I ran across Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in Flatiron when I was walking around in what could only be described as excruciating heat in NYC. The kind where you’re sure you are not smelling particularly fresh, but everyone around you is smelling the same way. I’m talking about awful. One of the biggest reasons that my husband didn’t want to move to NYC (kid you not) is that he was convinced he’d sweat through his clothes before he got to work. I told him it was nonsense, and that the subway cars were air conditioned (usually), and he’d dry off by the time his stop came. On this day, I sympathized.

I was looking desperately for a place with AC. Anywhere I could fake like I was looking at merchandise, and dip out once I got cool. And I saw Beecher’s. As a devotee of Murray’s Cheese and Artisanal, I was skeptical. But the location seemed nice and the AC was pumping. When I stepped in I saw, a little bit away from the door, a free sample of a cheddar cheese that they make in house. I walked in a little further. I saw the charcuterie and olive counter, and I stepped in a little more. At that point, the cheese aroma had taken over, and I knew I was going to explore.

I have to say I found it interesting. Definitely bigger than the cramped Murray’s, and a little less pretentious than Artisanal. And they not only age cheeses on site (I’ve been to Murray’s cheese caves, and they’re super cool…), but they make them there also. You can visit these cheesemaking kitchens. They have a cafe where you can watch the cheesemongers do their thing, or have wine in the cellar overlooking the cheese caves. This sounds like a perfect date if you happen to be dating a fellow lover of cheese. I am not in that situation. Of course you can also just buy cheese, charcuterie and accompaniments there, but there’s a lot more to explore. In the Cellar, they offer an “award-winning” mac and cheese. I’m always game for a mac and cheese sampling.

Visit Beecher’s At:

900 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
212.466.3340

Enjoy!

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We know that even though you are amazingly loyal readers, that you may not catch every post every time. So we’re rounding up our favorite posts on our favorite topics. Today is Cheese 101. Dana is a total cheese and wine freak, and we’ve gathered several posts to tell you everything you need to know about cheese, wine and putting together a kick ass wine and cheese plate!

Cheese:

• What is Cheese and Why do I care?
• How to Identify Cheeses
• Intro to Cheese Tasting
• Do I pick my Cheese or my Wine first?
• Making Mozzarella at the Brooklyn Kitchen
• Homemade Ricotta
• How to stop serving a lame cheese plate
• Cheese Party

Wines:

• Wine Basics
• Intro to Tasting Wines
• Terroir
• Cooking with Wine
• Wines I Really Love: Jerez, Matusalem Oloroso Dulce Muy Viejo
• Wines I love: Brachetto
• Wine and Cheese Party Game Plan
• Throwing a Wine and Cheese tasting Party

Cheese Pairings:

• Herbed Goat Cheese with Apple Cider Reduction
• Saint-Nectaire and Rosemary Pine Nut Brittle
• 5-Year Aged Gouda and Apple Vanilla Bean Compote
• Deconstructed dates with Gorgonzola Picante and Sugared Bacon
• Gruyere and Red Onion Jam
• Oak Smoked Gubbeen + Spicy Mustard
• Miticana De Oveja + Caramelized Pear Butter
• La Tur and Blackberry-Almond Compote

Enjoy!

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We have chosen a winner who will receive two passes to Wine Riot in D.C. The lucky person is….

Victoria B.!

Don’t forget Wine Riot D.C. is May 5th at DRC Hall.

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The group behind Wine Riot is coming to DC again, and we’re giving away a pair of tickets to one lucky reader. Enter the contest below!

Wine Riot is a new sort of wine tasting experience. The event will feature hundreds of wines to taste, a team of wine experts to answer any crazy wine questions you may have (“How the hell do you pronounce Gewürztraminer?”), a crash course in wine, and new interactive booths. Like last time, there will be a DJ spinning tunes, temporary tattoos and a photo booth for your drunken photographs.  Always a good time. This year, to keep you from totally passing out after tasting all that wine, Luke’s Lobster will be providing food pairings for a few extra dollars.

Second Glass, the company behind the Wine Riot, (Self-proclaimed unpretentious, badass source for baller wine info and creators of #wineriot) said that the one thing that stood out loud and clear was that DC folks are tech saavy. Their free wine locator app was downloaded by 46% of the attendees, the highest in any city where they’ve held Wine Riots. The app enables you to “mark” wines you love, as well as guide you to places to buy the wine in the DC area. This year, the app will also include a suggested tour route, if you’re too freaked out by the sheer number of booths that will be there. (The App is available for download for iPhone and Android)

What’s different this year? Second Glass said they’re taking note that not everyone is a braniac that learns by reading. Some people are more visual. So they’re setting up interactive booths to delve deeper into topics that attendees asked for last time. The booths will be free-form, come and go, but super interactive. Here are a few topics:

• Vermouth and Moscato: I know one of those goes into a martini, and the other one is a favorite of rappers, but what else? Interested in making cocktails? This booth will teach you how to use these ingredients, and leave you with some recipes to try at home.
• Loire Valley Wines: That’s in France, right? How do you pair these wines with food?
• Bordeaux: What is the big freaking deal with this wine?  Learn about what makes it so special.
• Austrian wines: Learn about wines from the region and how you can get tasty wine at a decent price.

