This little bit of cheese news, just in from Blue Hill chef Dan Barber's little day-in-the-life blog from New York magazine. The Dan Barber who was just included in the Time 100, which means he got to sit next to Michelle Obama at the dinner. Which means that Soyoung Scanlan of Andante Cheese is now four degrees separated from the president of the United States.

Thursday, May 7

This morning, Soyoung Scanlan, this cheesemaker in Napa [ed's note: Sonoma, not Napa], sent me her version of Reblochon, a French cheese from the Alps. It’s my favorite cheese. She’s been playing around with it for the last six months. She’s a perfectionist in every sense. One of the guys here opened it in the morning and it was still cold, so I waited, and waited, and waited, and finally dug into it. I’m looking at it right now and it’s like 98 percent eaten. You know how you leave a little on the plate? The sous-chef who opened it wanted to try it and came by later and three quarters was gone and I was like, “oh, I gave a bite to … ” I just made up who I gave it away to. So I’ve basically only eaten cheese today. It brought me back to being in France when I was a young cook and first introduced to it. It’s amazing how food and memory is so closely tied. All day I’ve been smelling my youth.

So I called Bi-Rite to see if they carried anything of Andante's that resembles a cow's milk reblochon, and Patrick, the cheese guy, said no but that Soyoung—whose cheese are at some of the best restaurants in the Bay Area and beyond—has been experimenting more with aged and washed rind cheeses. I put a call into Soyoung to see what the story is but until I hear back from her, keep your nose peeled.