Poll Time!

All right, it’s time for another How Well Do You Know Us poll? Good luck even though this one is fairly easy.

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Which employee told me "I got home at 7:30 this morning" 5 hours later while working??
• Wills
• Marian
• Susan
• Sascha
• Ben
• Crosby
• Sarah
View Results

For The Sandwiches There

All right peoples, you asked for lunch and we NOW HAVE LUNCH. Here’s what’s available today (and probably most other weekdays).

SANDW​ICHES​

Organ​ic Veggi​e:​ serve​d on Whole​ Wheat​ Levai​n bread​ - radis​h,​ basil​,​ lettu​ce,​ sweet​ peppe​rs,​ tomat​o,​ cucum​ber,​ sun-​dried​ tomat​o,​ cucum​ber,​ sun-​dried​ black​ olive​s,​ kalam​ata tapen​ade,​ vegen​aise,​ sea salt and peppe​r.​

Italian:​ fresh​ orega​no,​ lettu​ce,​ tomat​o,​ Frenc​h ham, Itali​an salam​e,​ sea salt,​ peppe​r,​ smoke​d Provolone on rusti​c bague​tte

Roasted Red Pepper w/goat cheese: served on baguette with vinaigrette and basil.

We place priority on fresh, organic/top quality ingredients. Enjoy them here at our new tables or to go.

We also have quiche, soup and Texas Straw Hats — a chili pie made with corn chips but made with veggies and topped with Grafton cheddar. YUM!

Track Meats

Finally.

We finally have meats cut to order.

Salame Nostrano - Fra’ Mani, Paul Bertolli’s company that places a premium on antibiotic-free local farm-fed hogs, adapts the classic salame from northern Italy. Lightly seasoned with sea salt, cracked black pepper, garlic and white wine, it is a touch milder than the salametto, yet still tangy and flavorful. They are tied by hand with natural twine and slowly ripened and aged in the Fra’ Mani cantina di stagionatura for the flavor and aroma to develop deeply.

Prosciutto di Parma - Fragrant and sweet, Parma Prosciutto has been enjoyed by gourmets for centuries. Dry cured for 14 months with nothing but sea salt & pork in the ancient town of Parma, Italy. The Principe standard of excellence and integrity make this Parma Ham a household necessity.

Jambon di Paris - A wet-cured (aged in salt brine) boneless ham that’s mild and fragrant. The perfect cold cut.

Serrano Ham - This dry-cured ham is wholly raised and made in Spain. Each small bite is an intense indulgent taste!

Speck - Speck is a smoked prosciutto, made from traditional recipes that originated in the small towns of the Northeastern Alps. Speck is made from high quality pork thighs that are trimmed and salted by hand, dry-cured for 3 weeks, smoked over natural beechwood, and then air-dried for an average of 22 weeks. Speck has a strong smoky and zesty scent. During the salting process, the meat is flavored with black pepper, pimento, garlic, and juniper berries, which gives the pork a distinctive and savory taste.

Culatello - The most esteemed cold cut from Parma, the word culatello means “little backside” and refers to from where culatello is made. Seasoned and lightly salted, stuffed into a pig’s bladder, tied to give it a pear-like shape, and then hung 8-12 months to cure in farm buildings in the Bassa Parmense, not far from the Po River, where the mist swirls through the windows, interacts with the molds on the walls, and imparts a hauntingly elusive something that makes all other cold cuts pale by comparison.

Pancetta - Italian dry cured pork that has been salt cured, salted and spiced and dried for about three months. Ours comes from Salumeria Bielesse in Newy York who make a top-notch pancetta.

We also have smoked turkey breast. Come check them out!

Saturday’s Gonna Be Wild!

Hello Peoples, Saturday is going to be a very special day for downtown Norman. The Norman Music Festival is taking over and thousands are invading downtown. To let you know, parking will be CRAZY. You might have to park blocks away. Then you’ll have to brave crowds and Theremins to get here. So, if you are a wary visitor from a distant county with no interest in rocking, you might want to postpone your visit a day. Because we’re thrill junkies, we’re staying open regular hours.  We’ll have extra drinks and snacks to keep the kids going. We’ll see you then.

England’s Greatest

We are one of the lucky shops in America that get to sell Neal’s Yard Dairy cheeses. It’s an honor for us because Neal’s Yard is very special indeed. A London cheese shop with close ties to the cheesemakers, the purveyors at Neal’s Yard find the best farmstead and artisanal cheeses around Great Britain and then choose the best batches of those. They store them perfectly and the result is we get to have the best cheeses from the English. If you think you’ve had Stilton, wait until you’ve had Colston Bassett Stilton. The other cheeses including Crozier Blue, Lincolnshire Poacer and Ardrahan are full-flavoured (anglicization intended) and treasures. Ask for them today.

Forward’s For’s V: Pentacular!

