Day 697 : Riposo 72

The Upper West surely isn't want for wine bars -- there are wine bars every few blocks, if not closer to one another. Riposo 72 is tucked away on 72nd street between Central Park West and Columbus and seems to traditionally be easier to snag a table at, perhaps because its off the avenue. A laid back and warm spacious interior welcomes you as you enter.

Their food menu is a mixture of flatbreads, paninis, salads, cheese, cured meats, and well the classic wine bar food. Although their cheese selection is not anything to write home about: marinated Feta, Parmesan, Manchego, Piave, Gorgonzola Dolce, Port Salut, and Smoked Gouda, there is a little perk about it that we picked up on yesterday. According to their menu, one cheese is $9 where as the chef's selection of cheeses is $19. Obviously a better deal, right? It doesn't just stop there -- you get four cheeses and our waitress even let us choose our selection instead of the chef's selection. So in the long run, we ended up with four cheeses that we wanted to have for barely more than the price of two individual morsels. The cheese arrived with soaked dried fruit, some fresh fruit, toast and some walnuts, a simple preparation but perfect for a girls afternoon in January with glasses of Prosecco.

Go for a casual drink between 4 and 6 during the week and get 20% off bottles of wine and flatbreads, that is if you're able to escape from the office at such an early hour.

A good option that is eminently more affordable than its neighborhood counterparts with a pleasant atmosphere.

Riposo 72
50 West 72nd Street
NYC

Day 696 : An Italian Cheese Tasting

In honor of my friend's love of all things Italian, another friend and I planned a bubbly and cheese girls night in for her. Two bottles of Prosecco, check! And a selection of three Italian cheeses, check!

What were the three cheeses?

1. La Tur - The most fantastic melange of cow, goat, and sheep's milk crafted into a disc of luscious creamy cheesy goodness. A melt in your mouth Italian stallion that delights across the board. Perfect with a glass of Prosecco to cut through the dense ice creamy like quality of the cheese.

2. Quadrello di Bufala - A washed rind pasteurized water buffalo milk semi firm cheese. Think along the lines of that classic ooey gooey stink of a Taleggio but rounder, milkier and sweeter due to the higher fat content of water buffalo milk. Decadent and indulgent with a rustic rough around the edges sort of feel -- great with a glass of Barbera.

3. Gorgonzola Dolce - A classic three month aged cow's milk Italian blue. What differentiates this blue from say a regular Gorgonzola or those known as Piccante? The amount of aging. With only three months of cave aging and frequent brine baths, this is one of the most friendly and approachable blues out there. Soft, faintly sweet, and creamy, it coats every crevice of your mouth while still possessing a nice amount of spicy stinky blue pungence.

Day 695 : How to Save / How to Splurge Dispatch # 44

So after reading yesterday's blog, did you decide that you needed to have a Raclette night for you and your friends this weekend or sometime soon?

Well I suggest doing it soon because right now, Raclette, is on sale for $6.98 a pound at Zabar's compared to say $14.99 a pound at Murray's meaning you can get more than two pounds for the price of one! A great way to start the New Year off saving, right?

Day 694 : Cheese for Hibernation?

It's officially winter. December missed the memo, but don't worry January received it loud and clear. This morning while I was running the official temperature was 12 degrees but realistically with the wind chill, it was 3 degrees. Now I wouldn't be mentioning this if it hadn't been 50 degrees less than five days ago. The drastic shift is causing lots of Theraflu, Emergen-C, Ricolas and the shared desire of most Manhattanites to hibernate. When in hibernation you probably want lots of roasted vegetables, baked mac n' cheese dishes, dark ales, red wines, you name it, we all have our favorite tummy and soul warming dishes.

Most people think fondue when you think of that sort of comfort warming dish, right? Well what about Raclette?

Raclette is both a cheese, a grill, and refers directly to the manner in which that cheese is melted over different foods. Raclette is derived from the French word, racler meaning "to scrape," which is what French cowboys used to do with large wheels of this cheese once melted over a fire with bread and potatoes to land on.

So what sort of cheese is Raclette?

It is a traditionally French and Swiss alpine style semi-soft washed rind cheese that is routinely softer than its other alpine cheese cousins like Appenzeller and Comte. Smooth, silky, milky and buttery with a rustic barnyardy finish and light nutty hay notes, it is excellent for the wintertime because of its inherently warming qualities.

If you're feeling old fashioned, you can go out and buy a half wheel and lightly heat it so you can scrape (racler) the gooey morsels onto the starchy surface of your choice or since it is the 21st century, you can go out and buy a raclette grill and have this little machine do all of your work for you!

