Venissimo: Artisan Cheese in Mission Hills
By Caron Golden
I laughed. Just half an hour before I had come in with a similar quest, only mine was for a gorgeously runny artisan cheese made by Bellwether Farms called Crescenza. I had been introduced to it many years ago at a cheese course I took at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. I long ago had given up on finding it down here because at other stores I’d been told it was too delicate to stock. My final memory of it was at a restaurant in San Francisco, which served it on warm focaccia with white truffle oil drizzled on top.
What were the results? Well, Gina beamed when she told me that Venissimo does carry Crescenza but then she had to break the news that they didn’t have it at the moment. So, pleasure delayed, at least temporarily.
And the young woman’s Reblochon? Success. Venissimo can’t carry the unpasteurized version that her mother-in-law would recognize, given U.S. laws. However, Gina had the pasteurized version. How much did she want? The young woman wasn’t sure. She said the recipe, for a potato tart or casserole, called for three-and-a-half wheels melted over it. Gina held up a one-pound wheel and they decided three would be plenty. The customer also picked up blue cheese olives as a treat for herself.
As for the Reblochon, we both sampled some and sighed. A creamy cheese, its herbal flavor comes first, followed by a nutty aftertaste. Reblochon literally translated means “to pinch a cow’s udder again.” It comes from the Savoie region of France, the result of some ingenuous 13th-century herdsmen. Back then, dependent on landowners who insisted that all the herd’s milk was their property, farmers cleverly worked around this by only partially milking the cows. Once the controllers left, they completed the task, “re-blochaient.” Thus, the name Reblochon.
In the hour or so I spent at Venissimo on a Wednesday afternoon, customers flowed in almost continuously. Gina greeted almost all by name and knew what kinds of cheeses they were coming for, offering samples of others she thought they might enjoy.
It’s that kind of place. Venissimo is the result of a lifelong passion Gina has had for cheese, that comes from her Austrian mother and their family visits back to Austria and its cheese shops. Gina, who had a career in marketing with Coors and other companies, decided she wanted to follow her passion and opened the store in Mission Hills with her husband, Roger.
On average, the shop carries 120 cheeses at any one time and has carried some 800 varieties in over three years. The shop also sells a variety of cheese implements—knives, planers, spreaders, cheese wrap paper, French paper leaves, cheese boards, flags and holders. There are packages of crackers, jars of olives, tapenade, honey and jams. Gina also carries Bread & Cie breads, chocolates and little cakes — fig chocolate, date walnut and fig almond. It’s a picnic or cocktail party in the making, all in one place.
And what about the cheeses? You name it and she probably carries it. I tried a number of them and here’s just some of what I found:
Roaring Forties Blue from Australia’s Kings Island Dairy. A bright, tangy blue. Great with honey, according to Gina. If that sounds a little odd, she explained that in Italy, Italians will dip cheeses in honey like we dip chips in salsa. For my friend, Jolene, Venissimo carries her favorite Maytag Blue.
Hook’s 10-Year Cheddar. This Wisconsin cheese was a terrific surprise. I expected it to have a sharp bite to it. Instead, it was bold, sweet and had an element that made me do a double take. Crunchiness. Not a lot, but it’s there and the result of calcium lactate crystallization. Some experts say this is not a good thing and there are technologies to try to eliminate it. They’re wrong. A little crunch in a cheese adds an element of fun to the palate.
Quebec Vintage 5-Year Aged Cheddar. This also had a bit of crunch to it. It’s a lovely cheese, a bit sharper than the Hook’s but tangy and buttery. I’ve been eating it on toast, but it would be great with pears or apples.
Il Boschetto. This is Gina’s stated favorite. It’s well deserved. It’s a semi-soft cheese blending sheep and cow’s milk with, get this, white truffle shavings. This is all decadence.
Cahill Porter. Visually gorgeous with flavor to match. From Ireland’s County Limerick, the cheese is enveloped in a soft milk chocolate brown wax. Cut inside and you find a mosaic, the result of Irish cheddar being pressed into Porter beer. It’s got a mellow flavor that, of course, would go well with crackers and ale. I just like looking at it.
Cathare. From Languedoc-Rous, this ash-covered goat cheese has that subtle tang you expect from a goat cheese, but with a richness that comes from aging. The “occitane” cross stamped on the top is a symbol of the Languedoc region.
Mimolette. Another happy discovery for me since my first sight of it — and it’s a gorgeous pumpkin orange — was in Paris. I adored it then and was so happy to learn it can be purchased here. Also known under the name of Boule de Lille because the cheeses originally matured in cellars in Lille, France, Mimolette is similar to the Dutch Edam. It’s a semi-hard cheese that works beautifully with crackers or grated in salads.
Lemon Stilton. This is one of several fruit cheeses Venissimo carries. I also tried the Blueberry Stilton and Cranberry Wensleydale (similar to Stilton). Venissimo carries a Mango Stilton, but didn’t have it in that day. I ended up buying the Lemon Stilton that was perfect crumbled over an arugula salad with toasted walnuts and a lemon-olive oil dressing. Already I crumbled it on asparagus, which I had sautéed in olive oil and garlic and finished with lemon juice and toasted pine nuts. It was a great pairing.
Pecorino Foglie di Noci. Brushed in olive oil and wrapped in sheets of walnut leaves, this hearty cheese is great over pasta and Gina swoons with thoughts of it drizzled with honey. A crisp dry white Italian wine is the perfect pairing.
Speaking of pairing, when you buy cheese from Venissimo, save the register receipt. It is filled with information about the cheese, its provenance and food and wine pairings. Very smart. And, if you like, the store will keep track of your favorites and send you a newsletter and information about when they’re in stock.
You can also find Venissimo in Del Mar’s Flower Hill Mall, in Long Beach at Belmont Shore and in San Diego’s East Village at 871 G St. between 8th and 9th avenues.
The Mission Hills Venissimo is located at 754 W. Washington St., at Falcon Street. Phone: (619) 491-0708, Web site: www.venissimo.com.
Caron Golden is a freelance food writer who loves markets of all kinds. She hosts the blog San Diego Foodstuff (www.sandiegofoodstuff.com).
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