Jan 28 Newsletter
New Cheeses Another shipment of Bohemian Creamery's Bo-Poisse arrives Friday, and Cowgirl's Devil's Gulch is in the cases now. Both will hopefully last through the weekend.
Bo Poisse, an organic, locally made Jersey cow milk cheese, is based an Epoisse recipe, and blends salty and sweet together - combining the pungency of a washed rind with the richness of a triple cream.
Devil's Gulch, also an organic, locally made Jersey cow milk cheese, has a paste is similar to that of Cowgirl's Mt. Tam and Pierce Point, but the rind is lightly dusted in sweet and spicy dried red pepper flakes.
We're also bringing in three more new cheeses discovered at the recent Fancy Food Show : Fiorito, Tome des Bauges and Quattro Stagione.
Quattro Stagione is a rich Jersey cow's milk cheese made by local cheesemaker Soyoung Scanlan of Andante Dairy for Italian importer Fresca Italia.
 These smallish, bloomy rind rounds are covered with flowers or fruit, depending on the season.
 Then there's Fiorito in Foglie di Ciliege, a goat's milk cheese wrapped in cherry leaves from Basilicata, Italy. Cheesemaker Giovanni Samela uses pasteurized goat's milk only from his own and his brother's herd. The disks weigh about a pound and have a bloomy rind dusted with gray mold underneath their crispy leaf coat. They ripen for about 20 to 25 days before being shipped.
 This is a lovely cheese with a silky and lush paste that looks like a million bucks!
Finally, there's Tome de Bauges, an AOC raw milk cow cheese from the Savoie. Slightly denser than its cousin Tomme Crayeuse, this fermier cheese has a slightly bitter finish and tons of flavor.
We've brought in tiny quantities of each of these cheeses, as we want to see what you think of them before we commit to them. Please let us know your reactions to these new finds.
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Article in Midtown Monthly
Alameda Daytrip
Antiques, Snacks and More
By Becky Grunewald
When you think about heading for the Bay Area you probably think of San Francisco foremost, and then maybe you’ll make a side trip to the Gourmet Ghetto in Berkeley, or to Chinatown in Oakland, but have you ever thought about spending the day in Alameda? Alameda is sunny, cheap, and friendly, and you won’t have to wait in line or spend an hour trying to find parking.
The Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire is held the first Sunday of every month at a former naval station. This huge collection of goods is a little overwhelming, so I suggest that you stop and have dim sum at East Ocean Seafood Restaurant to fortify yourself to fight the crowds over that perfect Danish Modern coffee table. East Ocean serves dim sum from carts every day from 10 AM to 2:30 PM. The quality of the dim sum at East Ocean is on par with New Canton (which is high praise). I recommend keeping your eyes peeled for a fresh (that is key) plate of salt and pepper squid, which is their specialty, and which they make hundreds of pounds of on Chinese holidays. After you are full of dumplings and properly caffeinated with green tea, you can head to the flea market. The day I went it was chilly (even though it was Summer), and my party hadn’t dressed properly so we all became obsessed with buying warm clothing. I scored a sweet 60s era preppy plaid jacket that I built my Summer look around. This proved to be a costly look because it entailed me buying a yacht, but that’s a story for another time. This flea market has everything, from taxidermy to top-notch furniture. Bring cash and don’t be afraid to bargain.
If you’re chilled and you would like to sit in an overstuffed armchair and sip some tea like a proper English lord or lady, your next stop should be Julie’s Coffee and Tea Garden (1223 Park St.) Park Street is pretty much the main drag, so you can leave your car here and walk after you finish your cup of lapsang souchong or wild tree pu-erh.
Next stop for a snack? The Pampered Pup (1401 Park St), which has a super cool old sign with a rotund, lounging pup who sports a multi-carat diamond on her finger. Alameda is abounding in kitschy, campy old signs and dive bars, and spotting them is part of the fun of cruising around. The Pampered Pup has juicy, delicious dogs with a real snap.
When you enter the Alameda Marketplace (1650 Park St), you will lament the fact that Sacramento can’t get it together to have a place like this downtown. It’s a gathering of multiple independent food purveyors under one roof. There’s a natural foods market, an outlet of Baron’s Meat And Poultry (opened by a Culinary Institue of America graduate who learned his trade at Niman Ranch), a seafood purveyor, a bakery, and, my favorite, Farmstead Cheeses And Wines. Farmstead specializes in small production and unusual wines and artisanal cheeses. Their website states that they, “provide superlative customer service in a convivial and educational environment”, and I think that aptly sums it up. They cut and wrap cheese to order and each time I’ve been there the employees have been happy to let me taste the cheeses and answer all my questions. Much of the wine is on the pricey side, but they always have bargains on the table out front, and I’ve bought some excellent wines here on a budget. I recommend that you bring a cooler with you on your daytrip because you’ll probably want to pack it with cheeses and sausages to bring home.
