Sniffing about for cheese in Paris
July 23, 2004 - Agence France-Presse
PARIS (AFP) - For a cheese lover, it’s a cruel twist on, “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”
In a country with hundreds of cheeses, it’s surprisingly hard for a visitor to Paris to find the good stuff in the right quantity.
Even paying through the nose for a fancy French meal guarantees little as great restaurants aren’t always a solid bet for a cheese course and most reasonably-priced French establishments rarely offer cheeses better than what you can find at a grocery store.
The logical idea would be to get what you need for a picnic, but logistics stymie diversity. Since it isn’t always sold in bite-size chunks at French fromageries (cheese shops), visitors can be forced to buy more than they want for a good selection, most of which will end up left between the bottles in the mini-bar fridge.
The intrepid voyager can also find wine and cheese tastings, but most of these tend to put the emphasis on the former and use the latter to sop up the alcohol.
There are better ways to do things.
An e-mail to a restaurant critic for the GaultMillau guide asking for places that put cheese in the fore garnered an immediate response. As if there were no other places to get cheese in Paris, the critic, who declined to be identified, replied, “Without hesitation, Androuet.”
Master cheesemongers and affineurs (cheese agers), the Androuet family has been famous in France for nearly 100 years and they now offer three “cheese bars” across the City of Light, highlighting the best of their selection of 250 different raw milk cheeses.
“Good cheese isn’t cheap,” says the critic, explaining bluntly why Androuet doesn’t have much competition, “plus, it’s complicated to sell—you have to be able to store it or it doesn’t last long.”
Indeed, a smart restaurant will offer only a tiny handful of cheese choices, creating the turnover necessary to get it to the customer’s mouth in time.
“Even the time it takes to serve cheese is an issue for a restaurant,” says the critic, addressing the additional issue of staffing. “At a good restaurant, it takes someone at least ten minutes to serve cheese to a table of four,” he says, referring to the relatively large amount of time in an industry with tight profit margins.
The critic lets out a sigh, “I’d almost prefer that most restaurants just throw in the towel!”
Once chez Androuet, the first thing you notice is that their restaurants are surprisingly low-key. The “cheese bar” moniker seems particularly appropriate as you could easily imagine the restaurants with late-night crowds huddled around tables full of drinks.
The menu is surprisingly simple: you order the number of cheeses you’d like to try—anywhere between an ample five (rather reasonably priced at 10 euros) and a whopping 20 cheeses. Outside of how many you want, there’s no choosing. When you order five, you get the five they give you. Anywhere else, this could be a problem but at Androuet, you worry less when you take your hands off the wheel.
But while lunch or dinner chez Androuet might leave you feeling fat and happy, it also leaves the cheese enthusiast looking for an education that busy waiters don’t have time for.
Harriet Welty-Rochefort offers the solution. “Don’t ever cut your cheese like I’m doing,” begins the French-American at her “Wine and Cheese Chats” in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.
Rochefort is the author of two books, “French Fried” and “French Toast,” dedicated to demystifying the country she’s called home since marrying a Frenchman.
At her eastern Paris home, the setting for chats that put the emphasis on cheese and humor, a big easel greets students reading “Today’s Cheese Tasting,” giving the idea that she runs a tight ship.
However, the chat is a low-key and informative look at cheeses not always available in the United States. She takes particular pleasure in scooping out a spoonful of gooey Cancoillotte that oozes all the way from its bowl to the bread and she loves presenting the bright red Boulette d’Avesnes saying, “My husband used to serve it to freak out our guests.”
Rochefort serves up an impressive spread of cheeses and somewhere around five different wines to accompany them, while answering questions with candor and a refreshing lack of preachiness.
To illustrate a point, she’ll even put out two of the same kinds of cheese in different stages of aging to point out what a difference affinage makes. On this day, it’s a classic Comte, which in its younger form is fruity but has a much earthier flavor when aged.
In relative terms, the 27 euros for Rochefort’s afternoon chat may seem a bit much for lunch, but it’s well worth it. There’s plenty of cheese for a full lunch, and she makes soups and salads to balance out the offerings.
A meal at Androuet and Rochefort’s cheese chats offer perfect bookends for a cheese enthusiast’s visit to Paris while reminding those who live here of the magic in a good hunk of cheese.
