Chicago Cheese - Pastoral
First off, I'll be working at The Cheese Shop on Saturday from 9 to 4. Come by and say hi!
Two weekends ago Tulip & I were in Chicago to watch tigerlily_blue run the Chicago Marathon We stayed with Wayne & Jen again. Wayne was also running the marathon, so both he and Rachel were being careful about what they ate on Saturday, but Jen was under no such restriction so she and I headed down to the North Broadway location of a lovely little shop called Pastoral which sells bread, wine and cheese. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so we bought several cheeses, a baguette and some root beer and ate them at the tables on the sidewalk. Our cheese selections were as follows:
59. Castelinhos (my pick). A Portuguese cow's milk cheese; very creamy and an understated flavor. Good, but nothing special.
60. Marieke Smoked Cumin Gouda (Jen's pick). In retrospect, I'm pretty sure I've had this before, although it must have predated my list. In any event, do you like cumin? If you do, you'll probably like this gouda, which is almost completely overpowered by the flavor of cumin. The cumin actually made it difficult to tell that it had been smoked. As it happens, I like gouda and I am not wild about most smoked cheeses, so this is a good thing, although I can't imagine pairing it with anything that was subtle in flavor (we ate it last). Jen suggested it would be ground up on chili; I suspect she is correct. Or maybe on nachos.
61. Dante (Jen's pick). From Wisconsin and the good people at Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative in River Falls, WI, reasonably close to Minnesota. Sheep's milk, quite firm, dry enough to crumble nicely. Would be really great ground up on pasta, but it tasted just fine on a piece of baguette and by itself. This was my favorite of the three cheeses.
After we ate most of these three, Jen went back in and bought one more to take home.
62. Coolea Irish. From County Cork, this is pretty close to gouda, which makes sense because their web page claims they are using an old dutch gouda recipe and cow's milk. The guy at the counter said that's because the people who make it moved to Ireland from Amsterdam, but there's no evidence of that on their webpage. If you like gouda, you'll like this, but it's not noticeably better or worse than most other goudas.
The branch of Pastoral we visited was quite small with no seating inside. They had a relatively small number of cheeses in two cases, probably about 50. They also had a lot of wine and bread, and a few other treats. Jen says the main branch has a nice little seating area inside. In any event, if you are in Chicago and fancy a bite of cheese, check it out. It's no Neal's Yard Dairy, but then who is?
On Sunday, Jen & I waited for the runners to fly past. Then we got brunch. There are a multitude of good brunch places near Wayne & Jen's place, so choosing one was tough, but we went with Hearty Boys. The titular boys were the winners of the first season of The Next Food Network Star and briefly had their own show Party Line With the Hearty Boys. I had sausage and gravy, but the sausage in question was andouille, and the gravy was very light (if that makes any sense). It was tasty, but it was pretty far away from traditional sausage and gravy.
After our runners returned on we cracked open the remainder of the four cheeses for the runners to consume. I also had purchased a large Arrogant Bastard Ale for my sister, strictly for medicinal purposes of course. We then went to Sheffields for a post-race meal. Then we headed home. Tulip got a really big braided bully stuck in the car, which kept her occupied for roughly half of Indiana.
Two weekends ago Tulip & I were in Chicago to watch tigerlily_blue run the Chicago Marathon We stayed with Wayne & Jen again. Wayne was also running the marathon, so both he and Rachel were being careful about what they ate on Saturday, but Jen was under no such restriction so she and I headed down to the North Broadway location of a lovely little shop called Pastoral which sells bread, wine and cheese. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so we bought several cheeses, a baguette and some root beer and ate them at the tables on the sidewalk. Our cheese selections were as follows:
59. Castelinhos (my pick). A Portuguese cow's milk cheese; very creamy and an understated flavor. Good, but nothing special.
60. Marieke Smoked Cumin Gouda (Jen's pick). In retrospect, I'm pretty sure I've had this before, although it must have predated my list. In any event, do you like cumin? If you do, you'll probably like this gouda, which is almost completely overpowered by the flavor of cumin. The cumin actually made it difficult to tell that it had been smoked. As it happens, I like gouda and I am not wild about most smoked cheeses, so this is a good thing, although I can't imagine pairing it with anything that was subtle in flavor (we ate it last). Jen suggested it would be ground up on chili; I suspect she is correct. Or maybe on nachos.
61. Dante (Jen's pick). From Wisconsin and the good people at Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative in River Falls, WI, reasonably close to Minnesota. Sheep's milk, quite firm, dry enough to crumble nicely. Would be really great ground up on pasta, but it tasted just fine on a piece of baguette and by itself. This was my favorite of the three cheeses.
After we ate most of these three, Jen went back in and bought one more to take home.
62. Coolea Irish. From County Cork, this is pretty close to gouda, which makes sense because their web page claims they are using an old dutch gouda recipe and cow's milk. The guy at the counter said that's because the people who make it moved to Ireland from Amsterdam, but there's no evidence of that on their webpage. If you like gouda, you'll like this, but it's not noticeably better or worse than most other goudas.
The branch of Pastoral we visited was quite small with no seating inside. They had a relatively small number of cheeses in two cases, probably about 50. They also had a lot of wine and bread, and a few other treats. Jen says the main branch has a nice little seating area inside. In any event, if you are in Chicago and fancy a bite of cheese, check it out. It's no Neal's Yard Dairy, but then who is?
On Sunday, Jen & I waited for the runners to fly past. Then we got brunch. There are a multitude of good brunch places near Wayne & Jen's place, so choosing one was tough, but we went with Hearty Boys. The titular boys were the winners of the first season of The Next Food Network Star and briefly had their own show Party Line With the Hearty Boys. I had sausage and gravy, but the sausage in question was andouille, and the gravy was very light (if that makes any sense). It was tasty, but it was pretty far away from traditional sausage and gravy.
After our runners returned on we cracked open the remainder of the four cheeses for the runners to consume. I also had purchased a large Arrogant Bastard Ale for my sister, strictly for medicinal purposes of course. We then went to Sheffields for a post-race meal. Then we headed home. Tulip got a really big braided bully stuck in the car, which kept her occupied for roughly half of Indiana.