Kurt Dammeier, Beecher's Handmade Cheese & The Cellar (Flatiron)

Kurt Dammeier brings Oprah's Fave Mac & Cheese to Flatiron
by Joleen Zanuzoski, Eatery Expert

Kurt Dammeier in The Cellar at Beecher's Handmade Cheese  [Photo: Eatery Expert]

You would never guess that Kurt Beecher Dammeier hasn't been working as a food-store entrepreneur and chef all his life. He could talk about cheese and charcuterie for hours and he sure makes a mean aligot. He is high-energy and full of life, tending to his love of food and feeding people on the daily. After selling his grandfather's printing business for some major dough, he could have retired a wealthy man but instead, he began a very delicious second act that started in the Pacific Northwest and this summer, it arrived at 900 Broadway, NYC.

"I was given a second chance to go out and have [another] career. I decided the second chapter would be about

This milk will soon be 650 pounds of Beecher's Flatiron Cheese - we can't wait for it to age! 

[Photo Credit: Eatery Expert]

my passion. The thing that I feel really lucky about is I get to turn my passion into my business without losing my passion for it," muses Dammeier between bites of his deliciously creamy Flagship cheese.

Dammeier's love of cheese started at an early age. "My earliest cheese memory was my Grandfather and Grandmother Dammeier would lay huge chunks of cheese out whenever I visited [them]. I remember chedder, blue, and huge wheels of Stilton just [laying] out and we would just walk by and hack off a piece."

When he was in his teens, he knew the difference between "generic" cheese and "the good stuff." He remembers going to the grocery store with his mother and instead of making a B-line for the Kraft Singles, he wanted the Tillamook Cheese and "not the other stuff." He traveled to Europe after high school and was exposed to "a vast variety of foods. After that, I became a really aggressive home chef in my twenties and thirties." He would throw dinner parties and charm his guests with cheese. "One easy way to look like I knew what I was doing was to put out some great cheeses and people would think I was a gourmet." This was when he was twenty-five years old, when I'm sure most twenty-five year olds were perfecting the art of the grilled cheese, not the high-end gourmet cheese plate.

Assortment of Beecher's Cheeses and Beecher's Crackers, with pickled fennel stems and pickled raisins. [Photo: Eatery Expert]

Dammeier has applied his love of pure food, along with an appreciation for all-natural ingredients into everything from the cheese he is aging to the food education classes he is introducing to elementary schools throughout Seattle and now, New York. Part of the Beecher mission is "to change the way America eats," and it seems to be Dammeier's personal philosophy as well. "[My focus] is about pure food and transparency; [I want] people to care about what it is they're eating and how it [was] made."

It's no secret how his cheese is made because it's on display at both the Pike Place Market outpost of Beecher's Handmade Cheese as well as the Flatiron location. Wheels of aging cheese decorate a wall of the cavernous lounge, The Cellar, which not only serves as a swanky watering hole but a working cheese cellar. The aging cheese remains on the wall until it is ready to be served on one of Dammeier's delicious cheese spreads, or melted to perfection in a vat of Oprah's favorite Mac and Cheese.

Dammeier's empire decorates his chef coat.
[Photo: Eatery Expert]

Before he brought his cheese and charm to New York City in June, Dammeier applied his savvy business sense and artisan passion to what seems like every nook and cranny in and around Seattle. The first purchase that got his feet wet was in 2000 when he bought the thirty-year old gourmet food emporium Pasta & Co. Now with three locations in the Seattle area, it has provided the ideal training ground to become a major player in artisanal food-making.

Not only does he watch over the Pike Place location of Beecher's, he oversees the pig-shaped food truck Maximus/Minimus, a pulled-pork food truck parked throughout Seattle and known for it's long lines and massive flavor. As if that's not enough, he opened the all-natural Bennett's Pure Food Bistro, which draws inspiration from recipes featured in his cookbook, Pure Flavor: 125 Fresh All-American Recipes from the Pacific Northwest.

The Flatiron, NYC location of Beecher's Handmade Cheese is  8,000 square feet of cheese heaven and you must check it out. The Mac and Cheese is an obvious must-try, and head down to The Cellar for happy hour to enjoy your favorite libation. They feature some inventive, quality cocktails including the Stanford White, named after the 125-year-old building that houses Dammeier's latest artisanal palace.

Dammeier is living the bi-coastal life these days, traveling back and forth from Seattle for his son's football season at Mercer Island High School and to experiment with new recipe ideas. "My wife doesn't cook, but she is a really good eater and has a great palate - she gives me the best feedback on my [new] recipes. Most of my recipe development is just experiments on my family."

