Slaves of New York(sorry, Tama Janowitz)

A good friend was in town with high-power connections in the food welt. My fiancee' and I took her to our favorite Sid Gold's Request Room where I sing and we had deviled eggs(I am an afficianado of deviled eggs, the kitchen at the place where I sling the highest-end cheese makes great deviled eggs, but, at Sid's they offer them with aplomb). A pianist who I rarely sing with, saw me in the audience and called me by name up onstage (also welcome to the hoi poloi), yet, also home to the best of the best in the city, that was super-insane. I have a great voice as I age it gets better, I think. I usually do short sets with the former pianist for The Psychedelic Furs. I try not to cheat on him. But, now and again! Sid's is raw mike baby grande karaoke. Afterwards, we all went to Chikalicious. Our friend has a background with the eponymous Chika. This is a singular dessert bar. And, I am not a sweets guy. I work in cheese and, given the option, always will choose cheese for my dessert course. It is neurotic, I know. As long as it is kool cheese, not some industrial bullshit, I want au lait cru, fermier. No bs. What Chika worked was fucking magic. Her and her sous. And, her help staff. We were about to go off the menu, and our dear friend was talking with her, and, Chika, was, oh, no, no, and just took us in her hands plating item after item of the most incredible desserts I have had the opportunity to muse upon. If desserts are like this in the afterworld I can die happy.https://www.chikalicious.com

Cheese is my favorite thing to have after dinner and before dessert; it is one of my least favorite things to have before dinner.

After dinner, it's a good way to get that rich after-dinner feeling that you also get from dessert, and cheese is a better way (than regular dessert) to "use up" any wine leftover from dinner. Before dinner, cheese seems too much, too soon, and it kind of coats the palate in a way I don't dig.

And whatever happened to Janowitz? There was that book (and movie) you mention in the title and then...never heard her name mentioned again. She just had a moment with Ellis and McInerney and that seemed to be it (at least as far as popular acclaim).

I wonder, she was part of that scene. Ellis is the only one to remain. I offer a formative cheese course story: a couple of decades ago, before I made a career change into the food world, my partner and I headed back to San Francisco where I lived after college, to hangout with friends. One evening we joined ten other guests at Bacar in SOMA. Dessert was on order, I chose Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk. A great, iconic, American cheese, but twenty years ago, not what it is today, and, certainly, not as available. I was pretty green when it comes to stinky cheese. They served me Red Hawk with honeycomb, and it was revelatory. The luscious, savory, fetid washed rind verging on rot with the soft crunch and sweet of bee's business. No one at the table would touch it when I offered a taste, philistines. Of course, after working in the industry for over ten years, I am a complete snob. Except when it comes to velveeta queso dip, or a nice Kraft single grilled cheese paired with Campbell's Cream of Tomato. When asking for a cheese menu, I have an eye like a hawk. Humboldt Fog, no thank you, Sofia, ah, hell yes.

Christopher Gordon wrote:I am a complete snob. Except when it comes to velveeta queso dip, or a nice Kraft single grilled cheese paired with Campbell's Cream of Tomato. When asking for a cheese menu, I have an eye like a hawk. Humboldt Fog, no thank you, Sofia, ah, hell yes.

For the same reason, some prefer Kraft Mac n' Cheese instead of a chef-y production with house-made pasta and four select cheeses. Sometimes food, especially comfort foods from our past, can't be "too good," or they won't be able to do the job.

I am sooo with Christopher Gordon on the utility of Velveeta in certain situations. Simple grilled cheese (on decent bread) and Kraft tomato; queso made with Velveeta and Ro-tel; and 20% in mac and cheese, since it's a perfect solvent for some cheddar and compte.

And OTOH, we live 30 mins from the Québec border, where we can get some dynamite cheese, and a 20 min ferry ride from Vermont, where we can get some other fine cheeses.

You can have it both ways.

Geo

https://www.fkaiser.com/en/