I’m thinking: Promotion!

Nancy was thinking: Cheese!

It was a bit deflating when Nancy, her left eye covered with an authentic pirate/Moshe Dayan eye patch, met me outside her house with a foam wedge of cheese. Either she was sending me to cover a Packers game. Or this was not exactly what I had in mind. Nancy, tears in her good eye, explained that the residual pain from her emergency retina laser work made it impossible for her to be her normal gracious host for the SideDish CheeseHead Texas Wine and Cheese Celebration at – where else?- Celebration. She needed me to fill in for her. And she needed me to wear the big cheese head hat. Then she pulled out a Swiss Miss wig, complete with long side braids, and a pair of cheese wedge earings.

“Sorry,” I said, “But I like my cheese like I like my women: Dutch.”

The wig was out (but the earrings may one day come in handy).

Cheese head in hand, I rushed to Celebration to help with the Celebration. But here’s the funny thing: Not only our local cheese farmers and purveyors talented, but they also don’t need any gimmicks or guest hosts. At 5 p.m. promptly, folks started streaming onto the vine covered patio to sip Kiepersol Estates Texas Merlot and sample cheese from The Mozzarella Company, Lucky Layla Farms and Latte Da Dairy. All of them won awards at the 25th Annual American Cheese Society competition in Austin earlier this month. Also, we can’t forget the Ozarows from Empire Baking Company, who supplied some lovely bread to accompany the cheese. Here’s the thing about these little SideDish get togethers that I’ve come to realize: We really have a very nice food-loving community in Dallas. And supportive, too.  Lots of folks got to taste cheese and get an education in what goes into the making of these small-batch products.

There was plenty of cheese and wine and even more good times and good conversation. Local artisanal cheeses are starting to show up on more and more menus all over town, so even if you missed the event, you still have chances to sample this stuff. And it’s good. I’ve had Paula’s mozzarella – heck, I once made Paula’s mozzarella in a cheese class – all over town (most recently, I saw it on the menu at Park). And I’ve sampled some of her other cheeses, too. Paula had her award winners – the Queso Oaxaca and Queso Blanco with Chiles and Epazote – on hand, but my favorite of hers was the Blanca Bianca. It had a fruity and spicy aroma and it had a little kick of spice at the end. A wonderful snacking cheese.

My blue ribbon for the night, however, went to Latte Da’s Fresh Chevre with dill, garlic, and black and red peppers. I can now understand why the goat on the on logo is dancing. These goats should be proud of this stuff. It was creamy and light and the mix of herbs sprinkled on top made for a perfect spread atop a slice of baguette. I had sampled the plain Chevre the night before at Oceanaire, where it is used in a salad with pistachios. I found Latte Da’s plain Chevre to be more mild than most goat cheeses I’ve tasted. Paired up with a vinaigrette and some pistachios, the salad was fully of layers of crunch, cream, sweet, salty and bitter. It was a symphony of tastes.

Admission: I never did get to taste the Lucky Layla cheeses. They were at the far end of the cheese tables and they were crowded. The Moore Family can pack ‘em in. Fortunately, if I can’t get out to their store on Jupiter Road in Plano, I know I can sample their cheese (and butter) at Fearing’s in the Ritz-Carlton. They had some of their award-winning yogurt cheese on hand and had a steady stream of hungry tasters.

When we closed up shop at a little after seven, it was with a tummy full of cheese and a head full of memories of great local artisanal cheeses. There’s a great variety of local stuff out there folks. If you haven’t tried it, you are missing out. And you don’t even have to wear a giant wedge of foam cheese on your head when you do it (leave that part to us pros.).

Next girl up is Central 214’s Blythe Beck. She will star in The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck on Oxygen. I’ve never really understood the naughty kitchen concept. So I checked the shows website. It says:

Blythe Beck, the fiery young chef and star of Oxygen’s upcoming series The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck, shows off her distinctive sexy American cuisine, her cutting edge Dallas restaurant, Central 214, and her loud and flamboyant staff. The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck is certain to cook up the drama both in and out of the kitchen. Oxygen follows executive chef Blythe Beck, a 29-year old Texas native, who is plus-sized in stature and personality, and her colorful crew at Central 214, inside and outside the kitchen as they interact with the Dallas elite and the local university students.

Monday night I went to Central 214 to check it out and write a mini-review. Sadly, I didn’t see waitresses in garter belts or waiters wearing thongs, but I did find the Door Whores. And calories. Lots of calories. What is sexy about calories? I guess we will find out when the show starts on September 22nd. Somebody tell me this is a good thing.

Art by Bob Dob.

In early August, I reported on the Dallas area cheesemakers who won big time national awards at the 25th Annual American Cheese Society Competition in Austin. I’ll wait while you read the post…

…Okay, so now you know Latte Da, Lucky Layla, and Mozzarella Company made our region proud. In a follow-up post, I printed a 2,500 word document detailing the complete list of winners and judges. At the bottom of the lengthy post,  I typed: IF YOU ARE STILL WITH ME, YOU ARE AN OFFICIAL SIDEDISH CHEESEHEAD AND IF YOU SEND ME AN EMAIL YOU WILL BE INVITED TO A VERY SPECIAL CHEESE EVENT. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Please use this form rather than sending an email.]

Three of you, drum roll please: Worzel (shocker, I know), Meaders, and Douglas replied. They are now official SideDish CheeseHeads. But here is the even better news: I am putting together a small FREE event to celebrate Texas cheese and Texas wine. It will be in late September. So let’s start a list below so I can get an idea of how big to blow this out. Lists, I love lists. Go. Sign up. Be a SideDish CheeseHead. We will make Wisconsin blush with envy.