Over on the Unplanned Comedy Podcast “Food Weirdos” you can listen to me chat about cuisine with hosts Steve and Josie. It was a wonderfully fun time and I reference this very review in it. I wanted to get it up before the podcast went live, but it was their diligence and my busy schedule that resulted in the situation ending up like it did.
I chose to go to Casellula this year for my birthday as I’d read a lot about it’s fascinating background and also the story behind Alphabet City. I wasn’t too concerned with making a meal out of cheese, but I quickly found myself enthralled with their incredible small plates and cocktail offerings. Our waitress and their in-house fromagier (like a sommelier but for cheese) both provided top-notch service during a wonderful meal enjoyed in a socially-conscious and modern respite on the border of the Mexican War Streets on the North Side.
Casellula has a great cocktail menu, with very inventive modern twists on classic cocktails. We enjoyed a few, but I only captured two of them. Front and center was my second cocktail, the Rose Colored Glasses. Made with Gin, Aperol, St. Germain, Lime, Cider, Absinthe, and Lemon this was the perfect summer spritz with a delicious sharp citrus bite and sweet finish from the Cider. I also had the Death Will Tremble, which was Bourbon, Ancho Reyes, Lime, Basil, and Celery. It had a wonderful smoke and earth notes from the basil and celery without being too strong or heavy-handed on the balance of bourbon and smoke from the chili. My wife enjoyed the Longhand which was Vodka, Ginger, Lime, and Lustau Sherry. It was also delicious, as were all of the cocktails, a wonderful balance between flavors of the herbs and fruit additions as well as the natural complexities of the liquors themselves.
With our cheeses, we ordered the assorted olives as well as the housemade pickled vegetable of the season (dilly beans). The olives were a nice mix of my personal favorite Castelvetrano (the huge meaty green ones), Kalamata, and various others. The dilly beans were super fresh, really crisp and with a wonderful vinegary tang to cut through the rich and creamy cheeses. Speaking of which…
The cheeses. Goodness me the cheeses. If you haven’t already, take a quick gander at what they’re currently offering. It’s a (positively) overwhelming list of ~30 rotating cheeses, the likes of which I haven’t seen anything close in Pittsburgh. They separate the cheeses out into 5 distinct categories: Fresh, Bloomy/Soft-Ripened, Washed, Pressed & Cooked, and Blue. The list, as well as how they were served (from right to left) is in order of complexity and depth of aging and flavors. We left it up to the fromagier to choose one cheese from each category and expected a delivery of five cheeses. A wonderful and dear friend knew that we were planning on dining there for my birthday and paid for one of our cheeses ahead of time so we enjoyed 6, with two from the Bloomy/Soft-Ripened list. It is with deep sadness that I can’t recall (and foolishly didn’t record) which cheeses they were, so the best I can do is talk about their paired side and the general flavors of what we enjoyed.
The far right was a fresh cheese, smooth and creamy-rich, with a sweet carrot puree. The earthiness of the sweet carrots was a nice low note to the high end of the heavy mouth feel of the creamy fresh cheese. Next was another wonderfully creamy milky cheese, with a beautiful gooey rind served with a strawberry jam and a gorgeous soft-ripened brie with sweet pickled red onions. Only slightly funky, with a wonderful gooey mouthfeel, the sweet and sour pairings helped bring them down to a beautiful creamy/acidic balance. The washed (rind) cheese was similar to a piave with a nice soapiness and good hard bite similar to a good cheddar. The pairing was an incredible pesto with powerful garlic and basil notes, joining together with its paired cheese to create the ultimate flavor (garlic bread, of course). Moving further left and deeper into the aged cheese category, the magically funky and melty-gooey Pressed category cheese were served with a far more vinegary and pickled onion, crunchy and bold enough to cut through that deep funk of a good aged pressed cheese. Finally, the blue was a jump-in-the-air-and-roundhouse-kick-you-in-the-face bold. Enormous veins of that outstanding bleu mold intertwined this incredible pile of cheese so creamy and crumbly and impossibly old that it couldn’t be properly sliced or hold any shape. It was served with house-made caramels and was so incredibly bold and rich, I was ready to be done right there. That would have been foolish, however as we hadn’t even received our main courses!
