Friday is my Thursday which is my Wednesday--Turkey Brulee

Instead of talking about new cheeses in the shop this week I thought we'd discuss sandwiches. I like sandwiches and I have this whole shop filled with ingredients at my disposal to make some really good sandwiches. I am slowly but surely expanding the sandwich menu and I've really been trying to emphasize simple sandwiches featuring the awesome products we sell.

Many of our sandwiches are focused around the mighty pork animal. Some folks need a little bit more variety than that and who can really blame them? So enter the healthy wonder: the Turkey.

Let's face it, turkey sandwiches are often pretty boring. Honestly I like mine with bacon but then we're just back to pork again. I've cast my net out on the interfriend for advice and received some good ideas. At this point I think we're going to end up with two different turkey sandwiches:

The Turkey Brulee and a classic Turkey and Chutney. Turkey Brulee sounds a little weird, I know, and we might not end up calling it that. But it's pretty delicious. French baguette warmed in a little olive oil, harissa, turkey (duh), and Crucolo cheese. Once the cheese is put down on top of the sandwich I take out my handy dandy blow torch and melt the cheese. Delicious!

Then our catering chef Jocelyn decided to whip up a little cranberry relish/chutney for another version of the turkey sandwich. Also very, very tasty. She's added a little pinch of mustard just to make the whole deal kind of fun and zippy.

Oh, and we're going to have a pulled pork sandwich special tomorrow. That's right, pulled pork.

Happy Anniversary to Us

Okay, I missed my blog post last week and I didn't even have time to make up for it on Friday. Yeah, I'm a bad blogger. But is that really a criticism? If you're starved for cheese shop info you can always follow me on Twitter and perhaps find out about a discount or two.

Saturday was our 1st Anniversary. Can't even tell you how thrilled I am with how the shop has progressed over the year. I've learned oh so much about wonderous world of retail over the past 12 months. No better education than trial by fire in the midst of a terrible recession. I really believe in what we're offering down here. That may sound obvious, but I don't think that is always something that is a given in a small business. Anyhow, no time to wax nostalgic, we've got cheese to sell.

The cheese case is brimming this week. New in this week:

Jasper Hill Winnimere: Another awesome cheese from Vermont. Washed rind stinky goodness wrapped in spruce bark and washed in homebrew. As delicious as it sounds

Tomme de Crayeuse: Here and gone. We had a wheel in and sold it all in a day and a half. It was a huge hit in the shop and stunk up the place to high heaven. Another cheese whose bark is worse than its bite. Crayeuse translates as "chalky" and that's a pretty fair way to describe this cheese. You might think that would be unpleasant, but to the contrary. A tangy cheese with a remarkable texture. More on the way.

Great Lakes Cheshire: Raw goat milk from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Made by the Zingerman's Creamery, this guy was a big hit over the weekend. Distinct grassy notes with a great semi firm texture.

Also we've got the Zingerman's Zzang bars out and they're a more than a little bit addictive. Every time I open one up to sample to customers I end up eating the whole thing myself. Oops.

I'm working on a whole lot of new cheeses and shelf products for the shop. Look for a whole bunch of new items arriving in April.

Thursday is my Wednesday

First is I'd like to shout out to my salesfriend David from Great Ciao who is made his last sales call here on Tuesday. David has helped out immensely with the success of this shop and he will be greatly missed. Lucky for the Midtown Farmer's Market to score such a passionate individual.

Lots of new cheese in the shop today. Some stuff I've never tried before so it will be a learning experience for all of us, won't it?

Frenchy stuff:

Amis du Chambertin washed with Marc de Bourgogne--Can you smell this cheese from where you are? These are epoisse like little wheels washed with brandy. They look funky and smell funky so you know they're going to be super delicious.

Valencay--Those classic goat cheese pyramids dusted with ash. Big delicious.

Selles-sur-cher--More ash coated goat cheese. Yum.

Bourguignon Triple Cream--Creamy bloomy rind dealies. Better than boring 'ole brie

Domestic stuff:

Orb Weaver Farmhouse--Buttery, creamy farmstead cheese from Vermont

Sweet Grass Dairy Crossroads Blue--A mixed milk blue from a trusted farm. I know nothing about this cheese so we'll all discover together I suppose.

