orange/vanilla ring of crème brulée, filled with mixed berries and topped with a honey tuile cookie
Creamy Rice Pudding
served in a brown sugar tuile cup, topped with almond praline and a red wine-and-raspberry compote
Flourless Chocolate Cake
layers of flourless chocolate cake and coffee ganache, topped with chocolate shavings and served with a coffee and cinnamon crème anglaise
Artisan Cheeses
1. Fourme d’Ambert (France / Cow’s milk / Blue)
This rich and creamy cow’s milk blue from the Auvergne region of France has a thin yellowish rind mottled with sandy molds. Its interior is bone white with distinctive bluing. Although the scent is very earthy, the flavor is creamy and mild with a slightly nutty finish. The paste is both soft and smooth. Try this cheese with sweet Sauternes as a dessert course or as a light meal accompanying a salad and slice of crusty bread.
2. Chevre Noit (Canada / Goat’s milk / Blue)
Chevre Noit is unique in Quebec’s large variety of cheeses, as it is made from goat’s milk inoculated with Penicillium Roqueforti. The wheels are formed in round, two kilogram molds and aged for three months. Chevre Noit has a natural grey crust, crumbly texture, and full hearty flavor with a hint of salt. This cheese is a new sanctified delight for the true cheese connoisseur. Pair it with Sauternes, Riesling or other sweet wines.
Hawes Wensleydale is quite mild and very crumbly – a result of being finely milled – and is produced mere miles from where it was created almost 1,000 years ago. In the year 1150, a monastery was built at Fors, four miles from Haws. The French Cistercian monks inhabiting the monastery brought with them their special recipe for making cheese. Haws Wensleydale is mild and milky; its lactic sourness and yogurt flavors pair nicely with fresh frui
4. Fog Light (US / Goat’s milk / Fresh and mild)
Cheese maker Mary Keehn has duplicated the enormous success of Humboldt Fog with her whimsical small format cheese, the Fog Light. Made at Cypress Grove in McKinleyville, CA, a layer of carbonized vegetable ash covers each small wheel, on top of which sits a fluffy white bloom. Cypress Grove Fog Light possesses a moist but tight texture and that clean, lemony taste so characteristic of fresh goat cheese. This cheese pairs splendidly with Sancerre
5. Pont l’Eveque (France / Cow’s milk / Stinky)
Legend has it that this savory square of cow’s milk cheese was introduced by monks in the Pays d’Auge during the Middle Ages. With its mild, milky and grassy flavors, Pont l’Eveque (pon lay-VECK) is a prime example of the very high quality of French washed-rind cheeses. It is made in Normandy and, while somewhat similar to Livarot, has warm, buttery and savory flavors with tangy, fruity undercurrents. It is simply marvelous with Champagne,
6. Gouda, 4 year (Netherlands / Cow’s milk / Hard)
Pronounced HOW-dah, this cheese exhibits the perfect balance of salty and sweet. Deep caramel in color, crunchy and flaky, yet meltingly smooth on the tongue, this cheese bursts with flavor. The hint of butterscotch at the finish is a signature of this Dutch treat. Gouda pairs well with Cabernet Sauvignon as well as several white wines, such as Chardonnay, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc.
7. Tourmalet (France / Sheep’s Milk / Semi-Firm)
Tourmalet is a cylindrically-shaped sheep’s milk cheese from the foothills of the Pyrenees. It is the farmhouse version of Petit Basque. Hard, smooth and chewy, Tourmalet has a sharp, nutty flavor and meaty finish. Made from the raw milk of sheep grazing on wild grasses, herbs and plants, it will change your perspective on Pyrenees cheeses. Tourmalet pairs wonderfully with Viogner wines.
8. Fougerus (France / Cow’s milk / Soft)
Fougerus is a bloomy-rind cow's milk cheese from Tournan, in the Ile-de-France. It is similar to Coulommiers and squarely in the style of a Brie. The name Fougerus comes from the word "fougère," meaning fern, after the single fern frond adorning the top of each wheel. Below the frond is a fluffy, white rind concealing Fougerus' soft, creamy paste. Fougerus is a natural pair for Chardonnay and wonderful with a hunk of crusty French bread and a ta
9. Sentinelle (Canada / Goat’s milk / Stinky)
Sentinelle has a pure white paste in a lovely orange rind, soft and goatee taste with a zest of intensity from the washed rind. Even when young, its texture is creamy and becomes softer in aging. The name is a remembrance of the Century when the neighboring Fort Ingall, as a sentinel, was protecting the Canadian border. Today, the goat herd eats the lush grass under the Aster Scientific Station observing the Celeste movement in the galaxy. It pai
10. Piave (Italy / Cow’s milk / Hard)
Piave is named after the river Piave, whose source is found at Mount Peralba in Val Visdende, in the northernmost part of the province of Veneto, Italy. The land surrounding the ancient river is integral to the character of the cheese: it is where the milk is collected, the curd cooked, and the aged until hard. Piave has an intense, full-bodied flavor, reminiscent of Parmigiano Reggiano, that intensifies with age and makes this cheese absolutely