• Copia on the Corridor- It hasn’t stopped bowling me over. On the same wild block as Dreamer Concepts, Hall of Tattoos, Ring of Fire Studio and Blue Koi Tattoo, Copia (326 E. Main St.) is doing things perfectly. The service is efficient but relaxed; the food is innovative but comforting. A bistro that delights.
• The basketball courts at Andrews Park - Full basketball courts that are lighted for night ball in the middle of Norman.On some Sundays you can play to the background music wafting from the amphitheater where Groovefest or Summerbreeze concerts take place.
• Wine and tapas at La Baguette on Main. - La Baguette has created a nice menu to go with an incredible wine list. Nice quiet atmosphere with servers who don’t say “Was everything excellent?” When did this silly phrase start?
• Bitters and soda - Have you tried Sanbitter? (NOTE: Click that link for one amazing ad). It’s basically bitters but a tad sweeter. It’s not for everyone, but for me it’s the perfect apertif/hot day drink. The complex bitterness of the fruit extracts makes you sip slowly and savor the flavor. And it awakens the taste buds for whatever comes next.
• Combining foods - Here’s something Sarah here wrote. “Sierra Nevada Vat Cultured Butter. It’s lightly salted with sea salt and is the best American butter I’ve tasted. Try it on toasted cinnamon raisin bread with a bit of Saint Agur: perfection.”

The Owners Decree!

So the staff had their say, but what about us, the people who started this place? Don’t we matter? The answer is “yes, a little.”

Here are our top ten choices for the month of April. Well, for Suzy it’s actually her Top FIFTEEN because it’s too darn hard to leave her babies off the list. You’ll notice a preponderance of blues in mine. I love all types of cheeses, but blues really have a way of getting my attention, my concentration. And once in a while, a bite of blue bypasses all conscious processes and sends a direct spark to my brain that is intense pleasure. There’s something so primal in the biochemical reaction to the saprotrophic fungus penicillium roqueforti, it stays with you.

SUZY

1. Beaufort
2. Red Hawk
3. Tomme Fleur Verte
4. Abbaye de Belloc
5. Garroxta
6. Etivaz
7. Roquefort
8. Beenleigh Blue
9. Pleasant Ridge Reserve
10. Midnight Moon
11. Lamb Chopper
12. Lincolnshire Poacher
13. Roncal
14. Fromage de Meaux
15. Bra Tenero

ME

1. Bayley Hazen Blue
2. St. Andre
3. Crater Lake Blue
4. Primadonna
5. Roquefort Carles
6. Humboldt Fog
7. Cashel Blue
8. Black Mountain
9. Beenleigh Blue
10. Gorgonzola Dolce

The Staff Speaks!

So last night while I’m pouring my evening coffee, the guys who work here shove some yellow papers in my hand.

“What’s this?”

“We each wrote down our top ten cheeses for April,” they mumbled. They then sneaked outside and drank whiskey (at least that’s what I suspect– they’re rapscallions). I looked at their lists and they impressed me. The other people here followed suit.

So I present our staff’s Top Ten Cheeses for April. They’re a varied bunch. And they’re (the staff and the cheeses) are in no particular order.

MARIAN

1.Taleggio
2.Tomme Fleur Verte
3.Seriously Strong Cheddar
4.Zamorano
5.Lincolnshire Poacher
6.Chevre Noir by Tournevent
7.St. Andre (with figs)
8.Kerrygold Dubliner
9.St. Agur
10.Manouri (Penny's fav: Fantastic on pancakes with strawberries and honey)

SUSAN

1.Beaufort
2. Tomme de Chevre
3. Mimolette
4. Brillat-Savarin
5. Comte
6. Roaring 40s Blue
7. Tomme Fleur Verte
8. Fleur du Maquis
9. Carmody
10. Cantal

SASCHA
1.Torta del Casar
2. Quicke's Cheddar
3 Tomme de Savoie
4. Abbaye de Belloc
5. Stilton
6. Taleggio
7. Pleasant Ridge Reserve
8. St. George
9. Nisa
10. Noord Hollander

BEN
1. Beaufort
2. Comte
3. Tomme Crayeuse
4. Mimolette
5. Pecorino de Pienza Fresca
6. Abbaye de Belloc
7. Garroxta
8. St. Agur
9. Crozier Blue
10. Ubriaco

WILLS
1. Garroxta
2. St. Agur
3. Roquefort Carles
4. Shropshire
5. Taleggio
6. Tomme Fleur Verte
7. Mimolette
8. Berkshire Blue
9. Roaring 40s Blue
10. Comte

SARAH
1. Fourme D'Ambert
2. Pecorino di Pienza Fresca
3. Garroxta
4. Grafton Reserve
5. Midnight Moon
6. Fresh Cream Chevre
7. Ossau-Iraty
8. Abbaye de Belloc
9. Mt. Tam
10. Fontina

In the world of cheese carving.

We have this. Complete with advertisements.

Amaranthulous

A grain less widely known than others, amaranth originated in the Andes and is super healthy. It’s chock full of all your amino acids, vitamin E and B, calcium, phosphorous and iron. It’s like risotto in that when cooked, the starch released is viscous and makes a creamy sauce. Unlike risotto, the amaranth never softens up and you still get a crunch.

But, you say, how does it taste? Good question, “you.” It’s sort of grassy, earthy and nutty. Some say it’s an acquired taste, but I’ve enjoyed every bite. Just realize it’s not couscous or rice and it does its own thing (wow, that sounds hippieish). You can sub amaranth in for other grains (I recommend it for any recipe with root vegetable) for a new interesting variety. I tried this recipe and loved it. I left off the parsley and topped with cilantro for a more Latin American taste.

Whatever you do be it savory, sweet, basic or fancy, amaranth is a great versatile grain that stands up to any recipe.