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Friday, June 25, 2004
Relish's Cheese Stands Alone
By Kelly Koepke
For the Journal
Relish
***1/2
LOCATION: 8019 Menaul NE, 299-0001
HOURS: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Closed weekends
NO SMOKING
Simple, the art of making something seem easy, is difficult. It takes practice and a keen sensibility to arrange cheese, bread, fruit and maybe some meat or greens and have them look appetizing and taste wonderful.
Johnny Orr makes cheese and bread into something more than ingredients. When combined with an understated atmosphere that's almost Spartan, cheese and bread are sublime.
Orr finds himself in Albuquerque after cooking with famous chefs in New York and around the country. He now owns Relish, a cheese shop with a handful of tables and a cozy sofa where you can tuck into a smoked turkey and Havarti sandwich or mozzarella salad, enjoy an uncomplicated setting and unobtrusive music. Orr makes the mozzarella fresh each day, and only enough for that day. Oh, that mozzarella! The creamy, unpretentious savor is the reason we have taste buds.
A lesson in cheese appreciation followed what can only be described as an unforgettable first of many lunches. Could we learn more about the 40 or so luscious, crumbly, ripened or fresh fromages Relish purveys? If we only had the time. I took fresh mozzarella and piquant Stilton home after agreeing to the mozzarella's strict no-refrigeration, eat-that-night instructions.
Relish's menu has several hot and cold sandwiches, composed salads and the tour de force Plowman's lunch. While the honey roast turkey is a best seller, the Cubano has my heart, with its chipotle-rubbed roast pork, honey ham and Swiss topped with a sliced pickle and mayo, all toasted together on a fresh La Paris Bakery baguette ($7.50). The Cubano's high-class cousin (prosciutto and Gruyere with homemade apricot mustard on grilled ciabatta) or the double-decker Reuben come with a pickle and choice of potato or pasta salads or cole slaw.
Cold sandwiches include a roast beef, cheddar and boursin cheese on an onion roll, a honey ham with brie on a crusty roll, or two vegetarian versions: a hummus and feta and that homemade mozzarella with roasted red pepper and greens. The sides will have you wondering why you never toss poppy seed dressing with slaw, or grape tomatoes with farfalle pasta.
The Plowman's lunch ($8), a staple English repast, captured my friend's nostalgia and had her waxing about London pub hopping. Two cheeses and sliced baguette pair with tangy Branston chutney (an ugly brown with undeniable appeal), fruits and vegetable relishes and a small green salad.
What truly made the Plowman a treat was its presentation on gleaming white ceramic dishes, one with divisions for each nibble, and the other cleanly displaying the cheeses in their arrayed glory.
Relish's salads ($7, house salad for $4), like the mozzarella and heirloom tomato; endive and field greens; or the Mediterranean (feta, green beans and tomatoes), can all be enhanced by Maytag blue cheese or prosciutto for $2, or grilled chicken breast for $3 extra.
Stylish pictures in silver break the shop's plain white walls; interesting modern light fixtures and a cool jazz soundtrack create a sleek ambience.
Relish is soon to be more than just a cheese shop, restaurant and caterer. Orr may change the way Albuquerque eats. Simple, when done by Relish, is better.