Food I'm Eating: What Was that Cheese?

No pun intended, but I'm feeling a little sheepish. I've teased many friends and acquaintances over the years when they come to me asking about wine, which, knowing my interest in wine, they fairly often do. I tease them during conversations that typically go like this:

Friend: "I had this wonderful wine the other day..."
Me: "What was it?"
Friend: "I don't know, but it was REALLY good."
Me: "Where was it from?"
Friend: "I forgot."
Me: "Why didn't you look at the label and write down what it was, so you'd remember, or keep the label, or take a photo of it?"
Friend: "Well, you know, we were all having a good time and talking, and by the time we'd paid the bill, the waiter had already taken the bottle away." or "Yeah, I didn't think to do that. That was last week. I think the trash has already been collected...."

I never have this problem with wine. First, I know an awful lot more about wine than I do about cheese. There aren't that many wines I've never heard of or for which I have no points of reference. Second, I'm not shy about securing evidence when necessary. I never hesitate to take the empty bottle home from a restaurant or to set it aside at home or to remove the label from the bottle, for future reference. If an unfamiliar wine is different and compelling, I usually write something about it--on this blog, in many cases--which preserves the information. When it comes to cheese, however, I'm much less careful, too often to my later regret. I've encountered countless delicious cheeses that are lost to me forever for want of information about what I was eating. Recently, I've tried to do better. Sometimes, however, the cards just seem stacked against me.

A few days ago I sampled a number of tasty-looking cheeses at the cheese counter of The Pasta Shop at the Rockridge Market Hall, in Berkeley (510) 250-6005, and bought a few that I liked. The problem with cheese is that the label on the cut pieces you buy at a good cheese shop are almost invariably slapped on to the package at the folds, to hold the wrapping closed. As a result, the label usually has to be ripped to pieces to open the cheese. In this instance, I particularly enjoyed a smoky, pungent blue cheese I bought, that, judging from its color, is a goat cheese. Thinking myself very smart this time, I retrieved the paper it had been wrapped in as soon as it dawned on me that I especially liked this one. I was determined to remember the name of the cheese, but I picked the paper out of the trash only to find that the tasty little brick had been labeled "Cheese!"

Not very helpful, to say the least. With an exclamation point, no less. I was being mocked.

I want to believe this was just a freak error on the part of the helpful young woman that wrapped the cheese for me, but I'm feeling vaguely persecuted. The other two cheeses (a Cabot "Cheddar" from Vermont and a French cheese called Brebirousse d'Argental) were properly labeled. I grant you that. Still, I feel laughed at....

Places I'm Visiting: Bi-Rite market, San Francisco

I imagine this place is well known to the cognoscenti, but I happened upon it yesterday for the first time after a tasty breakfast at Tartine, on Guerrero St.

Bi-Rite Market is at 3639 18th St., between Guerrero and Dolores. It has a very New York feel to it--staffed by quickly moving, rather efficient-looking people. It's clearly run by foodies. I like the store slogan: "Creating community through food." In one of those odd coincidences, the night before I had been reading about cheddars and Stilton in Steven Jenkins's Cheese Primer (slightly outdated now, but still an excellent cheese reference book). I had picked it up off the shelf in the kitchen for no particular reason. It was handy in one of those unfilled moments that seemed to require reading material. Inevitably, though, it piqued my appetite and rekindled my interest in cheese (not that that interest had been in any special danger of petering out).

Following day, there I am in San Francisco, walking in the rain by Bi-Rite Market. I stopped in and was very pleased to find an excellent selection of cheeses--including several I had just been reading about. There is also a good selection of wines (and a fair number of more unusual bottles that are a refreshing change from the same old things you see in so many small grocery shops), fresh produce, and meats. Great little store. I picked up some Sonoma Dry Jack, some authentic cheddar, and a great four-year old Gouda. (Sorry about the hazy flare in the photos. These are just quick iPhone snaps.)