Nosh Pit

Raclette Returns at Cafe Presse

The cheesy French dish is the ultimate winter warmer.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jan 26, 2012 at 10:30AM 3 Comments

It doesn’t get much better than this. Photo courtesy Jim Drohman.

Raclette is a cheese you eat in the winter. It is cultivated in the French Alps in late summer, when the cows’ milk is at its best (read: fattiest), then matures four to six months before it’s ripe, right around the holidays. Consume the “chalet cheese” elsewhere in the year and you’re either having stale goods or something improperly aged. For these reasons, raclette surfaces only seasonally at Cafe Presse.

To be clear, we’re not talking about some cheese plate on the starter menu. Raclette also refers to a traditional French Savoie meal in which the eponymous dairy is melted then scraped onto cuts of meat and warmed potatoes. Often this happens with a table-side grill (like this) where diners cook the ingredients at their leisure using individual trays. It makes for a most fun dining experience—and a most pleasing winter splurge.

But at Presse that set-up is logistically not possible, so the chefs lay the cheese in a cast-iron skillet, cook it in the oven for four or five minutes, then finish it under the broiler. The result: a perfectly melty spread for the accompanying hams—two kinds—steamed spuds, and salami.

Though raclette is one of owner Jim Drohman’s most requested plates (thanks in part to some TV crushing), he won’t budge on the matter of freshness. “The heart of the dish is the quality of the ingredients.”

Raclette resurfaced at Presse earlier this month as a special, but as of the 24th it’s on the menu daily. A five ounce serving of cheese, plus the proteins, will cost you $16. (Downtowners, find a similar preparation at Drohman’s other restaurant, Le Pichet.) Vegetarians can sub the meats for winter fruits and walnuts. Order both versions and you’ve got quite the nice combo, suggests Drohman.

Right now there’s plenty of cheese to go around—Drohman guesses the raclette will be on the menu through early spring—but once it’s gone, you won’t see it for many moons. Act accordingly.

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Tags: Cheese, Comfort Food, Cafe Presse, On the Menu, Jim Drohman

Mt. Townsend Creamery Settles In at Pike Place Market

Get your local cheese fix daily at the creamery’s new stand.

Posted by: Emily Dhatt on Nov 28, 2011 at 02:00PM 3 Comments

Allyson Taylor mans the new Mt. Townsend stand in Pike Place. Photo via Facebook.

You may already know the brand from grocery stores and farmer’s markets, but be advised that Mt. Townsend Creamery has expanded its cheesy outfit, arriving in Pike Place Market, as we prophesied back in September. Now you can—and should—find Mt. Townsend’s whole catalog of ten cheeses in a tiny glass case near Rachel the Pig.

This prime real estate certainly doesn’t hurt the stand’s already-booming business, but it’s not all that draws in customers. (And draw in customers they do—when I visited, there was a small crowd mobbing around the counter.) The Port Townsend-based creamery sources additive-free, non-GMO milk from Sequim dairy Smith Brothers [not this Smith Brothers farm in Kent as we stated earlier], and even donates the whey workers separate from their curds to local farmers to repurpose as pig food.

The creamery’s most famous cheese, Seastack, is a briny, soft-ripened number. As it happens, Seastack is what brought us Allyson Taylor, cheese connoisseur and manager of the Pike Place location. “I was living on the East Coast at the time, and I tried some of the Seastack. It was perfect—so Pacific Northwest.” Two months later, she was in Seattle.

Allyson has been with the company for three months, making and promoting cheese in the flagship location until she set up shop in Seattle two weeks ago. Before that, she slung cheese at Savour Specialty Foods in Ballard.

There’s an obvious comparison to draw between Mt. Townsend and longtime Pike Place stalwart Beecher’s, but Allyson insists that the two shops are uncompetitive and even work as partners. “They sell our cheese,” she says. “We’re two completely different kinds of creameries. They make cheddars; we don’t. We send people over to them all the time, and they send people to us.”

You can find a few Mt. Townsend products at Whole Foods, but you’ll have to visit the Pike Place outlet to get your hands on some of their more obscure cheeses, including Trufflestack, a black truffle and salt-infused version of the classic Seastack, and rich, buttery jack New Moon. Not that you’d want to avoid the shop, anyway—its sample-laden counter and knowledgeable, passionate staff are big pluses.

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Tags: Cheese, Pike Place Market, Food News, Grand Opening

Seattle Cheese on the Move: Dinah’s Headed for Portland

Vashon’s Kurtwood Farms expands its reach.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 13, 2011 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Dinah’s: Soon to be sold in Portland.

