As if New York City wasn't smelly enough, here comes the third annual Winter Stinky Cheese Festival! What a glorious name. Thanks to the Culinary Tour de France restaurant group, from March 3rd – March 12th you can try more than twenty types of distinct cheeses at participating restaurants. Exclusive menus will be offered, as well as three-course cheese-centered tastings – think Raciette de Fromage or Taleggio gougeres followed by Chicken Cordon Bleu and finished with something called the "Stinking Bishop" for dessert.
Speaking of stinking, apparently the overpowering smell of Limburger wafting out of a restaurant is enough to draw outside traffic IN. According to Simon Oren, founder and owner of Tour de France, “We had a raclette on the menu [at French Roast Uptown] and people couldn’t stop talking about the smell the cheese was exuding. Call it counter-intuitive but I knew it would bring a draw into the restaurant.”
If you've ever dreamt of swimming in a bowl of creamy alfredo, hiking up chunks of cheddar, or marrying The Stinky Cheese Man, then this just might be your heaven on earth. I can already think of two or three people who will piss themselves with excitement. Participating restaurants are Nice Matin, Marseille, French Roast (Uptown), Le Monde, Cafe D'Alsace, Maison, L'Express and Pigalle. Entree prices range from $8-$24.
I checked out the menus and drooled a little over the thought of Black Truffle Gnocchi and Camambert Gratinee from French Roast…
"How do you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?" – Charles de Gaulle
:_)When you mark Group-specific milestones, you let your members — and the world — know what’s important to your Meetup Group. @*@