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If a restaurant were ascribed points solely for its imaginative,
instructive – and oh so delicious – cheese degustation,
the Farmhouse Inn would have to be ranked Number One.
The cheese course is so good, so original, and so reasonably
priced here($17 per person), that we easily tag it as Best Restaurant
Cheese Course in the Bay-Area.
In fact, it’s worth a detour to Sonoma County for the
experience.
We are sitting in a small, gold-and-green salon and feel as
though we have been whisked away to a small French, or Belgian,
Relais et Chateau property. The reality: we are in
Sonoma County on a country side-road, not far from Sebastopol.
The setting is the Farmhouse Inn, one of the “Top 100
Restaurants in the Bay-Area,” according to San Francisco
Chronicle Food Guru Michael Bauer. You wouldn’t get an
argument from us; in fact, we’d put it in the Top 50.
We have just tucked into, and made disappear, a sensational
pan-seared, brick-pressed, then roasted poussin, knapped
with a tasty sauce of morels and fava beans, and a delicious,
six-hour-braised, Niman Ranch pork shank, flavored with fennel
and star anise, that melted off the bone. Chef Steve Litke is
one of our best new discoveries; his cooking is as seasonal
as it is sensational. Steve is light on the oil and fat, high
on flavor and generous with portions, yet you don’t come
away feeling stuffed.
At this point in the dinner, we place ourselves in the care
of maitre d’ Joseph Bain, who, with a French accent that
is as warm and runny as a super ripe triple crème, predicts
that we are about to have a monumental cheese course.
They should hire Joseph to predict earthquakes, or horse races,
because his prediction skills are amazing. Tonight, for example,
he’s batting 1000 – the cheese course is a true
Showstopper.
Joseph wheels over a cart with 12 perfectly ripe cheeses, each
different, each artisanal, each delicious. Joseph cuts small
pieces, or curls off thin slices, or scoops out small smudges,
depending on the consistency of the cheese, and places them
clockwise on the lip of a large white plate, each cheese going
where one would expect to find the numerals on a clock face.
We joke; the most appealing cheese is four Minuets after 12.
And that’s not a typo. In the fourth position on the clock
face, at twenty past the hour, is a wedge of exceptional goat’s
milk cheese, called Minuet, made by Soyoung Scanlan, one of
the Bay-area’s top artisanal cheesemakers.
With local Jersey milk, or goat’s milk, Soyoung sculpts
edible poetry; her soft-ripened Andante Dairy, Sonoma County,
cheeses are in great demand in cheese-maven circles –
the Bay-area’s local Farmer’s Markets.
“Soyoung’s goat’s cheese is the best you will
find, not just in northern California, but anywhere in the world!”
pumps Joseph. “For sure, she is the best cheesemaker in
the United States.”
In addition to the cheese platter for two, Joseph supplies us
with “cheat sheets,” a page each with a patter about
what we are tasting, whether it’s goat or cow in origin,
and who makes it. As well, Joseph advises us to purchase a flight
of three wines to accompany the cheeses; again the guy’s
right – each marries perfectly to the cheese with which
Joseph has paired it.
Mumm’s Cuvee Napa sparkling wine works wonders with cheeses
one through eight; a lush McCray Ridge Merlot from Dry Creek
Valley marries well to cheeses nine through 11; for the final
cheese, a tongue-clacking Bleu des Causses, Joseph pours a chilled
Austrian Mantlerhof ice wine made from the Grüner Veltliner
grape. The pairing, the pouring, the cheese experience –
it’s an overall 100-point experience. (The selection of
cheeses changes nightly, based on ripeness and availability;
the three wines offered by the glass changes periodically, too,
but generally the wine runs about $31 for sufficient pourings
of the three wines to serve two.)
For fromageophones, (those who speak cheese…),
here’s the edible clock of cheese we were served at the
Farmhouse Inn:
Petit Fiance, Pyrenee, France. Fresh, mild, goat’s
cheese, orange rind. 88 points.
Latur, Piedmonte, Italy. A salty, chalky, fresh, creamy cheese
made from both cow and goat’s milk; an almost ricotta-,
or cream-cheese-like texture. 92 points.
Largo, Andante Dairy, Sonoma. A tremendous cow’s
milk cheese with salty, sour, earthy, almost metallic flavors.
Tastes like an artisanal European cheese, not something from
a Yankee doodle dairy. 91 points.
Minuet, Andante Dairy, Sonoma. Another Euro-styled cheese,
this goat’s milk achievement would take top prize in any
county fair. A stunning cheese. 93 points.
Laguiole, Auvergne, France. A pale personality cheese
with Swiss-style flavors. 90 points.
Chaource, Champagne, France. Ooozy, runny, salty, with
a l-o-n-g finish that doesn’t want to quit. 91 points.
Brillat-Savarin, Normandy, France. Metallic; bordering
on overaged. 86 points.
Afidelice, Burgundy, France. A Chablis-area, washed-rind
cheese, wonderfully barnyard-y, with hints of straw, cream,
and a somewhat tamed animal flavors. 90 points.
Manchego, La Mancha, Spain. A bit pale in color for Manchego,
but the flavors are textbook perfect. 90 points.
Pecorino, Di Pienza, Tuscany, Italy. Salty, pale straw
flavors, very buttery. 89 points.
Abbaye de Bel’loc, Pyrenee, France. Nutty, dairy,
delicious. 92 points.
Bleu des Causses, France. Yikes! Everything you could
want in a Bleu. Tangy, salty, terrific. 93 points.
The Farmhouse Inn has been on the country inn circuit for quite
a while but two years ago, it became a brother and sister act;
Joe and Catherine Bartolomei bought the 8-cottage property and
have breathed new life into it. Tasty life.
While rooms are available seven nights a week (breakfast is
served daily in the dining room), dinners are only prepared
Thursday through Sunday.
You don’t have to stay overnight to get a reservation
in the dining room, but as you are likely to drink copiously
and as the surroundings are so beautiful and peaceful, booking
a room and staying overnight may be the ultimate finish to a
great meal here.
Farmhouse Inn and Restaurant.
7871 River Road, Forestville.
707- 887-3300. Toll free: 800-464-6642. |
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