Say what you will about how your various iFlavors streamline your life, simplicity is being daily devalued. We purchase technological indulgences to cover the guilt of driving too fast, maintaining too many relationships, agreeing to too many tasks and ideas.
Furthermore…
Say what you will about our hefty menu, you can’t say the dishes aren’t simple. We like to present you with a world of choices, each as elemental as possible.
To prove our value for simplicity, we present La Panza Gold on the board. You’ve heard of Manchego, the sheep’s milk cheese named for Don Quixote’s hometown? This one isn’t officially named for the gentleman’s level-headed sidekick, but it bears resonant similarities.
La Panza is a sheep’s milk cheese (from Christine and Jim Maguire at Rinconada Dairy) that has a melting, earthy flavor that lightens up at the finish. They say it’s reminiscent of Corsican farmstead cheeses, which are widely varied according to terroir but tend to be smooth, sweet and supple. (Winsome qualities, all.) Like Sancho Panza, the cheese is round, rustic and bears its native idiosyncrasies proudly, and while it develops an outer complexity with age, its inward parts remain ingenuously mild.
Corsican cheeses are also known by association with their would-be imitators, made in factories for impatient gourmands, using mainly powdered milk and frozen lactoserum. As in so much of life, it’s hard to find the real thing. But here it is, folks. You’re welcome.
The cheesemakers’ proverb regarding their craft is Asgiu face casgiu, which means “your smartphone divides you from the elemental forces that create richness and complexity.” Reflect on this admonition. Take your time.