Photo: Kurtwood Farms

Seattle has already seen one of its cheesemakers go from local favorite to national phenomenon. Beecher’s—the brainchild of entrepreneur Kurt Dammeier—has become one of our most famous exports, following: 1. word from Oprah that its frozen mac and cheese was her favorite, and 2. the splashy opening of its second shop and cafe (the first is in Pike Place Market) in NYC’s Flatiron District.

And now, another local curd conjuror named Kurt is expanding his reach, starting with the notoriously cheese-loving Portland market. Kurt Timmermeister, owner of Kurtwood Farms on Vashon Island, will soon sell his camembert-style Dinah’s in Oregon, thanks to a deal he made with distributor Provvista.

Timmermeister says Dinah’s will show up in Portland shops beginning in August. And while Provvista will handle some local accounts as well, Timmermeister will continue to take his weekly journey to the mainland, bringing cheese to existing clients. “It is the best part of my week going into my favorite restaurants and stores delivering Dinah’s,” said Timmermeister.

To keep up with the new demand, Timmermeister has increased production on Dinah’s from 300 to 500 pieces per week. His second cheese, a Grana Padano-style called Francesca’s, is currently aging in a cave on the farm. Once it is ready to consume, Francesca’s too will likely travel to Oregon.

Timmermeister is currently writing a second book. (His first one, Growing a Farmer, was released last August.) So for now he’s maxed out on how much cheese he can make. Once that book is finished, however, we may see the Kurtwood Farms label in markets more far-flung.

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Tags: Cheese, Seattle Food Exports, Vashon Island

Beecher’s Opens in NYC

Let’s have a look inside.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 24, 2011 at 01:35PM 0 Comments

Cheese bath!

Photo: Beechers

Thanks to the Village Voice’s Fork in the Road blog, we can have a look inside Beecher’s 8,000 square foot shop that opened today just north of Union Square in New York’s Flatiron District.

No fair alert: The NYC shop has a basement cafe.

But on Seattle’s own Voice Media food blog Voracious, Hanna Raskin reported that Beecher’s new Flatiron cheese, made with milk from Upstate New York, goes on sale today at the NY shop and the one in Seattle.

So we have that.

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Tags: Cheese, Pike Place Market, Seattle Exports

Dave Matthews Likes Growing A Farmer

Here’s the photo to prove it.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 23, 2011 at 02:32PM 0 Comments

Kurt, Dave, and Growing a Farmer.

Photo: Kurt Timmermeister via Twitter

Growing a Farmer is longtime local Kurt Timmermeister’s elegantly crafted account of how he became a farmer and lived to tell the tale.

If you’ve read the book, or paid a visit to Kurtwood Farms on Vashon Island (where Timmermeister makes Dinah’s and Francesca’s cheeses), their charms were not likely lost on you.

And neither were they lost on another Seattle citizen, Dave Matthews, if this photo—and the look on Dave’s face—are any indication.

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Tags: Cheese, Dave Matthews, Seattle Writers, Seattle Food Writers, Kurtwood Farms

Free Mac and Cheese at Boka

Plus: another cheesy recipe!

Posted by: Christopher Werner on May 11, 2011 at 11:55AM 1 Comments

Brioche bread crumbs top the mac and cheese at Boka.

Boka drops a line to say its Beecher’s-made mac and cheese is gratis this coming Thursday and Friday. Reps from the First Avenue restaurant will sling the freebies curbside from 11:30–1:30 as a precursor to the Seattle Cheese Festival.

But that’s not all. The restaurant also included a how-to for making chef Angie Roberts’s mac at home:

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 c. flour
1 gal. whole milk
5 c. soft cheese (diced)
6 c. grated Beecher’s

Cooking Instructions:
1. Melt butter in large rondo.
2. Add flour and whisk for two minutes.
3. Add milk and whisk constantly until thick
4. Turn off heat and add soft cheese. Then, let sit for five minutes.
5. Whisk until lumps are gone and add salt to taste.
6. Cool sauce and add grated Beecher’s Cheese.
7. Cook 1⁄2 a bag of mac noodles (following pasta cooking recipe) and cool on sheet trays.
8. Combine mac noodles and sauce. Then, cover with grated Beecher’s Cheese and bake in oven.
9. Top with brioche bread crumbs and parsley.

There you have it, two cheesy recipes in one morning.

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Tags: Recipes, Cheese, Free Food

Cheese Festival’s 2011 Grilled Cheese Winner Announced

Bonus: a super creepy picture.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 11, 2011 at 08:46AM 2 Comments

“When I’m finished with this grilled cheese I plan to eat your young.”

From this morning’s press release pile: Jason Ramos, creator of the Fromage Blanc sandwich, has won this year’s grilled cheese contest with a recipe that includes three cheeses, leeks, and a lot of brand names.

The Seattle Cheese Festival takes place May 14 and 15 at Pike Place Market and is free.