For a last stop, you may want to swing by Kevin Patrick Books (2170 Encinal Ave.) This place is crammed floor to ceiling with books. If digging through dusty books for an hour or so is your idea of fun, as it is mine, you could unearth a treasure at this place. They have a good selection of vintage paperbacks and art books. Just be sure not to make any sudden moves, or you could find yourself underneath a giant pile of ’86 Toyota Camry manuals.
So, if Alameda isn’t quite as urbane as San Francisco or Oakland, it has a dreamy charm all its own. As you make your way home with your carload of taxidermied cougars and delicious treats, you may, like me, find yourself already planning your next trip to Alameda.
Bay Area Bites article on Farmstead
By Cyrus Musiker, KQED
I'm a wine devotée, so I'm also a habitué of wine shops, and a
seeker after their treasures. The best stores are often cool,
warehouse-like spaces, with cases of wine stacked precariously, row
upon row. The wine shops where I've worked--in Northampton, Mass., New
York City, and San Francisco were all modest establishments, but in
each one a customer could find a small masterpiece, a miracle of art
and nature.
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Localism
I've been thinking a lot about community and localism and the new economy lately. I'm sure that you've noticed more and more empty storefronts in Montclair Village and on Park St. Every day, the news media pounds the drums of economic gloom and doom, and customers like you ask me "Are you doing okay?," with a great deal of concern in their voice.
We're doing fine here at Farmstead, and thanks for asking. Business is down a bit, but it's down everywhere, and Carol, the staff and I are truly blessed to have located our shops in Alameda and Montclair Village - two communities that have been been more than superlative in supporting local, family owned businesses.
I wonder what my community would be like if there were no shoe repair shop and I'd have to drive miles to get a prescription filled or to have my computer repaired. I shudder when I think of the suburban sprawl that I see in my travels - chain stores, big boxes and franchise restaurants as far as the eye can see.
I try to shop locally, and go out of my way whenever possible to buy from locally owned businesses. It may cost me a buck or two more, but I feel that somehow I am paying it forward. I understand that I have a responsibility to keep my hard earned dollars in my own community.
Yet, I still get my DVDs from Netflix, my toilet paper from Costco and dog treats from Trader Joe's instead of the local alternatives, and I occasionally just have to have a burger from In and Out instead of the sublime ones available at The Wood Tavern.
Does occasionally shopping at big boxes make me an evil hypocrite? I don't think so. What it does mean is that perhaps we could all be a bit more conscious of the economic power that each of us possess in our wallets and purses. This isn't meant to be a plea for you to spend more money at Farmstead (although we'd certainly welcome your patronage), just a reminder to maybe think about the potential ramifications of the choices that we all make each and every day.
Alameda Magazine Article = Spanish WIne
Taste of Spain by Jeff Diamond
I’m bullish on Spanish wines. Whenever a customer asks me for a great bargain red wine, more often than not, I’ll suggest a Spanish red.
Why would I do this when we’re only a few miles from some of the best wine grape growing regions in the world? Well, for starters, Spain has more acres planted to wine grapes than anywhere else in the world; the average age of Spanish wine grapevines is more than 35 years old; and Spanish wineries are able to produce, bottle, market and ship wines to California
for a pittance.
Spain has a long tradition of viticulture and winemaking dating back thousands of years. Wines made on the Iberian Peninsula during Roman times were exported around the empire. Spanish winemaking technique suffered during the Middle Ages, and not much wine of note was made until the mid-19th century, when phylloxera decimated French vineyards.
French winemakers crossed the Pyrenees and discovered the winemaking regions of Rioja, Navarra and Catalonia and brought their expertise, winemaking skills and the 225-liter barrica, or French oak wine barrel. (Eventually phylloxera reached Spain, but its relatively slow progress was due to the fact that many of the Spanish wine regions are far from each other.)
While Spain has more than 600 varieties of wine grapes planted, most production is focused on 20 or so varieties, and many are familiar to wine-savvy Americans: Garnacha (Grenache), Monastrell (Mourvèdre), Tempranillo, Cariñena (Carignan), Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Spanish wines are regulated by a classification system similar to France, Italy or the United States, with all wine regions regulated under the Denominación de Origen, or DO, system. Red wines can be labeled as Crianza (aged for two years), Reserva (aged for three years) or Gran Reserva (aged five years or more).
Until recently, it was thought that the more time a wine spent in cask and bottle, the better it was. Some of these wines might be a bit staid for the California palate, but there are many wineries making wines that have a more modern New World approach to winemaking that produces wines that are balanced with fruit, terroir and wood.
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Alameda Magazine Article - Port
 A Guide to the Many Ports in a Storm
When its cold outside, I want comforting food and drink; after dinner,
nothing hits my comfort zone better than a glass of Port.
Port
is a fortified red wine that comes from the Douro region of Portugal
and is made from indigenous Portuguese grapes, mainly Touriga Nacional, Touriga Francesa, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tintã Cão.
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