March 2007

We're celebrating our 25th Anniversary on March 15th! We're kicking off the celebrations with a Festival of Flavor on March 11th and several special events during the week of our anniversary. More on those later. We're featuring British foods all month. And we're bringing back a couple of our very special breads—the Bacon Farm loaf (March 2nd and 3rd) and the Irish Soda Bread (March 1st-17th or until our Irish flour lasts!).

For some twenty-five-year-olds, the quarter-century milestone is celebrated almost entirely without family. It can be a time for self-indulgent revelry as youth slowly slips away. Zingerman's turns twenty-five this March and instead of going solo, we're embracing the families that make the Deli what it is. It is our privilege, and sometimes conceit that we feature food made by people we know. Over the last twenty-five years that circle has grown and strengthened. On March 11th, at the Festival of Flavor, we've invited those families to come be a part of our Anniversary. One love. One community. One celebration. Read on for details. Or stop by the Deli and be part of the Monstah month.

Step up to the cheese counter and ask for a taste of one of our Neal's Yard Dairy cheeses. All our British and Irish cheeses are shipped to us via Neal's Yard Dairy in London. This is a family connection like no other. Ari and Randolph Hodgson, the founder of Neal's Yard Dairy, teamed up more than a decade ago to bring to America the best cheeses that the Isles had to offer. Now we regularly swap cheese info—and employees! All through the year, Neal's Yard selects for us the very best cheeses they can find. Once a year Carlos, our cheese guy, and other's fly out to London to select the best cheeses to feature in our promotion in March. Lately, rumor has it that we've even been able to convince the notoriously picky company to carry a few American cheeses.

This year, Neal's Yard sent us a new one—Red Leiceister. Here's another family story. Red Leiceister was a legendary cheese, a cheese that seemed all but lost to time when it was last made over fifty years ago. David & Jo Clarke at Sparkenhoe Farm, Leicestershire (pronounced less-tuh-shur) resurrected this cheese and this March it makes its first appearance at the deli. Red Leicester, pronounced "Lester," is an unpasteurized cow's milk cheese that comes in disks the size of tires, except that they are a bright radiant orange. The Clarke's are doing everything right, and the rich, nutty-tasting giant disks of cheese prove it.

In our little community, some things are spoken and instantly pass into legend. Two years ago, Graham Kirkham, the man behind our Lancashire cheese described his cheese as a "fluffy monster." Of course with his accent, it's best written as "Floofy Monstah." We are getting in two wheels of this monstah, along with a special visit by Graham himself. A fluffy monster indeed, this cheese is gentle and humble, yet leaves quite an impression, dominating its field.

Cheese isn't the only good thing coming out of Britain these days. We carry jams and marmalade's from Thursday's Cottage, out of Essex. Try finishing off your toast with a dollop of the Seville Orange marmalade with whiskey. It's a great way to start the day! Then there's Britain's answer to French Fleur de Sel—Halen Mon salt from Wales. These flaky crystals are formed on the Isle of Anglesey and come plain, spiced or smoked over oak. The Atlantic Ocean never tasted so good.

When it comes to family relationships, few things are closer to our hearts than our olive oils. We started importing olive oil back in the 1980s—a time when the term "extra-virgin" elicited laughter and seemed vaguely illicit. Over the years and over pasta dinners we built a relationship with Marina Colonna and her family in the Molise near Rome...She bottles a very special oil, made from the somewhat elusive Perazana olives, just for us and graciously lets us put our label on it. We've carried her oils in the Deli since what seems like the culinary dark ages. The special blend, which we affectionately call Zing Oil, has graced our shelves for almost 4 years now. It's bright and green and smells like the earth after the first spring rain. It finished with a touch of pepper. We're featuring it this month at $25 to celebrate our 25th anniversary. (Regularly $29.99)

There's also the lovely, graceful oil Franco Boeri, in the little town of Badalucco, in Liguria. The Italia Riviera. Franco is the fourth generation in his family to make oil and they've learned a thing of two along the way. Made entirely of local Taggiasche olives, the oil is soft and silky. It's buttery, almost sweet, with subtle hints of almonds, and almost none of the pepperiness that marks the more rustic oils of Tuscany. Try the Carte Noir from the ROI line up as well. It's the oil that drips naturally from the pressed olive mash and is quite exquisite.

