Delice de Bourgogne Seduction

Those of you will come to know that while I love food of all varieties, my most favorite edible is cheese. Hard, soft, salty, mild, goat, sheep, buffalo, cow: I've never met a piece of cheese I didn't like (or at least want to meet). It seems as though the artisnal cheese plate has become a restaurant standard these days. There are a few places in the city that do this exceptionally well. The Purple Pig, Bin 36 and Bin Wine Cafe and Bluebird immediately to mind but certainly there are others.  

I recently had the opportunity to sample the cheese plate at Maude's Liquor Bar, a new, bistro-inspired restaurant and bar in the West Loop with very forgiving lighting, a comfortable and cozy atmosphere and classic French food. It's the type of place to hunker down in during a storm.

Heaven on a plate. 

As it so happened, a friend and I stopped in there on a Wednesday night as one of Chicago's legendary spring downpours was winding down. After sampling their Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc and Saint Germain Fizz, we turned to Maude's cheese plate and were completely and utterly seduced by the Delice de Bourgogne.

Where other restaurants go over the top with their cheese varieties and corresponding accoutrement, Maude's approach is direct and simple. The Delice de Bourgogne is a rich, buttery cow's milk cheese that's impressive enough to stand on its own. It's pungent but not overbearing. Maude's served a large, oozing wedge of it with a warm baguette and a spread of apples and dijon mustard. The hint of spice in the spread countered the richness of the cheese perfectly. The experience left us wanting more, and we both later confessed we woke up the next morning thinking about it.

I'd like to say that the Delice de Bourgogne was the first time I was seduced by a wedge of cheese, but it wasn't. In fact, I have a long and storied past with Humboldt Fog. A topic for another day.