Return to Sender: Behold the Power

Dear Cheese:

It's no secret that I love you. Especially when you're hot and melty. Which is why it amazes me that it took me nearly five years in Philadelphia to make two recent cheesy (not in the bad way) discoveries.

The first was actually after I'd hit a number of galleries at last month's First Friday, which makes this column accidentally topical. I'd had a good amount of wine, and the only thing I'd eaten all day was a bowl of soup, so I was clearly grease-seeking. Katie and I headed over to Eulogy for their truly excellent french fries, but upon reviewing the menu, we settled on the baked brie instead.

God, that was a good idea. A foodgasm-inducing good idea. I don't know what it was that made this particular brie vous en croute so much better than any I'd had before, but it was. Katie, having read a piece I wrote for a magazine (sorry, no hyperlink!) about the wonder that is a foodgasm, looked at me and laughed, well aware that I was curling my toes in my cowboy boots.

My second amazing recent you-discovery came earlier this week, when, after the first night of tech rehearsal for a play that Katie is stage managing and I am helping to dress when the regular dresser is unable to fulfill her duties. (I'm kind of like being Miss America's runner-up, only the dresser isn't a cokehead.) As Katie has mentioned, said show is taking place at L2. But rather than sticking around to eat there (there is such a thing as remaining in one place for too long), we headed down the block to Ten Stone, where we were told we had to get the brie and bleu cheese you fondue. And we did—sans mushrooms, because all three of us have fungus issues. (Which was an added bonus!)

I'd burned the roof of my mouth at lunch that day, but that didn't stop me from happily dipping a big chunk of baguette into the hot, bubbly, melted cheese you as soon as it made its appearance at the table... And promptly burning the roof of my mouth all over again. I didn't care. It was worth it. I was pretty hungry, true, but I don't think I could have been happier at that very moment, even if I'd eaten a four-course meal before the fondue. I was too tired for the experience to be completely toe-curling, but it was pretty close. Maybe if I hadn't already got a pretty good buzz going on from half of my Woodchuck (I am a lightweight; also, I was hungry), I would have gotten there.

I'm interested in seeing what new places you'll take me, Cheese. Where I might find more of you. Downtown Cheese in Reading Terminal Market is excellent when I'm buying my own. And I've never been known to pass up a cheese platter. (Well, almost never, and then only for health.) But I hope that our relationship continues to be as fulfilling as it has been of late.

And my arteries as clear.

Image via this site.