Pastoral - Behold! The Power of Artisan Cheese

April 06 2005 - 9:58 AM

Pastoral I would point to cheese if I was to take a guess at the mainstay of Pastoral. But then again that just may be the power of cheese.

Beyond the large and thoughtful cheese selection there are other things in the store. That’s what I like about it… the olives, the meats, the tapenades, the nuts, the inflatable water slide miscellaneous. They’ve figured out the food combinations that go well together and surprise surprise… they’re mostly farm style natural items.

It’s a store where many items have a story– from historical significance to mini-bio’s of producers. The most random items I have found to be the most impressive.

The sun dried tomato tapenade is fantastic and goes so well with cheese. Between the meat case and the olives you can set yourself up right for any kind of evening. Or better still they can set it up for you.

They offer cheese trays that are fantastic. The strength of these ingredients is their ability to get along together. While they’re not breaking ground with this concept the simple quality of their ingredients and the knowledge of the staff is the bang for your buck.

They spread the knowledge at classes offered in store. Given the size of the store I’d guess it would be a small class.
April 12th is the Cheese 101 class
April 19th is their “emerging wine regions: Spain” class
For their whole schedule and cost see their site www.pastoralartisan.com

Pastoral
2945 North Broadway
Chicago
Map Pastoral

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