#casellula

[lookhowmanetfucksigive]

Our last meal in NYC! Pre-theatre wine and cheese at Casellula @ecniv94 #food #winebar #cheeseplate #broadway #nyc #springbreak #casellula (at Casellula Cheese & Wine Café)

[fullyflushed]

Casellula - New York, N.Y.

Saturday, 10/6/07, 10 pm - Midtown West This is a small wine and cheese place so the single stall seems fine to service customers. It was clean and streamlined, white walls and white toilet and sink. Classy but not fancy. The one thing I do remember not liking is there was no place to hang your purse. I would recommend a hook on the back of the door. Here's more on Casellula.

[thirdrailprojects]

Eat Me

We have all been asked the conversation starter, “If you could invite four people for a dinner party who would you ask? ”

Let me help you out here. Forget George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Forget Albert Einstein and Mark Twain (don’t they kind of look alike). Forget your great great great grandpa and whatever other family member you normally say.

After seeing what a tea party with the characters of Wonderland is like I want none other than the White Queen, the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit at my next dinner party.

And now, thanks to our emphasis on collaboration, that very thing happens when you tumble down the rabbit hole at Then She Fell. “It’s a performance, not a dinner party” you might say. But ahh tsk tsk we have all the bases covered, and along with your magical journey you get delicious food designed by the brilliant artists at Caselulla. Chef, Megan Johnson and pastry chef, Leigh Friend have created some amazing treats. Imagine seasonal squash custard with truffle oil and pink peppercorn or goat cheese and hazelnut truffles to satisfy that sweet tooth.

If you’re envisioning stuffy dinner party or fancy tablecloths with severs in tuxedos think again. It’s all about the delivery here. To find out how you’ll be served the treats, and from whom, you must be lucky enough to step through the looking glass. For now, we will leave all the details to your imagination. I am pretty sure the Man of Honor, Mr. Carroll, himself would endorse active use of the imagination.

[cheesenotes]

Shooting in the low light of restaurants is always a challenge, but these beautiful cheese plates from Casellula, one of my favorite cheese-focused restaurants in NYC, look pretty delectable even under candlelight. 

Casellula is featuring a well-curated list of domestically-produced cheeses throughout October, for American Cheese Month, and as always the emphasis is on creative and unusual pairings (not to mention the plating). 

On the plate on the left, we have: Smokey Ricotta, from Salvatore Brooklyn; Bloomin' Goat, from Spoonwood Cabin; Rippleton, from Meadowood Farms; Dante, from Wisconsin Sheep Co-op; and Cascadilla Bleu from Lakin's Gorge Cheese. 

On the plate on the right, front to back, we have Cuvette, from Spoonwood Cabin; Bon Pere, from Boston Post Dairy; and Brutal Blue, from Rogue Creamery. 

[fairdinkumnewyorker]

Schlep du Jour: Casellula Cheese & Wine Cafe (Hell's Kitchen) - An intimate fine dining restaurant

Place: Casellula Cheese & Wine Café - 401 West 52nd St (crn 9th Ave) Hell's Kitchen

Day: Friday April 25, 2014

Time: 8pm - 10:30pm

Schlep: From my Hell's Kitchen apartment (West 50th St & 9th Ave) - walked up 9th Ave a few blocks and then turned left at 52nd St. Too easy!

I'd heard good things about this restaurant. So, when an old friend came to town for a visit, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to try it. We waited for a table (as you do in New York). There was nowhere to sit, but we had a glass of wine each, so we didn't mind. We were seated in about half an hour.

While I enjoyed the dimly-lit and small, intimate atmosphere, I was expecting to be blown away by the wine and cheese. Perhaps we didn't order well, but I thought it was okay - nothing to write home about.

Pros:

Romantic atmosphere

Huge wine list

Good service

Reasonably tasty menu

Cons:

You'll probably wait for a table

You won't be able to sit while you wait for a table

The cheese and wine we ordered was nothing spectacular

Verdict:

3.5 / 5 - I'd come back, but not in a huge hurry.

[hsume2]

[cheesenotes]

Murray's brings in Tia Keenan for new venture

More information about Murray's long-rumored (and now confirmed) Cheese-focused restaurant, and it's very promising. Eater.com reports that Tia Keenan (on Twitter as @KaseKaiserina), formerly head cheese at Casellula, will be Director of Food Service and bringing her acclaimed turophilic skills to the job:

Rob Kaufelt, owner of Village staple Murray's Cheese, is bringing in the big guns for his now confirmed wine and cheese bar in the former Bar'rique space at 264 Bleecker St. Reps reveal that Tia Keenan, the cheese obsessive who made a name for herself at Caselulla over in Hell's Kitchen, has been brought on as the Director of Food Service for the Murray's group and calls herself the "mother hen" of the upcoming cheese-centic restaurant.

The new project won't debut until mid-summer, but boy does she have some plans. There will be cheese boards of course, and charcuterie—all from Murray's and often from their caves—and there will also be large format raclette dinners with all the traditional fixings, fondue, grilled whole cheeses, cheese curds, cheese sandwiches, and the most enticing of all, a rarebit burger, consisting of an open faced patty melt that is smothered in a liquid beer and cheese mixture table-side. "It's cheeseburger on steroids," Keenan says, "This is like a cheese-focused restaurant to the max. It's all about cheese. We're doing all different manifestations of all the different ways you can enjoy cheese." Keenan is also in charge of the beer and wine lists and will lend a hand when the Bleecker street retail location starts selling beer.

(Photo ©2012 Eater.com)