The Old City Cheese Shop gets a couple of worthy mentions. First, Meal Ticket checks out the Friday night barbecue.

The stonework of neighboring buildings rises, chimney-like, around you, while lush ferns and the canopy of an overhanging tree creates an embowered feeling. Candlelight complements lights strung overhead. It’s hard to find a better escape for a casual Friday night summer dinner than the hidden outdoor patio at the Cheese Shop (160 N. Third St., 215-238-1716) – especially since this once-a-week tradition, which features all manner of BBQ-ed meats and combos, won’t run you more than $18.95.

Phillyist visits during daylight hours and is similarly entranced.

What’s more amazing than the behind-the-counter lunch deal is that if you ask, the staff at OCC will meet you out back in their hidden courtyard (you have to exit the shop and enter another door, then walk down a narrow brick hallway) with your food and an old-fashioned bottle filled with ice water. There are only a few tables available outside, but I’ve never seen the courtyard crowded-perhaps a sign that I wasn’t the only person who didn’t know that it existed. 

Foodsday Tuesday: Old City’s Hidden Gem [Phillyist]
Friday night BYO barbecue at Old City Cheese Shop [Meal Ticket]
Old City Cheese Shop [Facebook]

We really like Sly Fox beer and we really like beer and cheese pairings at DiBruno Brothers. So imagine our joy when we realized Sly Fox’s Brian O’Reilly was teaming up with cheese monger Hunter Fike this Friday to bring the deliciousness.

Sly fox will be featuring the following beers:

• Incubus Triple
• Ichor Abbot style Quadruple
• Gang Aft Agley Wee Heavy
• Saison Vos farmhouse Ale
• Rauchbier (Normally only served at their brewpubs)
• Pikeland Pils

The price is $45 per person and includes an antipasto plate for all guests.

DiBruno Brothers [Official Site]
Sly Fox [Official Site]

Will you be food shopping this weekend? If you’re interested in doing it in a fresh-and-local fashion, the Fair Food Farmstand is the place to go.

They’re stocking some interesting new local cheeses that we had the opportunity to sample yesterday, including a “blue cheddar” that marries the savory and stinky qualities of both varieties of cheese, plus a mild, addictive “Telford Tomme” both from Hendrick’s Farm in Telford. Local cheeses haven’t been quite up to snuff, at least compared to the other milk products that come from Pennsylvania cows like this and this, but Sarah Cain, co-manager of the Farmstand, tells me that’s all about to change, based on her recent visit to the PA State Agriculture conference. Local farmers are hiring cheese consultants (like this guy) and learning the finer points of artisan cheesemaking.

If you’re dying to snap into a Slim Jim, but are grossed out by what might be inside, you could give one of their new organic beef sticks from Countryside Organics in Quarryville a shot – they’re made from grass-fed animals and are nitrate-free.

Fair Food Farmstand [White Dog Community Enterprises]

Adam Erace enjoys the “gruyere grotto” that is Beneluxx. But that stinking menu.

Typing paper and plastic slipcovers aside, the menu reads like a left-brain love letter from a Wharton finance major, formatted into an Excel spreadsheet and flavored with alcohol-by-volume ratios, Wine Spectator scores, cacao percentages and metric measures. Wordiness is an issue too. Sure, it’s cool that the milkshake-thick la serena cheese comes from a Spanish breed of sheep prized for their viscous milk, and that Rouge HazelNut Brown Nectar Ale uses both crystal 80 and crystal 135 malts in its recipe. But is it really pertinent information?

Lap of Luxxury [Philadelphia Weekly]
Beneluxx Tasting Room [Official Site]

Di Bruno Bros has added two new events to its schedule. First up is a Dogfish Head and cheese pairing. The second, on February 29th, stars the cheeses of Quebec?!

As gastronome and Fromager Affineur, Denis Cottin, travels throughout Quebec Province to select the best cheeses available in small quantities and then brings them to the 5 star chefs and specialty food stores in the United States.

As far as we’re concerned, the best milk product from up north is the cheese curd, which is used to make poutine, a Quebecois feast of French fries, squeaky cheese curds and dense brown gravy. Considering it involves such heart-attack-inducing ingredients, we’re surprised it’s not a native Philadelphia dish. If you can’t make it to Montreal, Kildare’s in Headhouse Square has poutine on the menu.

Di Bruno Bros [Official Site]
Kildare’s Menu
Kildare’s [Official Site]

Every Thursday James pairs three cheeses with three different wines. Prices vary depending on the selections. Check it out!

James [Official Site]

Tria Fermentation School has six courses in December focusing on the fermentables of beer, cheese and wine.

• Local Brewers Do It Better
• Belgian Beer 101
• Classic French Pairings
• Deconstructing Amarone
• Demystifying Bordeaux
• Sparkling Wine and Luscious Cheese

Space in each class is limited. Make your reservations now!

Tria Fermentation School [Official Site]

Information design may be a critical flaw at the Beneluxx Tasting Room but it can still be fun.

Sampling by the ounce is always more expensive than going whole hog, but look at it as a learning experience. Food was good, sampling was fun, but getting there was painful. Hopefully, Beneluxx fixes the menu train wreck, and gets on with gettin’ on.

Beneluxx [Mac & Cheese]
Beneluxx Tasting Room [Official Site]

As an add-on to the Metro column today. Here are the full menus for cheese, chocolate and other menu items at the Beneluxx Tasting Room.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Thursday, October 25th, DiBruno Brothers is doing another of their oh so very cool cheese and beer tastings. This time with Jeffrey Roberts who will be discussing his book “Atlas of American Artisinal Cheese.” The night will include six artisinal cheeses paired with an All-American lineup of beers supplied by the Foodery.

DiBruno Brothers [Official Site]
The Foodery [Official Site]