Follow Kurt Beecher Dammeier on Twitter: @KurtDammeier

Like Kurt Beecher Dammeier on Facebook: Kurt Dammeier Facebook Page

What wEE Recommend at Beecher's Handmade Cheese:

Beecher's World's Best Mac & Cheese: Oprah Winfrey named one of her ultimate favorite things of 2010. Bring the Flatiron flavor into your kitchen, no cheese grater required. This is just one of ten Beecher's Handmade Cheese products that include 4 types of Mac & Cheese, 3 barbeque sauces and 3 types of crackers. And we are told there are more to come in the near future. You can also buy it piping hot and prepared at the cafe or in The Cellar.

The Grilled Cheese Martini: Besides the Stanford White, The Cellar offers this new savory cocktail to those that are in-the-know (now you are). It features grilled-cheese flavored vodka, made by immersing a grilled cheese sandwich into a vat of vodka.  This savor-tini is decorated with house-reduced balsamic and crispy bits of Surryano prosciutto around the rim and the entire concoction is poured over a giant tomato juice ice cube.

We'll say this: It's off-the-menu and you'll either look like the most adventurous epicurean out there, or you will quickly realize you don't like to drink your sandwich. The choice is yours.

The Cellar: It's a hidden gem because who would expect a swanky, cozy lounge under a cheese shop? Dammeier designed it as very communal and inviting because "that's the way I like to eat." The Cellar is the perfect place for happy hour, a first date (or any date, really), large groups, and private events.

Beecher's Marco Polo Reserve Cheese: The Chief of Cheese, Kurt Dammeier, gives a huge selection of cheeses from all around America, which he describes as "the greatest hits of the nation." He didn't want his products to be Seattle-centric, but from all areas of America. We loved the Marco Polo Reserve with it's big, round flavors and green and black Madagascar peppercorns blended with Beecher's creamy Flagship cheese. It won the Gold Medal for Hard Pressed or Repressed Cheddar with Savoury Additives in the World Cheese Awards in the UK in 2007.

Translation: It's really awesome cheese.

Follow Kurt on Twitter: @KurtDammeier

Like Kurt on Facebook: Kurt Dammeier Facebook Page 

Chef Profile: Jehangir Mehta, Graffiti (East Village) & Mehtaphor (TriBeca)

Chef Mehta hard at work!

An Afternoon with Chef Jehangir Mehta

As we entered the Tribeca eatery, Mehtaphor we suddenly stepped into what we felt was the best school on earth - Mehta University .We learned a lot during our time with Chef Jehangir Mehta. We learned about a 1947 – a fantastic beer created by a few Indian students at NYU. We learned about how his background as a pastry chef inspires the food he serves at his restaurants. Here are a few other things we learned:

• Chef Mehta almost did not compete on The Next Iron Chef. Why? His first child was on the way and his participation on the show meant he might have to miss the birth. But the incredible support of his family ultimately led to his decision to compete.  “I decided to ask everyone whose opinion I valued and if only a single person said no I wouldn’t go on the show,” Mehta explained. He finished second to Jose Garces, but ultimately impressed the culinary world.
• He works with children. In fact, he piloted a program which he runs out of Mehtaphor called Gastro-Kids. Anyone ages 4-16 can sign up and learn to cook with Mehta on Friday afternoons.
• He won’t let your glass go empty. Seriously. Every time I finished my 1947 he stopped – almost mid sentence – and went to get me another drink. It was a subtle testament to his good nature and generosity.
  
  

  

     

   Mackeral on a puffed pastry shows off his pastry background

• He caters weddings and events. For a man who seemingly works with every facet of his two restaurants you’d think he wouldn’t find the time but, as his assistant put it, “he works so hard and is so dedicated he can really do anything.”
• He’s passionate about what he does because he does what he loves. I told him about my favorite dish of his – scallops at Graffiti – and he reacted like I handed him a James Beard award.
• This is probably the most important: the man can cook! Check it out for yourself in this video here and see Chef Mehta at work.

As we left Mehtaphor, we realized we had experienced a culinary crash course in hospitality, brilliance and what it takes to become a successful chef. We learned that there aren’t enough chefs or people like him. He has achieved the success to warrant an ego but is as humble as he is talented. Upon visiting his restaurants you’re just as likely to find him at the stove as you are on the phone taking orders or bringing dishes out to waiting patrons. We learned that Chef Mehta is one of our favorite chefs in New York City and we think he’ll be one of yours, too. So check out Graffiti (224 East 10th St. @ 1st Ave.) and Mehtaphor (130 Duane St. @ Church St.)and be sure to tell us how much you loved it.

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