Our Enjoying Cheese Category

My article about the celebration at Celebration Restaurant for award-winning Texas cheese makers has been posted at cravedfw.com.  The CheeseWife™ and I attended this reception last Thursday night and met some wonderful people and had some incredible cheese and yogurt.   I had met a few of the people before this at the American Cheese Society conference in August, but somehow I missed a few of them.

I was honored to meet Paula Lambert, founder of Mozzarella Company,  at the Celebration event.  I found her to be as warm and charming as I had heard she is.

Edgar Diaz was also charming and the CheeseWife™ raved about his drinkable yogurt.

Amelia Sweethardt proved true to her name and her goat blue cheese is to die for.

I had met Dave Eagle, of Eagle Mountain Farmhouse Cheese at ACS, but Dave was unable to attend this event.  His son Matt did though and it was great getting to meet him.

Rebeccah Durkin, of Brazos Valley Cheese amazed me with a description of how they had recently made rennet and showed me some pictures of the process.  At first I was taken aback but then it occurred to me that, being a part of an agrarian community and having a butcher, they had access to the skills and resources.  Silly city boy!  Rebeccah and I had attended some of the same sessions at the ACS meetings this summer so it was fun to catch up with her and Rebekah Deines on some of the news at Brazos Valley Cheese.

I found a use for some quark that I made last weekend from All-Natchur_L milk.  I made this recipe on Saturday for dinner:

The recipe calls for Mascarpone but I used some quark that I made Sunday at the same time I made Farmhouse Cheddar.  I think the recipe link’s pictures are much better than mine is, but my tart was delicious!

Yesterday afternoon the CheeseWife™ and I trekked into Dallas to check out Scardello Cheese on Oak Lawn near Lemmon Avenue. I had in mind a cheese plate, with a few different selections of cheeses that I had never had before.  Scardello’s was unlike another cheese shop in two ways: no bazouki music and they actually had cheese.  Lots and lots of glorious cheese!

Scardello’s has cheese, wine, sandwiches, books, chocolate, olive oil and much more.  The CheeseWife™ was really hungry so we ordered a Mountaineer sandwich, a cheese plate and a bottle of wine.   For the cheese plate you can select the cheeses yourself or ask the friendly and knowledgeable staff to select something.  There is a $5 set up fee for the plate, which includes some bread, fruit and nuts and then you pay for the cheeses by weight.

I was blown away that they had Persille de Tignes which I had been searching for for quite awhile.  I also selected a Brazos Valley Gouda, a Tête de Moin and a Caerphilly. Here’s an iPhoto of the plate:

(left to right: Gouda, Tête de Moin, Caerphilly and the Persille de Tignes).

To the upper left is part of the salad on the plate with the Mountaineer sandwich.  Also we enjoyed a bottle of 2007 Peltier Station Viognier.  The wine was an excellent companion to the cheeses, fruity but dry.  If you squint hard you may be able to see some dark-colored figs on the plate with the dried apricots and fresh roasted almonds.

Proprietor Rich Rogers stopped at our table an chatted with us about the cheese, the wine and the upcoming American Cheese Society meeting in Montreal in August.   Rich described an ACS meeting as a life-changing event.  I have got to go to this one!

My niece dropped by the shop on her way to work and enjoyed a little of the cheese with us. She works too hard and long (medical profession) so it was a rare delight to get to see her.

On the way out I purchased some more of the Persille de Tignes which has shot to near the top of the list of my favorite cheeses.  Maybe all the way to the top! It is a blue cheese with subtle, earthy notes and an almost dry, crumbly texture.   In no way am I diminishing how great the other three cheeses we had were.   Someday I will have to get a Girolle to enjoy the Tête de Moin to its ultimate expression.  We also need to tour Brazos Valley Cheese near Waco some time.  I think the Caerphilly was the CheeseWife™‘s favorite of the cheeses.

If you are in or near Dallas, get thee to Scardello’s and do so often!  You won’t regret it!