Here on the west coast, the New Yorker tends to arrive a little late. So it is only today that I can tell you about Cynthia Zarin's article on Murray's Cheese Shop. It's not online: go buy it before Monday if you're interested. Here's an excerpt:
One answer that the store favors when asked why some cheese are so expensive is that they really don't cost that much. A good leg of lamb can run to sixty dollars; if you serve three cheeses afterward, an ounce of each to six people -- even very expensive cheeses -- it might cost twenty dollars. Liz Thorpe [the wholesale manager] says, "Last summer, I visited a woman high up in the Spanish Pyrenees. She has fifty goats. it's a solo operation. When her cheese gets here, it costs twenty-one dollars a pound. That's shockingly reasonable to me, when I know what goes into it...."Amen, sister. Artisanal cheese is without a doubt the most affordable edible luxury, with the possible exception of sherry.
Plus, scurrilous gossip: Owner Rob Kaufelt says: "Mateo Kehler's not the best cheesemaker in America. He's just the best-looking." [He is not impugning the Kehlers' abilities, just making fun of his female employees.]
Posted by max at August 20, 2004 10:10 AM | TrackBack