Day 969 : Epicerie Boulud Cheeses!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to make it to checking out the Saxelby curated cheese counter at Epicerie Boulud considering as it is less than a 5 minute walk from my apartment. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

But yesterday afternoon I stopped in to grab some cheeses for a family dinner. The selection as I knew was a mixture of small production local American cheese wonders and certain select French greats.

Looking for Pave du Nord? Or perhaps a Herve Mons aged ash ripened goat's milk cheese? Then definitely grab Ovalie Cendree. This long oval shaped cheese is just the cats' meow -- classic flavors of chalky, bright, milky, grassy citrus abound but with a warm earthy rusticness and hints of mushroomy ash. Sure your mind goes to cheeses like Valencay but don't let it stop there, Ovalie Cendree has the most unique depth to it. Looking for a straight forward morsel of 2 year aged Comte or an ooey gooey bite of Brilliat Savarin, you can find it here!

And what of our American selections? There's one of my favorite winter-time cheeses crafted by Spring Brook Farm, Reading Raclette. Rustic and earthy yet buttery and rich, perfection with a nice warming ale or medium bodied red. Staying in the firm cheese arena, there was Grafton Village's Shepsog, a cow and sheep's milk firm Vermonter of a cheese or Cumberland from Tennessee, a newish discovery for me. Maybe you are more in a washed rind mood, well then definitely pick up a morsel of Hudson Red, my favorite Hudson Valley washed rind fellow.

Albeit small, the selections are excellently curated and affordable - you cannot go wrong with any choice you make here. However, I will caution, you should know what you are looking for when you approach the cheese counter as surprisingly so, the knowledge of the cheesemongers was not very apparent nor was their usage of the right cheese knives or wrapping procedures. It is a shame as the selection is awesome but that won't stop me as I know what I want. I look forward to returning to explore other cheeses and their ever changing selection.


Epicerie Boulud
1900 Broadway