Our friend Marti is a regular at Artisanal, in Murray Hill. She chose it for dinner on Saturday and secured us the single coveted table in the glorious "cheese cave," lined with refrigerated shelves of all the cheeses. In addition to chance for cheese-gazing, and the feeling of being superior to the other diners, the cheese cave also offers a quieter atmosphere than the main dining room. What did Marti have to do to get us this table? She told us, but I'll never repeat it.
The food was top notch. Pat had a gnocchi appetizer and Marti had a dazzlingly attractive salad. I had the tender and juicy "chicken under a brick" entree. I am not a lamb fan, but the looks of Pat's lamb dish made even me want to sink my teeth into it. Marti had a steak that I can vouch was good because she put her leftovers in with mine and I enjoyed them the next day. Her fries were very seductive, too.
Dessert was where we really got down to the task at hand: cheese. We consulted the restaurant's cheese expert (I forget the exact title - fromagier, perhaps?). He came off as a little recalcitrant at first but did open up a bit and we ended up with a selection of five cheeses. First was Nettle Meadow Kunik, a creamy goat and cow blend from New York, with a little tang and a lot of butteriness. Then there was the stronger Truffle Tremor, from California. The Ossau-Iraty, from France was perhaps most conducive to picking up off the plate and popping directly into one's eager mouth. The gooey Epoisses, from France, was very pleasing, and we finished with the no-holds-barred Roaring Forties Blue, from Australia. The fromagier (or whatever he is) paired these with bread, apple, and pear. It was a great finish to a great meal.
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