“I’ve yet to find a cheese assortment to rival that magical experience in Versailles, but that may be just as well: I can’t eat as much cheese as I used to. But a quick tour through a few restaurants (I deliberately skipped easy picks such as Spiaggia or Les Nomades) uncovered a few places that fly the fromage flag proudly:
Bar Pastoral: Maybe this pick is too obvious, but I’d never been to this cozy cheese and wine bistro, and I wasn’t about to pass up the chance. The menu lists 14 cheeses, divided more or less equally between U.S. and European varieties, priced at $6 apiece (any three, $16; any five, $25). The menu offers flavor descriptions (you’ll get more detail from your server), and for the indecisive, there’s a preselected three-cheese flight. “What we try to do is create a gateway of appreciation amongst our customers, taking them from comfort zone to exploration,” said co-owner Greg O’Neill. The cheese flight include a crusty baguette, accompaniments specific to each cheese, cornichons and stone-ground mustard. Every Sunday (now through April), the bistro features a raclette dinner from 5 to 9 p.m., with melted Vermont raclette cheese slathered over pork shoulder, fingerlings and roasted vegetables. Seconds permitted/encouraged. And it’s just $35 ($30 for the vegetarian version). 2947 N. Broadway, 773-472-4781; pastoralartisan.com.”
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