It’s very safe bet that when you see a menu that features something as half of the menu (be it small plates, sushi, steak, or in this case cheese) that the other half is probably going to be just alright. No one is going to Capital Grill for their Fish if they’re looking for good fish. That all being said, if you’re looking for amazing pasta and incredible large plates, Casellula hits the grand slam with that one. The mac and cheese (an easy no-brainer at a restaurant that can do the sauce with expert precision) was outstanding. Studded with large chunks of pork lardon and baked in a cast-iron skillet, the incredibly creamy and cheesy sauce was filled with fresh-made gigli (bell-shaped) pasta. Wonderfully al-dente, the corn ravioli was equally outstanding. The sweet corn both outside and within the ricotta filling of the ravioli perfectly matched with the savory herbs and broth. The roasted grape tomatoes and the clams in the spaghettini elevated the rich and complex lightly salty seafood broth, definitely enjoyable as the ravioli was with both fork and spoon. Finally, the Pig’s Ass was bold in both nomenclature and flavor. A wonderful take on the classic cuban with pork loin, gooey melty emmentaler and cheddar cheeses, bread and butter pickles, and a chipotle aioli (on the side in case it was too spicy). The aioli was wonderfully creamy with heavy notes of garlic and smoky chipotle pepper without much of the spice from their seeds. All in all, four outstanding entrees from a restaurant that had already proven itself so much in their cheese selections.
The stunning selection of cheeses and pairings from that day. It was a marvel just to behold and I knew we’d have to return soon.
In October, my wife and I returned for an American Cheese tasting class. It was a treasured experience and led by an extremely intelligent graduate student. We learned about the history of cheese and how the American cheese movement started and grew through the exploration of 5 modern cheeses.
The cheeses were introduced and plated in order of age/complexity from left to right. We started with the Chevre from the Vermont Creamery in Vermont (naturally). A young cheese (aged only 2 weeks to up to 6 weeks), this chevre is one of the finest goat cheeses available. The perfectly light and milky, grassy flavors fall away to a wonderful richness and just the slightest almond end-notes. Aged around 6 weeks, the much bolder Harbison from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont was wonderfully stinky, but gooey and salty as a good soft-ripened cow’s milk should be. While the rind was edible, there were pieces that had spruce bark still connected to it which were very fibrous and woody. Up next, the wonderful triangle of Dirty Girl from Prodigal Farm in North Carolina. It was a goat’s milk washed-rind cheese, with a soft buttery texture and flavor. Still less than a year aged, it wasn’t very strong or pungent at all, very mellow and similar to a good havarti. The Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Uplands Creamery in Wisconsin is one of my favorite cheeses of all time. Not surprisingly, it’s the most awarded American artisan cheese currently available. Wonderfully aged, crumbly, salty and sharp in its crystallization, deep and rich, and tastes like an 14-20 months aged raw cow’s milk should. Finally, the Big Woods Blue from Shepherd’s Way Farm in Minnesota rounded out the plate. Powerfully sharp with complex notes of barnyard, grass, wet hay, and a deep saltiness, it’s the dictionary-perfect blue cheese. The mold in the Big Woods Blue was modeled after the original blue cheese Roquefort, so it’s not surprising the tastes are so similar.
The wines and beer were good, but nothing I would seek out on my own. The Matchbook Tino Rey (red) was a mix of Tempranillo, Syrah, and Cab from Lake County in California. It was dry but had a good balance due to the firm tannins. The Cave Spring (white) was a Riesling from Beamsville Bench in Ontario and had a nice balance of citrus and minerals due to the limestone clay soil that it’s grown in. The beer was a Troeges Solid Sender from the Troegs Brewing Company in Hershey. Made with mosaic and cascade hops, the IPA was perfectly fine, but I wasn’t crazy about the dry finish or heavy caramel hop flavor.
It was fascinating to learn that while other countries may have specific varietals of cheese protected by AOC or DOC (Parmigiano Reggiano, Camembert, Roquefort, etc) we can name our American cheeses pretty much whatever we want due to lab-created cultures and different affinages. Hence cheeses with names like “Dirty Girl” and “Rowdy Gentleman” from Prodigal Farms. I was so happy to have the opportunity to spend the time after class was over talking with the instructor and learning even more. If you’re a cheese lover, go subscribe to their newsletter to find out when their next classes will be offered. You may not love your classmates, but I bet you’ll love the samplings and the instructor.
Whether for dinner, a quick drink, an informative class, or enough cheese to sink a small shipping vessel, make it a priority to get down to Alphabet City over on the North Side and check out Casellula.
David the Gastronome 
2 thoughts on “8-23 and 10-03-17 / Casellula @ Alphabet City / Pittsburgh, PA (North Side)”