Say cheese: The cheese course, long a European tradition, is a hit on the local culinary scene Say cheese: The cheese course, long a European tradition, is a hit on the local culinary scene (March 06, 2002)

By Jane Knoerle

Almanac Lifestyles Editor

Growing up on Velveeta, I will never forget my first cheese course on my first trip to France. We were having dinner at a country inn in Perrouges, and after the entree, the waiter brought in a platter laden with cheeses. ("What's this?" "The cheese course, Madam.")

The cheeses, accompanied by the last of the red wine, were a delicious interlude before dessert. As I helped myself to several slivers, I thought: "This is so luxurious. The French really know how to do things right."

While most Europeans are used to lingering at the end of meals with cheese and wine, the cheese course is just beginning to gain popularity in the United States. We know cheese and crackers with drinks before dinner. We've all been to wine and cheese parties with cheap wine and little cubes of cheddar and Swiss, but cheese after the meal?

The January 2002 issue of Bon Appetit named cheese the restaurant trend of the year. "Why we love it: What's not to love? Cheese is rich, creamy and satisfying. Restaurants are offering European-style cheese trays, and the cheese course is even turning up on home tables," says Janet Fletcher, author of "The Cheese Course"(Chronicle Books, $19.95).

"Americans are clearly in the midst of a cheese revolution, with dozens of American cheese makers reviving the craft on an artisanal scale, and with cheese imports exploding," says Ms. Fletcher. On the Internet, www.cheese.com lists a database of 652 cheeses. That's a long way from Kraft Singles.
Marche's artisan cheeses

Howard Bulka, proprietor of downtown Menlo Park's newest restaurant, Marche, offers a cheese plate ($16) that easily serves two or more. While he sells a "handful of cheese plates every night, the course is very popular with large private parties."

Every Tuesday, Marche's general manager Lisa Robbins visits the 24th Street Cheese Company in San Francisco, where Nancy Ford, the manager, helps her choose the week's cheese. Ripeness is key to the selections. " Cheese has an age. It's a living thing. It can be too young or too old," says Mr. Bulka.

Servers at Marche are given a description of each cheese so they can explain it to customers. On the cheese plate Mr. Bulka assembled for us he chose a wedge of Isle of Mull cheddar from Scotland; a Sainte Maure goat cheese and a creamy Pierre Robert cheese (with a 75 percent fat content), both from France; and pecorino (sheep's milk) with tartufo (truffle) from Italy.

Accompaniments make the cheese plate even more tempting: a ramekin of prunes poached in red wine and Armagnac, Fuji apple slices, a handful of glazed almonds and rustic country bread. While fruit is the classic cheese accompaniment, nuts, chutney, preserves, or a small green salad are also popular choices.

Mr. Bulka "loves a glass of big red." However, he says semi-sweet wines such as riesling and Sauternes go nicely with some cheeses. There is not a lot of interest in port in his restaurant, he says.
The Village Pub cheese course

Country bread, a fresh baguette or the wine walnut bread from Le Boulanger Bakery are preferred to crackers, unless they are house-made like the whole-wheat crackers pastry chef Alison Russell bakes for the Village Pub.

Ms. Russell "agonized" over the selection of cheeses she sent off to New York City last week as part of The Village Pub's James Beard Foundation dinner on February 28. The restaurant, nominated as one of 10 outstanding new restaurants in the United States for 2001, was asked to prepare a dinner at James Beard House.

After many tastings with the staff, Ms. Russell's selection of artisan cheeses and accompaniments included: Red Hawk cow's milk made by Cowgirl Brand in Tomales Bay, paired with glazed hazelnuts; Keen's English cheddar with a faint blue vein, paired with apple chutney; Fleur du Maquis, a semi-firm Corsican sheep's milk coated with local herbs, with quince paste; and Sally Jackson's goat's milk wrapped in chestnut leaves, giving it a "earthy, nutty" flavor, served with a salad of micro-greens. A Madeira wine was served with the cheese.

A native of Minnesota, Ms. Russell credits her love of cheese to time she spent in Toulouse, France, after college.

The Pub's cheese comes from the Cheese Works Ltd. in Berkeley or from Tomales Bay. Ms. Russell and the wait staff get together to talk about and sample the cheeses so they can be described to customers. Each selection of cheese is $6.
Serving cheese at home

A cheese course can easily be served at home and doesn't have to be more elaborate than cheese, a baguette and fruit. I remember a dinner many years ago at Almanac co-founder Hedy Boissevain's house where we had cheese, apples, walnuts and a bottle of port for dessert. Impressive and easy.

French women, who have grown up with good cheese, consider it a staple in the kitchen. Almanac employee Catherine Helfer, who comes from Alsace, says she serves guests a cheese plate that always includes "goat cheese (a fresh one and a dry one), a compact cheese like Gruyere, and also a blue. Whatever I can find."

She and her husband drive up to Rainbow Grocery cooperative, corner of 13th and Folsom streets in San Francisco, every couple of weeks and stock up. She likes to accompany cheese with whole-grain or walnut bread, a little green salad, and a wine produced in the same region as the cheese.

"In France, we say there is a different cheese for every day (of the year)," she says.

Raymonde Moustirats, who grew up near Biarritz, usually serves grapes with two or three cheeses after a fine meal. She buys much of her cheese at the Woodside Deli in Redwood City, but also likes the selection at Draeger's and at Trader Joe's in Menlo Park. Pastry chef Alison Russell lives and works in Woodside, where she likes Robert's fine cheese department. "They buy from the same sources we do," she says.

The choices for your cheese plate are vast. Go to a cheese shop or a store that has a good cheese counter and ask to sample something new. Oakville Grocery at Stanford Shopping Center is one shop that offers tastes. Make it a habit to buy a new variety each time you shop for cheese.

Cheese has been around for 4,000 years, according to cheese.com, ever since people started to breed animals and process their milk. As a delicious, soul-satisfying food _ whether it's a separate course, a dessert, a light lunch, or just a hunk of cheddar _ the cheese stands alone.

Cheese with wine

In her little book, "Cheese, Quick and Easy Recipes for Elegant Entertaining," noted cookbook author Lou Seibert Pappas suggests the following cheese and wine pairings.

Asiago : Piedmontese reds or cabernet sauvignon

Brie or camembert : cabernet sauvignon, Bordeaux reds

Cheddar : cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, shiraz

Chevre: soft types with merlot, French country reds and dry whites such as sauvignon blanc. Aged chevre: cabernet sauvignon

Jarlsberg and Gouda : fruity reds and whites, pinot noir

Feta : dry Greek wines

Fontina : merlot, pinot grigio

Gorgonzola : barbera,

Mascarpone : moselle, light sweet whites

Monterey Jack : sauvignon blanc

Parmigiano Reggiano: wines of the Piedmont, such as Barolo and Barbaresco; Chianti, pinot noir

Roquefort : zinfandel, Rhone reds

Stilton : tawny port, Barolo, Rioja