Either way -- I guarantee some of this cheese heated to perfection is just the ticket on this cold winter evening. Perhaps with a nice big glass of red wine or a deep dark ale or even a tippler of mulled wine if you're feeling spicy. Stay warm folks.

Day 693 : Corkbuzz

This evening I stopped into Corkbuzz, the new wine bar south of Union Square by the world's youngest master sommelier, a woman at that! With a philosophy about bringing together wine appreciators and lovers to enjoy and educate about wine, I'd been excited about trying this place since I heard about it in the first place. Corkbuzz's mission was to be a warm and welcoming place to meet for a drink, a place to dine or to take classes at, and to be open to everyone. I love this concept and think it is something that the Union Square area could use along with just being a great idea.

However when I walked in this evening, I was a little bit disappointed -- although the wine list was great, I felt that it priced out a lot of its prime clientele -- with the majority of wines by the glass more expensive than other wine bars around town. With the mission of educating about wine, the bartenders/waiters did not really take the time to explain the wines you were drinking. Perhaps you didn't want that which is completely understandable but the offer would have been nice. The menu looked wonderful and was meant to pair with the wines, but yet again more expensive than I was expecting.

What was maybe the most interesting for me was that the majority of the clientele were business folk from the neighborhood stopping in for a drink before heading home, maybe that has to do with the time I was there or that it has not become popular yet, but I expected this to be a place for wine lovers to commune and chat about new wine trends, food fads, cheese developments and more.

It is such an excellent concept with what looks like a wonderfully delish food menu and a warm and inviting atmosphere, I hope it is successful as it grows into itself. It sure has the promise and I am sure with the lack of wine bars in the immediate neighborhood it will take off!

Corkbuzz
13 East 13th Street
NYC

Day 692 : An ode to French Roquefort

My folks returned from France this past weekend with some delish French cheese in tow that I was lucky enough to be able to partake in the enjoyment of -- some goat's milk cheese, Gorgonzola and Roquefort. The Roquefort just struck the most fantastic cord with me on this cold evening taking me on a journey to the covered market in Antibes where I reckon they purchased this spicy punchy classic French blue. You might think couldn't she get this same Roquefort at a variety of locales around town?

You'd unfortunately be incorrect there my friends, there is a "je ne sais quoi" about this Roquefort that seems to be lost when transported for retail consumption purposes. There are countless reasons for this but it sure got me thinking about food having a sense of place. To me it feels much more like an old world societal and cultural convention than a concept present in the melting pot of the new world. Just take a moment to think about it, what do you think of when you think of Barcelona? Paris? London? Rome? Munich? Or perhaps you took a trip to Istanbul and your memory is strongest when it comes to that one meal you had overlooking the Bosphorus? Isn't it interesting to stop and think about what places, people, things, and memories are triggered when enjoying a morsel of cheese or of food in general?

This morsel of Roquefort took me back to the dog days of summer -- as previously mentioned the covered markets of Antibes; Campari and soda at sunset; black stone beaches; fraise des bois and bouquets of mache among the other fabulously fresh offerings available at that marche; chilled glasses white port listening to fireworks in the background and the distant notes of French jazz. What a treat it was!

Day 691 : Cheeses for New Year's Eve

Happy New Year! I hope that you all had fabulous celebrations to ring in the New Year!

New Year's Eve for me was primarily spent at one of my closest friends apartment where she cooked a "Southern Fried New Year's." Home fried chicken, cornbread, collard greens, cheese grits, black eyed peas, scallops, pecan pie and more. A decadent feast to ring in the New Year! A great time was had by all!

I brought cheeses, home roasted almonds and some dried apricots -- excellent for our cocktail hour before dinner. The cheeses I brought were primarily requested, I brought two Cremont, the lovely mixed goat and cow's milk and cream disc of unctuous milky silky smoothness produced by Vermont Butter and Cheese; along with two types of blue cheese. I know you are probably thinking gosh that doesn't seem like a pretty inventive selection but it worked perfectly for our cocktail hour purposes. For the blue cheeses, I brought Rogue River's Smokey Blue and Great Hill Blue. The Oregon born and produced smokey blue is cold smoked over hazelnut shells for sixteen hours giving this spicy piquant punchy blue a fabulous nutty rustic barnyardy smokey kick -- excellent for our Southern Fried New Year's party, right? The Great Hill Blue is a non-homogenized raw cow's milk blue hailing from Massachusetts -- creamy, milky with hints of nutty sweetness with a light blue kick, an approachable and crowd pleasing blue, which surely isn't always the easiest task. Everyone loved the cheese but last night wasn't about the cheese, it was about the fabulous meal prepared by my friend and boy did she out do herself.

Here's to an outstanding 2012 full of good times, adventures, good laughs, good health, and lots of success!