Also looking forward to some great stuff from Zingerman's in Ann Arbor that will be coming in next week. Some yummy candy bars from their bakehouse and great cheese from their creamery.

Oh City Pages, not you too?

See what's happening up there? It's the City Pages also ignoring the Best Cheese Shop category. Anyone remember my discombobulated letter I wrote to the MnMo folks when their best of issue came out? Yeah, me neither, I've been trying to forget it ever since.

I have some recollection of their being a cheese shop category in last year's best of, but may have only been a reader's choice. Some cheese shop in NE attached to a liquor store won or someplace like that.

Once again I am not claiming that I run the best cheese shop in the TC or even the best cheese shop on France Avenue. I just wonder why there's no love in this town for the humble cheese shop. I've got to say, we sell some pretty interesting stuff down here in our little bermuda triangle. There's this little chocolate bar that was featured in some rag called the NY Times that we are the exclusive retail outlet for in the midwest, you know nothing special. Or maybe a place to find American farmstead cheeses that aren't sold anywhere else in town (but since when are people into buying domestic products from grass-fed animals? that hardly seems like a growing trend to me...)

Like I said, we may not be the best cheese shop in town. Our selection isn't as big as some, and sometimes our service is more NYC than MSP. But why not at least includ the category? When you talk about food in this town there has to be some other way than restaurants to point out. Has anyone been to Clancy's butcher shop recently? I spoke with Eric down there for a half an hour and am incredibly impressed by some of the stuff he's doing.

So the City Pages poll has Best Video Rental store? Are there any of those still left in business? Wasn't that the rage in 1995? I wonder if Netflix will win? Oh, and two separate categories for Wine shop and Liquor store? So no specialty foods/cheese shop but two times to vote for booze? I guess it's a recession so maybe drinkin' is even more important than ever.

I suppose I can add City Pages to the list of folks who won't come calling for me any time soon. Oh well. We're hard to find down here in Minnedina so I suppose I can hide for a while. I apologize in advance to my France 44 overlords if they don't retain their title as Best Wine Shop (or was it best liquor store?).

Our 1st Anniversary March 21st (maybe a Roquefort funeral too)

I feel like the little cheese shop that could. It's been an awesome year for us. We've successfully convinced many folks who watched the evolution of the space that we're here to do something new and different. It amazes me that we still have folks a year later calling and looking for the deli--I guess word still hasn't gotten out that we have a cheese shop. I'd like to think that those who have found us have been pleased with their experience. Running a retail shop has been a learning experience for me. Stuff I thought we'd sell tons of didn't sell and items I thought no one would ever buy has flown out of here.

Anyhow, we're celebrating our first anniversary this entire month but will be a little extra celebratory on March 21 when it has officially been one year. Come on down to the shop that Saturday and we'll be sure to have some awesome samples out as well as lots of free coffee and extra treats. No pony rides, though.

And unless something changes we will also be having a Roquefort funeral that day to mourn the loss of this great cheese. Read here about what Minnesota is doing to prevent this travesty from happening. We're hoping to avoid a funeral on the same day as our anniversary, but you gotta do what you gotta do. We'll see if Obama gets with the cheese program.

Friday is my err... Thursday is my Wednesday

Um, I remembered something about a blog yesterday and then something else happened and I didn't. And there is so much good cheese to brag about. Including new:

Dancing Cow Bouree--Washed rind deliciousness from Vermont.
Cabot Clothbound Cheddar--Superstar cheddar aged at Jasper Hill in Vermont
Redwood Hills Goat Camembert/Crottin--Creamy and tangy from California
Cato Corner Vivace Bambino--Another zippy raw cow's milk from Connecticut, prediction as the best grilled cheese sandwich cheese of this century

And we scored some magical Gruyere that is tasting out of this world and also an air shipment of French cheeses just landed this week. That means 20 pounds of Roquefort! Chablis washed epoisses, Brillat Savarin, and a fresh wheel of Massipou.

Also I'm still giving away press pots of Paradise coffee so come down and try some this weekend.

Silly me

Found the instruction manual to our scale. Seems as if I've been using it wrong: