Zola (kitchen lends a hand)

Ok, so one of the 8 million things that pregnant women are supposed to avoid is unpasteurized cheese.  Luckily, the US government has such stringent pasteurization laws that any cheese produced on an industrial scale is totally fine.  Problem is, most restaurants rely on delicious boutique cheeses to concoct their cheese plate. What is a pregnant cheese lover to do??

Happily, Zola is also willing to poke around in their cheese pantry and pull together a pasteurized only cheese plate if you ask them to. They made no promises on the pairing, but when it arrived, it was just fine.  An aged goat, something kind of like manchego, and what may have been an Irish cheddar. Frankly, it would have been great with a beer, now that I think about it.  A handful of fruity goos to pair with it (maybe quince?  nothing was labeled or explained) and I couldn't complain.  Ok, I could complain since I had no idea what any of the cheeses actually were, but since their kitchen had taken the time to find the wrappers and determine which cheeses were pasteurized, I thought I'd let it go.

Comments

[Martha Thomas]

Hi:
I am doing an article about cheeseplates for a Baltimore-based magazine called Smart Woman. Could you drop me a line with an email address (or a phone number) so I can interview you for my piece? I would also like to know if you've explored any cheeseplates in Baltimore.
Thanks,
Martha Thomas