I have passed Maytag, Iowa and the Maytag Blue Cheese office several times. This time, I pulled off I-80 and drove a few miles through town. I found this attractive modernist office building at the edge of a cornfield. Wikipedia explains that this cheese is based on an Iowa State-developed process to make blue cheese from pasteurized cow's milk; the cheese operation was founded by grandsons of the founder of Maytag. It doesn't mention that the blue is a play on the accent color used on Maytag washers.
This display of cheese was tempting. And when I got my slice home, I found it was wonderful. The cheese was rich in flavor and firm in texture. The blue gave sharp notes that perfectly complemented the smoothness of the cheese without being overly aggressive. Wow, what a cheese. You can find it in select stores but the office also ships.
And check out this great tractor.
Luella's is a nouvelle BBQ outfit on the north side of Asheville. It is nestled among the trees in a lovely neighborhood. The restaurant has lots of windows for inside seating and plenty of outside seating. Service was courteous and amazingly fast. This is a combination plate with pork and brisket. Both were very moist and tender. For the pork, I tried both the mild and hot vinegar sauces. To my surprise, I preferred the milder one because it didn't assert itself too much. I enjoyed the spicy tomato sauce for my brisket. The hushpuppies were very good. The fried okra was fresh out of the fryer and excellent. The slaw was of the vinegary variety, which I usually enjoy, but this version is heavy on the white stuff and didn't have quite enough variety in tastes for me.



Comments
Post a Comment