This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Food Ultimate Cheese Challenge, Tabla
Posted by Chris Onstad on Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 10:14 AM
Steve Jones can hear cheese ripen the way dogs can hear an epileptic seizure, or a Prius. Put a wedge of Pont l’Évêque on his board, and—like Sherlock Holmes determining the path of a man’s life by a hat he has left behind—he will divine not just its particular Norman provenance, but its importer, its distributor, its modes of transport, and the precise hour at which it may be best enjoyed with fresh ale. (No, not wine. We will elaborate in a future installment.)
It was Tabla Mediterranean Bistro, Sunday, eight PM, and The Ultimate Cheese Challenge was about to enter its final tasting. Jones had hand-cut 1,100 samples of thirty-six cheeses, and exhibited the rangy calm of a sprinter’s high. I approached the proprietor of Portland’s internationally-renowned Cheese Bar with my standard operating ignorance and, sussing my green like a stillborn Camembert, he humored me around the capacity event with a kind and sage enthusiasm. I soon learned that this was tantamount to “talkin’ leptons” with Stephen Hawking.
- Chris Onstad / 33 Books
- Cheese chart by 33books.com
Note in the photograph a scan of my initial attempt at using the 33 Cheeses analytic model. Not possessed of any sort of cheese vocabulary beyond “melty” and “punch-you-in-the-face stinky,” I was delighted to note an overt caramel flavor in a fenugreek-imbued product which I would have previously only described as, “dang.” Steve politely disagreed with a few of my ham-fisted assessments, but the pride of hitting at least one mark before this great fromager was palpable. A visit to his shop and deli is hotly anticipated for this weekend. Many thanks to Tabla for hosting this best-in-class affair.
Most Commented on Blogtown, PDX
-
KATU Poll Brings Bad News for Fluoridation Campaign by Denis C. Theriault
-
Slate: What's the Matter with Portland? by Dirk VanderHart
-
Everything Is Terrible and I Want a New Job. by Alison Hallett
-
Mike Daisey "Drank Some NyQuil" Before Commenting on Blogtown by Alison Hallett
-
This Week in Sex by Rose Finn
-
PTERODACTYL MONSTER ALERT by Erik Henriksen
-
Film Critics: Nervously Boarding a Star Trek into Obsolescence by Bobby Roberts
-
My Least Favorite Piece of Misogyny This Week: Girl Friendship Edition by Barbara Holm
-
Unsurprising: Kerns Neighbors Might Fight a New Apartment Building by Dirk VanderHart
-
Obama Has "No Apologies" for Spying on Reporters by Dominic Holden
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Culture Shock
- Portland Roundball Society
- Steph Cassano
- Cort and Fatboy
- Street Roots
- Powell's Books Blog
- Portland Transport
- Portland Afoot
- Bike Portland
- Eater: PDX
- Portland Food and Drink
- Mr. Movie
- Sunday Softball
- BlueOregon
- Sightline Institute
- Ultra: Arts Portland
- Bitch Magazine
- Blazer's Edge
- Reading Local: Portland
- Portland Food Carts
- Stumptown Vegans
Our Enemies
RSSGoing to Seattle?