You can pair either of those oils with our signature 8-year-old Vecchia Dispensa balsamic vinegar, produced and aged by the Tintori family in Modena. Young by some standards this whippersnapper belies its age with a mature full flavor, while still finishing with a sparkle.

All month long you can come in and try these family foods, but the real celebrations take place on March 11 and the Ides. On Sunday, March 11, we've got quite a show. The Festival of Flavor, we're calling it. We are blocking off Detroit Street in front of the Deli and covering it with a big tent. Inside, our extended family is throwing a foodie party. We'll have displays overflowing with food from more than twenty of our producers and suppliers. Visit the Koeze Peanut Butter stand and then American Spoon to find the perfect ingredients for a PB&J. Columbus Salame is coming all the way from San Franscisco, and we'll have Grafton Village cheddar over from Vermont. Meet Sy Ginsberg, who keeps us stocked with corned beef, as well as Joeli Yaguda, from the family that brings us our most potent olive oil—the Pasolivo from California. Joeli isn't coming unprepared: Pasolivo bottled an extremely rare, almost unheard of all-Kalamata pressing exclusively for us in celebration of our 25th Anniversary.

It's an all day affair and to keep you warm we'll feature beverages from the Zingerman's Coffee Company, Tea from Rishi, and Hot Chocolate from Voges.

We hope you'll join us at the Festival. If the visiting dignitaries is not enough enticement, we're offering 25% any one thing when you shop in the Deli afterwards. Make your shopping list now? Will it be a 5 pound chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano that will keep you stocked for a good long time? Or a bottle of that Tradizionale Balsamic vinegar that we keep behind lock and key? Or will it be the oh-so adorable wooden barrel with a liter of the 10 year Balsamic vinegar from Vecchia Dispensa? The options are endless.

It is exciting to know that so many people want to celebrate with us. We want to share all this good will. The Deli's official birthday is on the portentous Ides of March. So on March 15th, we are going to cry Havoc and let turn our prices back to 1982. Yes, you read that right! Come in for a $5 Corned Beef Reuben and stay awake with $1 Cappuccinos. And that's just at the Deli. We're doing a special edition of our popular Tour De Food with every Zingerman's business featuring a special promotion. And if you visit them all on the day of our Anniversary, we'll have a very special edition t-shirt for you. But that's not it. Every hour, for 25 hours, starting March 14th, we are going to give away a super cool metal lunch pail full of treats like cheeses, preserves, bacon, honey, tea, gift cards and discount cards from all the Zingerman's businesses. If you get here early enough on March 15th, you'll even see Paul and Ari opening the Deli in the morning together, just like the first time in 1982.

Ari might be tired that morning, because the night before, March 14th, he'll be up late hosting a tasting covering the (first) 25 years of Zingerman's history, as told through food. I'm sure there will be Parmigiano-Reggiano and some kind of Prosciutto. Probably some pastrami and Comte. Beyond that, it is a mystery, but certainly full of flavor. This tasting starts at 7 pm and is certain to fill up early. Call 734-663-3400 and reserve your seats now. It's almost full already!

There's also the Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner on Saturday, March 17th. All you can eat. What better way to celebrate St. Paddy's day?

And finally, our other tasting on March 21 is also a Monstah. Graham Kirkham of Lancashire fame will play host, alongside Randolph Hodgson of Neal's Yard Dairy. Together they will share stories about British cheese making in their delightful accents, as well as tasting through our lineup of British Cheeses. I can think of no two more qualified. And no occasion more rare. You know the number to call.

March is Monstah. We start with the Bacon Farm Loaf—a bread so popular we already have nearly 50 pre-orders for it. We'll only have it for a few days so let us know if we should hold one for you too. The middle of the month will pass quickly amid celebrations. After the parties are over we'll usher in Spring and leave some of the cold behind.

Thanks,
Jess Piskor
Cheesemonger and Deli Scribe