How many of you out there wake up excited for Monday morning at the office, looking forward to the work week? In my current job, Monday mornings are saved and consequently made bearable by a nice hard run, in the balmy twenty degree weather that seems to be never ending. When I come inside from that run, a big warm welcome from my dog, a nice shower, and a cup of coffee make the beginning of the week not so bad after all!
And tonight, when I arrived home, I had a little pre-dinner snack of Saga Blue Brie on a piece of crusty bread with a glass of white port and all felt ok in the world! There's nothing like some blue cheese and a nice glass of port to put a smile on one's face.
Seeing as the goal of my blog is not just to educate you about the sorts of recipes one can prepare with cheese, it is also to inform you about the various purveyors in and around the five boroughs and beyond, and well a whole lot of other cheese related musings; I thought today we would talk about my trip this past weekend to East Village Cheese where I purchased the above mentioned blue.
Before we delve into this week's experience, lets go over the basics on East Village Cheese --
It's located on Third Avenue between Ninth and Tenth streets and has some of the best bargains you will find on cheese in Manhattan. The first time I went in there, I thought, how is it possible, they are selling 4oz logs of goat cheese for one dollar instead of the standard average of $2.69 to $4.99. I didn't get it! Then I wondered if the price meant that the quality was lacking and well that first trip, I did not find any red flags. However, in subsequent trips, I had very differing experiences with the quality of the cheese there. I have learned in all my trips there, what I find to be trustworthy and will always be a good bet. That is the information I hope to share with you here.
One last thing to know about East Village Cheese, this is not the sort of place where you will find artisanal, handcrafted cheeses, this is the place where you will find mass produced cheeses that we're all familiar with, granted, they could come in interesting variations such as Argentinean Parmesans. However, this is totally the place to go if you are having a lot of people over and you don't want to break the bank on a really expensive cheese selection, but remember to bring cash, they don't take cards.
Ok on to my pointers:
1. East Village cheese has all these interesting sounding ingredients that are added to normal cheeses and although they sound fascinating, they tend to not be particularly successful. I remember once I tried I believe a blue cheese that had some wine in it. How could you go wrong there right? Wine and cheese rolled into one? But it was too sweet for one to eat more than one small taste.
2. In the same line as ingredients, do not go for your regular cheese with an unusual origin, typically not the best!
3. I like to think that the packaged ingredients in the front tend to be more reliable for the most part, hey they are already packaged right?
4. So I recommend, go with things you know, like their aged gruyere is always good, as are their goudas, and bries definitely.
It is definitely your recession proof cheese store.
Go on in, buy yourself some of the $3.99 a lb aged gruyere and a few other treats and marvel at how you spent nothing in comparison to other stores! Isn't that exciting being in a city of full of pricier cheese stores??!?
The best part about your first trip to East Village Cheese is your face when you realize you have saved so much money on this week's cheese purchase! Check back next week for East Village Cheese's counterpart and enjoy another recipe tomorrow.
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