Category Archives: Cheese

Celebrating All Things Goat, Rhone & Cheese

Posted on by 11 comments

A Great Goat Time

They call themselves the “Goat Girls.”

Don’t ya just love the name?

Jennifer Bice of Redwood Hill Farm and Creamery, Laura Howard of Laloo’s Goat’s Milk Ice Cream, and Mary Keehn of Cypress Grove Chevre, have teamed up to host the first “Goat Festival” on April 17 at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, steps from the Hotel Vitale.

After all, goat’s milk is the most common milk consumed throughout the world, with a chemical structure that is apparently similar to mother’s milk. It’s higher in calcium, vitamins A and B6, and minerals than cow’s milk. It’s also naturally low in lactose.

Join the Goat Girls, 10 a.m.-11 a.m., for a talk, then a chance to sample goat milk products.

At 11 a.m., Mark Dommen, chef of One Market in San Francisco, takes the stage to do a cooking demo using seasonal ingredients and goat milk products. At 11:45 a.m., Maggie Ford, author of “Goat Cheese” will do a cooking demo and book signing. Finally, at 12:30 p.m., Gordon Edgar, author of “Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge,” will talk about his book and sign copies of it.

There even will be baby goats to “ooh” and “ahh” over near the Sur La Table store.

More Things Cheesy

If you get brie on the brain, the chevre shivers, and juiced about Jack, high-tail it to Petaluma for the fourth annual “California’s Artisan Cheese Festival,” March 26-29,where a veritable mountain of cheese awaits.

We don’t know about you, but we’re swooning at the thought of nearly 40 artisan cheese producers (most of them from California) showing off their specialties at a marketplace along with 20 wineries and breweries — all at the Sheraton Sonoma County in Petaluma. Plus, who can resist the world’s best gooey, cheesy flatbreads served hot from a wood-burning oven?

This four-day cheesy celebration kicks off with an old-fashioned barn dance, followed by a bevy of cheese seminars, a cheese-making demo, and a gala dinner served up by eight cheesemakers, eight chefs, and eight vintners. Tickets are $45 to $130.

California is the second largest producer of cheese in the country. OK, so Wisconsin beats us. But we have cuter cow commercials.

Read more

Delicious Doings Around the Region

Posted on by 18 comments

The South Bay and Peninsula:

Sonoma Chicken Coop is famous for chicken, of course. But the Campbell locale has added a new item that will have you moo-ing instead.

That’s right — a burger made of grass-fed beef from Estancia ranches. It’s the only one of the franchises serving the grass-fed burger. And it’s flying out of the coop — at 75 orders a day, according to owner Jeff Starbeck. Surprisingly — or not — about 40 percent of the customers chowing down on the burger are women. Starbeck surmises that might be because grass-fed beef is lower in fat and contains more good-for-you omega-3s than corn-fed beef.

The 1/3-pound patty is hand-formed, then charbroiled, and served on a housemade bun. Choose from six different topping preparations, including avocado and mushrooms. The $9.99 burger comes with your choice of onion strings, regular fries or sweet potato fries.

Caltrain commuters at the Hillsdale station just got a tasty new option — a commuter “market” located in the former ticket office, where you can pick up fresh produce like apples, squash and avocados; as well as prepared dinner meals such as chicken pot pies and Dungeness crab mac ‘n’ cheese. How’s that for convenience?

Luke’s Local was opened by Luke Chappell, who started his own bagel business in Maine at the ripe old age of 11. His entrepreneurial spirit runs in his family. His parents founded Tom’s of Maine, a personal care products company that pioneered the use of all natural ingredients.

The commuter market is open Monday through Thursday, 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Friday.  Purchase items there or phone in your order to take home. And yes, food and beverages are allowed on the trains.

Fans of Chef Michael Miller may be wondering what he’s been up to after he closed his well-regarded Trevese in Los Gatos last year. The good news is he’s now executive chef at the Silicon Valley Capital Club in San Jose.

If you’re not a member, find a friend who is to enjoy his wonderful cooking again.

Around the Region:

Thursday, Feb. 25 is National Clam Chowder Day. (Who comes up with these things?) Get your chowder fix at any Boudin SF or Boudin Cafe, where if you buy one clam chowder in a bowl that day, and receive a second one for free.

You have to present a coupon to get that deal. Print one out here.

If you’re a Parmigiano Reggiano fan (yes, the real stuff), you’ll want to head to Whole Foods at noon (PST) Feb. 27, when all of its markets will be demonstrating the proper way to break into huge, 24-month-aged wheels using five different knives.

In 2008, Whole Foods set a Guinness World Record for opening the most wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano simultaneously with nearly 300 wheels in 176 stores. This year, Whole Foods hopes to break that record.