They also said they’d be revamping the look of the event – kind of an Anthropologie meets Etsy sort of thing. Music to my ears. I looove Anthropologie.

It will be held Saturday May 5th at DAR Constitution Hall. You can buy tickets for either the 1-5pm session, or the 7-11pm session. Tickets are on sale now for $50. Get them here.

Enter our contest for a pair of free tickets!

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It’s Friday. Want to throw together a quick wine and cheese party tonight, like Christina did a few weeks ago? Call up a few of your closest friends, print out this game plan and head to Whole Foods.

1. Buy Some Cheese. (Duh.)

Pick three to five cheeses, of varying milk types (cow, sheep, goat) and ages. Buy 1 ounce per person of each type of cheese. If you’re having a ton of people over, split the cheese plates into two. A giant hunk of cheese doesn’t look super sexy.

Pick one cheese from each of the categories below for a five-cheese plate. Only feel like doing three? Pick one from Fresh/Bloomy Rind, Washed Rind/Semi-Soft/Firm, and Hard/Blue.

Fresh/Bloomy Rind

• Burrata
• Brie de Meaux
• Camembert de Normandie
• Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog
• La Tur

• Epoisses de Bourgogne
• Tallegio
• Saint-Nectaire
• Tomme Crayeuse

• Comte
• Manchego
• Gruyere
• Pecorino Toscano

• Gouda (aged 3+ years)
• Parmigiano-Reggiano

• Gorgonzola
• Roquefort
• Stilton

2. Buy Some Accompaniments. Cheese is even better with a partner.

• Preserves/Chutney: Anything works, really. It all depends on what you’re in the mood for. My favorite jams are from Stonewall Kitchen – roasted garlic and onion, apple jalapeño and blood orange marmalade are all amazing.
• Dried Fruit: Dried cherries, apple rings and apricots always work well.
• Olives: Pick a milder, younger olive to make sure the brine doesn’t conflict with your wine. Hey, that rhymes!
• Crackers: Get something that isn’t highly seasoned so you can taste the flavor of the cheese. Carr’s crackers are always a good standby.
• French Bread: Sliced thinly.
• Marcona Almonds: Not your typical raw almonds. These are roasted, blanched and salted.

3. Assign the Wine.
It’s easiest to have everyone bring a bottle of wine. Assign them to bring either a red or white bottle. It’s best to stay away from anything too polarizing — anything too sweet or too tannic. (i.e. no Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignon or traditional Reislings), but ask each couple to bring a bottle of wine they love.

Do you want to provide the wine, and need a refresher on how to pair it? Check it out here.

4. Set it all out

• Unwrap and set the cheese out an hour before guests arrive, so it can be brought to room temperature.
• Serve each cheese with a separate knife. You don’t want the blue cheese on the brie, and vice versa. Respect the cheese.
• Arrange the cheese from the mildest to the strongest, in the order listed above

Feeling ambitious and want to make a few accompaniments? Try these:

• Blackberry Almond Compote
• Caramelized Pear Butter
• Spicy Mustard
• Apple Vanilla Bean Compote
• Deconstructed Dates with Sugared Bacon
• Red Onion Jam
• Rosemary Pine Nut Brittle
• Dried Cherry Almond Cookies
• Apple Cider Reduction

Enjoy!

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My friends and I took a day trip down to Carmel one day and one of the places we really wanted to visit was The Cheese Shop. When we walked in we were slightly knocked back by the overwhelming smell of cheese but we certainly knew we were in the right place (besides, after a few minutes we didn’t even notice the cheese-o-rific odor).

The way the shop is set up customers stand in front of the counter and the staff brings out different cheeses, one by one, allowing the customer to taste each one. We did this for a while and used the tri-fold list of cheeses to keep track of which ones we liked and which ones we didn’t. It was really fun and they even let us behind the counter to take cheesy photos (pun intended). So after trying a bunch we each bought our favorites. And then it only made sense that we would have a little cheese party and invite some other friends to share with us.

For our cheese tasting we had the following cheeses:
Rimrocker: Pasteurized organic cows’ and farmstead goats’ milk

Raspberry BellaVitano: Made by Sartori, which describes it as a “nutty, creamy, award-winning creation — soaked with handcrafted Raspberry Tart ale.”

Kokos Coconut Cheese: a coconut-flavored gouda from the Netherlands

Stoke’s Point Smoked Cheddar: a pasteurized cow’s milk from Australia

Asiago: made in the U.S. and aged with basil and olive oil

Given this combination of cheeses, we chose Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot/Pinot Noir and a dry Riesling for our tasting (and a random Chianti for when we ran out of cheese).

Besides the wine and cheese we also served the following:

olives
almonds
hummus
Chevre with herbs
pickled peppers
sun-dried tomato/pesto/goat cheese layered dip
Food Should Taste Good Multigrain chips
pita chips
crackers
toasts

We made a plate for each person with a sample of each cheese arranged in a circle. Then we tried each each wine with each cheese. If you want to do something similar with your friends, it’s good to talk about each pairing and discuss the flavors – which ones seems to complement each other and which pairings don’t work well. Write down the type of cheese, including whether it’s cow’s milk, and make note of the type of grape for each wine. Think about the textures, smells, etc. You can use a journal to keep track of what you like and don’t like about the cheeses and the pairings.

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