Need cheese, will travel

When they travel it’s to “the Napa Valley” not California, and it’s to Burgundy and Alsace, not just France.  They visit wineries, winemakers and wine bars. They visit stores with row upon row of lovely gleaming bottles, with familiar labels that they covet. They buy, and taste and enjoy all the interesting wines their travel destinations have to offer.

I’m sure we all might be guilty of having hobbies that take over our travel and vacation destinations. I’m pretty sure I do, because as a cheese lover, travels can always offer some new cheese discoveries. I just came back from a short jaunt to Washington State and Oregon, so I thought I would pass on some of my favourite experiences from this trip.

I love Seattle in general. It is a great city with tons of good food, nice people and great architecture.  The nice thing about some of the more touristy sights is that they actually offer some great cheese visits. When you are at Pike Place market there are two good stops. DeLaurenti is a really nice store at the north end of the market. They specialize in Italian food, wine and coffee and they have a really excellently curated selection of cheese. The counter is well organized, with really nice choices from all over the US, and Europe. The staff members all really knowledgeable and you can buy wine in the same store. Amazing I know. The cheese counter has an especially interesting variety of farm made cheeses from all over the US. We’re hard pressed to get those cheeses in Canada, so I would recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to try some cheeses you’ve never had before. Pick one, it’s hard to lose.

The other fun stop at Pike place market is Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. This is a shop, and cheese making facility all in one. You can stand out on the corner and watch people making cheddar. Kids seem to get a big kick out of watching the huge vats of milk being stirred with huge paddles and magically transformed into cheese. Then when you are done with the watching you, can go in and buy some cheese from some Washington state cheese makers, or have some mac and cheese to go.

If you’re in Washington and just driving around there are creameries you can visit, or take in the farmers markets and you can get a few all in one stop. Here is a link to the state cheesemakers guild www.washingtoncheesemakers.org. You can always call the Creameries direct and see if they have a farm shop or if they welcome visitors. I know on another trip, we visited Gothberg Farms and they are just an hour or so over the border from BC, in the Skagit Valley. They have great goat cheeses and the most adorable herd of La Mancha goats.

Some of those same tips apply to Oregon. In the spring /summer season Portland has a great farmers market right downtown near the university. I’ve been a couple of times over the years and have always been really impressed by the cheesemakers and their wares. There is always other good food from other farmers and food trucks at the market, if you don’t want to stick to the cheese only diet!

There is a great cheese shop/café called Steve’s Cheese Bar right in downtown Portland as well, and the proprietor, Steve of course, has a great palate for what’s good in the market right now, and he and his staff are really friendly.

Oregon also has a website for their cheese guild. http://oregoncheeseguild.org and it’s a great place to find out if there are any cheese festivals when you are travelling, or in Oregon’s case they have a wonderful thing called the cheese trail. How can that not be fun?

It’s a big state, and there are lots of people to visit, but I know when I drove to Sacramento last summer (hot!), to go to the American Cheese Society Conference, we visited Rogue Creamery in South Oregon. They make a whole battery of blues that are amazing. Blue cheese wrapped in brandy macerated grape leaves, creamy blues, crumbly blues and smoked blue. If you love blue, these cheeses are worth the trip.

Another good spot to sample local cheeses can be restaurants. Perhaps you don’t have time to visit a farm. Of course it is fun but not always possible, but I’m sure you might still have time for dinner. A cheese plate after dinner is a good chance to brush up on some of the local products. I know chef’s the world over want to show off their local producers, so if the restaurant you have chosen has cheese, ask for some local ones to finish off that glass of Oregon Pinot noir.

Enjoy your travels and don’t forget to plan to try some cheese made by our neighbours to the south if you’re heading that way.