You’ll get a chance to taste samples of the cheese, too. For more info or to see a video of a wheel of cheese being cracked open, click here.

If all that cheese is making you think of pasta, you’ll be glad to know that Pasta Pomodoro locations throughout Northern California are now letting kids (ages 12 and under) eat free all day on Tuesdays.

The “Kid’ Menu” includes items such as cheesy pasta or mini chicken Parmigiana pizza with a choice of milk, apple juice or soda. A chocolate sundae completes the meal.

Cinnabon — maker of those monster-sized cinnamon rolls whose sugary aroma fills the air of every mall around — has joined the cupcake craze.

The new cupcakes retail for about $2.50 each depending upon the city. San Francisco is the launch point for the cupcakes, which will be rolled out nationally to other cities throughout February.

Four cupcake flavors are available: Cinnacake Classic, Chocolate Passion, Vanilla Bliss, and 24-Carrot Cake.

Wine Country and Beyond:

Congratulations to Yountville’s Bardessono Hotel, Restaurant and Spa for garnering a LEED Platinum certification, the top designation established by the U.S. Green Building Council for environmental  and energy design.

It is the only hotel in California to achieve that designation, and only one of three hotels in the world to do so.

Read more

A Guy Named Carlos, A Lot of Crab, & A Cheesy Time

Posted on by 4 comments

A wall sconce at Maria Maria. (Photo courtesy of Robby Skog Photography)

Musician great Carlos Santana opened a fifth locale of his Maria Maria restaurant late last year in Danville.

Serving “Nuevo Mexican” cuisine, it features dishes such as chicken and mole tortilla casserole ($15), grilled skirt steak with nopales salad $(19), and mixed wild mushroom fajitas ($15).

No telling how often you might spot Santana, himself, there. But he did put in an appearance earlier this week to meet and greet media.

Cheesemaker Allison Hooper and friend. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Hooper)

Cheese aficionados will want to head to the Pasta Shop in the 4th Street Market Place in Berkeley, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m, Jan. 15.

Allison Hooper, author of “In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen,” will be on hand to sign copies of her book, discuss the world of cheese, and offer tastes of her luscious creations.

Hooper, of Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery, will be joined by other artisan cheesemakers at this free event, including those from Bellwether Farms and Cowgirl Creamery, who also will be offering samples of their cheeses.

Read more

The Country’s Oldest and Priciest Cheddar

Posted on by 25 comments

A one-of-a-kind cheese.

A very special gift arrived from a very special friend last month.

A block of vivid orange, it’s believed to be the oldest, most expensive cheddar in America.

Made with utmost patience by award-winning cheese-maker, Hook’s Cheese Co. of Mineral Point, WI, it was a holiday gift from my friend, Karen Herzog, a food writer at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

When Karen first wrote about this special cheese for her newspaper, it created a sensation. NPR, CNN, CBS News, Yahoo News, and newspapers around the globe picked up her story about this cheese that had been aged 15 years and was selling for $50 a pound.

Good things always come in small packages.

Yes, a 15-year-old, cow’s milk, sharp cheddar. That’s like half a century in wine years and an eternity in dog ones.

Read more

Gawking at Goat Cheese

Posted on by 19 comments

The unusual rind on Capricious goat cheese.

Take a close look at this rind. Come on. Closer, closer.

How can you not gawk at a cheese with an exterior that’s almost burlap-like in color and texture?

Have you ever seen the likes of this before? I know I haven’t.

Capricious is the name of this wondrous goat cheese.

And I have cookbook authors Mark Scarbrough and Bruce Weinstein of the RealFoodHasCurves blog to thank for this discovery.

The duo were in San Francisco earlier this year, when they stumbled upon this glorious cheese sold at the Cowgirl Creamery shop in the Ferry Building that’s made by Achadinha Cheese Company of Petaluma.

The milk for the cheese comes from the Pacheco Family Goat Dairy that’s been around since 1953. Five years ago, owners Donna and Jim Pacheco, started making cheese, too, from the milk from their 1,400-goat herd. After Mark and Bruce raved about it to me, the Pachecos were kind enough to send me a small sample of the cheese to try.

A different kind of goat cheese -- dry, crumbly and aged.

The Capricious sells for $29.95 a pound. That may sound pricey, but not when you realize all the love and work that’s gone into it.

The cheese is completely handmade and hand-rolled. Each wheel is turned daily to endure even mold coverage, then washed and rubbed down with olive oil to protect the interior of the cheese as it ages anywhere from three to 10 months, depending upon the time of year and the amount of butter fat in the goats milk.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »