La Cave - Industry Spotlight - Max McCalman, Maitre Fromager, on cheese

Art Culinaire, Spring, 2003

NAME: Max McCalman

HOME: New York City

OCCUPATION: Maitre Fromager at restaurants Picholine and Artisanal in New York City.

MOST VIVID FOOD AND WINE MEMORY: here was a cheese that I was having difficulty finding a match for because the cheese was so challenging and almost "mean." It was a real Cabrales, one that's made from cows', sheeps', and goats' milk, not the Cabrales that comes wrapped in leaves. Through the years I've had patrons who wanted to impress their dates by exposing them to this most "macho" of cheeses. They would then turn to me for a wine pairing suggestion, and I really didn't have much success in my recommendations. That was until I decided to venture to the other side of the Iberian Peninsula and found a Pedro Ximenez sherry that tasted like ground prunes in flavor with almost the same texture. That sherry stood up to that Cabrales and matched it one-on-one. Cheese almost always demands more from its wine partner, and this is especially the case with a true Cabrales.

MOTTO BY WHICH I WORK: I don't take pairing cheese and wine lightly -- it deserves serious contemplation.

IF I WEREN'T INVOLVED IN FOOD: That's tough -- I'm just so deep in it. I do enjoy lecturing, teaching, and writing about cheese -- I think this is part of my broader mission to rescue cheese.

HANDLING A RESPECTABLE CHEESE BOARD IN NOT one, but two, nationally acclaimed restaurants would be a challenge for most maitre fromagers, but it's one that Max McCalman seems to take in stride. As "cheese master" for both the Picholine and Artisanal restaurants in New York City, Max works with his first food love and rightfully gives cheese the care and nurturing it deserves; in fact, he started in the industry as both a maitre d' and sommelier -- two venerable professions that lend themselves well to the appreciation of cheese's many nuances and to expertise in the graceful serving of cheese.

Because of the wider variety and availability of handcrafted varieties, as well as a deeper understanding of both its culture and history, the public has gained a heightened awareness of the many facets of cheese, Max's enduring passion. Max has not only been able to educate diners, but he has also taken the cheese program in both Picholine and Artisanal to the next level. But his efforts haven't been without growing pains: "With Picholine's cheese cave, we felt we had ample room for what we planned on serving initially. We were okay for the first six months, but then our cheese program boomed dramatically -- to the point that we needed more storage space. This is, in large part, what prompted the development of a custom-designed, multi-compartment cheese cave at Artisanal that has five times the space as Picholine's. And although the storage capacity at Artisanal is fairly large, Chef Terrance Brennan's next venture at Picholine will offer about twenty times the space than what is available at Artisanal."

Whether through his exceptional cheese service, his well-received book on cheese, or the classes he conducts at New School University in Manhattan, Max McCalman eagerly opens our eyes and palates to world-class cheeses.

How did your love affair with cheese begin? Cheese was my first favorite food as a child -- most of my earliest and fondest memories involving food were that of cheese. But I really began to look seriously at the relationship of cheese and wine in the early eighties. I attended a wine tasting event that was sponsored by a group of French importers. The pairings they offered were really exquisite. At that point in my career, I knew a fair amount about wine, but I didn't know much about cheese. I just knew that I liked it. What I had read up until then about wine and cheese pairing was wildly divergent, and I found it hard to trust so many different wine and cheese pairing recommendations. So, I approached the subject by looking at what seemed to make the most sense to me. I looked at the terroir of both the wineries and dairies that the products came from. I would then try wines and cheeses from a region that might make sense -- noticing at times that the soil makeup for both the wine and cheese were designed to complement each other. However, dairies and wineries are not usually located on the same soil, so this theory didn't always hold true. I did look for similar qualities between the two, though, which gave me a point from which to start.

What were your first experiences in the Food and Beverage Industry? I spent quite a bit of my time early on as a maitre d'/ sommelier. In the past, these two jobs were often run concomitantly. Writing wine lists was a fun part of my job, and I've always believed in diversity. Instead of having 25% of a list devoted to California Chardonnay, for example, I liked to spread a variety of different wines around because I think it's easier to satisfy a range of palates that way. Offering diversity is the way I also approached cheese later on when I started at Picholine. Picholine is French Mediterranean inspired, but we do use ingredients from other areas and a part of this inspiration does come from far-flung points of the globe. But inherently, the restaurant is French Mediterranean, and some of the most successful cheeses come from there, particularly the western region. This is partly what started to drive our cheese program, and of course, we found some stunning artisanal cheeses from there and, happily, our s earch is still ongoing.