Here’s the winning recipe, copied verbatim from a press release. (I’m totally getting a Pulitzer for this one.)

Fromage Blanc Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. Mt. Townsend’s fromage blanc
1 ½ oz Grande Fresh Mozzarella
1 oz Sliced Emmi Gruyere
1 Tbsp. sauteed leeks
2 Slices Macrina batard
Unsalted butter

For the leeks:
Slice one leek thinly and saute it over medium-high heat with one ounce of butter. Add a bit of salt. Saute until slightly browned. Set aside.
On medium heat, heat your pan (or griddle). Assemble the sandwich: bread-mozzarella–fromage blanc–gruyere-leeks-bread. Rub a stick of butter on the pan and place the sandwich down—swirling it around to get all the butter on the bread. Flip and repeat with the butter/swirl technique. Now that both sides are buttered, brown evenly and slowly on each side. Flipping repeatedly. Don’t rush it. Your patience will be rewarded…

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Tags: Cheese, Pike Place Market, Food Events and Festivals, Festivals

Trending: Cheese

Seattle loves the stinky stuff. Here are the cheeses we’re choosing right now.

Posted by: Tiffany Ran on Mar 23, 2011 at 11:00AM 1 Comments

What cheeses kept you warm this winter?

Photo: Stuart Mullenberg

In the Trending series, Nosh Pit talks to local food providers, shop owners, chefs, servers—whoever’s appropriate, really—about those consumables Seattle can’t get enough of right now. This week: cheese.

1. DeLaurenti ’monger Connie Rizzo told us customers have been buying hearty Alpine cheeses to get them through the winter months—gruyere, comte, Beaufort. Also popular at DeLaurenti: the soft and smelly Winnimere from Jasper Hill Farm.

As the weather warms, Rizzo predicts customers will gravitate towards softer, fresher cheeses like Camembert and brie. And since now is the time fresh goat cheeses are becoming available, she’ll be stocking those. Try the version from Tieton Farm and Creamery in Yakima.

2. Local cheeses like Camembert-style Dinah’s from Kurtwood Farms on Vashon Island, are popular at Melrose Market’s The Calf & Kid, said owner Sheri LaVigne. She said many people ask for Dinah’s after feasting on it at Sitka and Spruce next door. LaVigne anticipates that Camembert-like Nonna Capra goat cheese from Yarmuth Farm—which has a limited season “from late spring to early fall” —will be a hit during the summer.

3. Dinah’s Cheese is also a favorite at Picnic in Phinney Ridge. Owner Anson Klock noted too that customers request harder, sharper cheeses in the winter months, such as the sharp and tangy aged cheddar from Fiscalini Farm in Modesto, California.

4. Fondue is popular in the winter, so Paris Grocery has kept the shelves at its Western Avenue shop stocked with Swiss and Alpine cheeses like gruyere and comte, according to social media manager Rachel Eggers. Lately, she’s seen a heightened interest in washed-rind cheeses like Abbaye Sainte Mere from the Normandy region of France.

Good tip: Eggers said people often opt for grab-and-go cheese because they think they have to buy the precut slabs behind the glass counter. But vendors are almost always willing to cut you a smaller piece—that’s true at supermarkets as well as specialty shops.

5. Cheesemongers across the board have seen a persistent interest in raw milk cheeses. Spanish Table cheesemonger George Calvo says all three of the Iberico raw milk cheeses he sells (cow, goat, and sheep) are well-loved by his customers.

Come summer, Spanish Table will offer soft-ripened goat cheese along with specialties like Argentinean provoleta, which is delicious when grilled, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with oregano. Yum. Can we have that right now?

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Tags: Downtown, Capitol Hill, Cheese, Phinney Ridge, Food Trends in Seattle, Trending

Edible Gift Guide Idea #4: Beecher’s Winter Collection

A gift basket that’s not a total rip-off? Believe.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Nov 17, 2010 at 02:28PM 0 Comments

The gift of cheese

Category Friends and family ($30-$100)
Best For Cheese lovers, Seattle natives missing the homeland.

Let’s say your kid’s abroad and can’t get home for the holidays. Or you’re here but your sister is in New York and hanging out with her inlaws.

Or let’s just say there’s someone out there whom you love and who really loves cheese.

For these sort of “I’m thinking of you and I know you love the Northwest” gifts, I like the winter collection from Beecher’s. It’s an assortment of Northwest cheeses and accompaniments that costs $55 and ships for $12.

You get: Mt Towsend Creamery Seastack, Willapa Hills Two-faced Blue, Beecher’s Flagship, Rutherford and Meyer Plum Fruit Paste, and Beechers original crackers—basically the makings of a kickass cheese plate, all ready to go.

Most gift baskets are jerks. But this one is full of actually good stuff, and it’s within the realm of reason from a price perspective. Send away.

