for TWO at our Cheese & Wine Bar.

5. Why are your judging criteria so darn subjective?
Cause subjectivity makes the world go ‘round. And cause it’s my stinkin’ contest!

Email your recommendation(s) by using our Contact form.