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Tags: Cheese, Edible Gift Guide

Finally, An Article About a 117-Year-Old Piece of Cheese

You want to know how stinky it is, don’t you?

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 21, 2010 at 10:40AM 1 Comments

Cheese

“This is the story of a hundred-and-seventeen-year-old piece of cheese.” That’s the first line of Robert Sullivan’s recent Talk of the Town piece in the New Yorker. I read the article this morning with coffee, having selected that particular magazine because it was within reach.

The cheese came from Lithuania, its current owner inherited it from her Grandmother in 2009. “She flew down from New York to take possession. When she got to the house, the cheese was not in the box on the shelf in the closet where it usually resided—her aunt Linda had put it in the freezer. ‘I was a little freaked out about it,’ she said. The cheese flew back on a Delta flight to LaGuardia. It breezed through security, probably because it smells only when it is close to your face.”

Weirdly, in the time it took to write this very short post, the article became unavailable online. If you want to read the whole thing—and believe me, you do—it’s in the September 13 issue.

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Tags: Cheese, Food Finds, The New Yorker

Three Things I Learned at Madison Market Last Night

Cheese by the half-wheel, Ethan Stowell pasta, and losing perspective on customer service standards.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 09, 2010 at 11:47AM 1 Comments

Madison Market, school of life.

I stopped into Madison Market last night to pick up some groceries. In the process I managed to learn three things. Those things are these:

1. You can get Dinah’s cheese by the half wheel: Madison Market now cuts the circle of Camembert-style cheese into two half-moons and sells each separately. I asked cheesemaker Kurt Timmermeister why, and he said it was the store that repacked the cheese that way, not Kurtwood Farms.

But it’s a convenient thing to know if you’re planning a cheese plate that will include—but not be limited to—Dinah’s.

2. Madison Market sells Ethan Stowell’s pasta line, Lagana, and it’s excellent. I bought the radiatore and had to eat it practically plain (I threw in a little pesto but not much) due to a sad stomach. It was plumped-up, freshity fresh perfection. Seriously, this is your new dinner-party secret.

3. People cause scenes at co-ops. Usually the worst thing that happens at Madison Market is that you have to wait in line forever because someone forgot to label the twisty on his organic farro. But last night the worst (slash best!) thing that happened was that a middle-aged woman went “all banshee”—as my Australian relatives like to say—and started yelling at this cashier about how rude he was, and about how she always tries to avoid his line because he’s so freaking rude.

And the funny thing about that is that said cashier is like the nicest person ever. Even by the high, happy-hippie niceness standards of Madison Market employees he is nice. Irate lady: If you think Madison Market employees mistreat you, you might try shopping anywhere else in the world besides an upscale organic market in Seattle. Not five minutes before, I saw a store worker, upon noticing a customer with too many items in her arms, run across the shop to get her a cart. And that employee who got the cart? He’s not even as nice as the guy at whom the banshee was shrieking.

Still, I have to admit, I appreciated the show. “Who needs TV?” asked the guy in front of me, clutching his pointy bike helmet and employing a bit of a British accent. Certainly no one at the co-op needs TV! I thought. And then I shoved my groceries into my purse, so as to avoid the shame of a plastic bag (or “devil sac” as we call them at the co-op), and went home to eat plain Ethan Stowell pasta in front of the boob tube.

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Tags: Capitol Hill, Cheese, Grocery Shopping, Ethan Stowell

Attention Cheeseheads: 1,300-Plus Artisanal Varieties Are Calling Your Name

Sample them at the Festival of Cheese, taking place Saturday at Benaroya.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Aug 24, 2010 at 02:01PM 0 Comments

Lots of the good stuff will be at this weekend’s Festival of Cheese.

Like many events of late, the awards ceremony for this year’s Cheese-a-Topia is branded as the Oscars equivalent of its ilk—a tired trespass, but forgiven when cheese is at the heart of things.

The shindig takes place Saturday at Benaroya Hall and is the capstone of the American Cheese Society’s four-day conference getting underway August 25. While the convention is members only, Saturday’s hoopla is open to the public—and you’re lucky it is, because this is where things get fun.

After the ceremony, the Festival of Cheese takes over Benaroya, whereupon an impressive roster of nearly 20 restaurants, (Luc, Dinette, Spring Hill, etc ) plus local wineries and breweries line the downtown performance hall. Each will serve delicious snacks, while cheesemongers will proffer samples of more than 1,300 North American varieties. Holy cow.

Michael Pollan will be there, but if you want to chat cheese with him, you’re going to have to flash mega cash; the VIP tasting is $400 a ticket. Otherwise, admission is $85 and can be secured the night of at Benaroya. Doors open at 5pm.

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Tags: Cheese, Food Events and Festivals