*Newly Opened* Little Cheese Pub

A-Tooch likes having foodie friends who keep her current on new foodie places in NYC. The name of the latest hot spot: Little Cheese Pub. Cheese?! Say no more!

Our group of five dropped by last weekend, literally on the second night the LCP was open. Surprisingly, there was no wait (good? bad?) The seating is all counter & stool style — and the stools are connected to the table, swinging in and out. An interesting concept but not the most comfortable. We called in advance, figuring like most NYC venues they may not have a liquor license on opening just yet. We were told it was not BYO but when we arrived, everyone there had brought bottles. Grr. Lucky for Manhattanites, there is a bodega on just about every corner.

We started out with a trio of apps. Pictured below are two that we ordered. The third, a cauliflower crudo with sultanas came in error but we were graciously brought our order of tangy jalapenos. Kudos to our server, who not only was prompt in fixing a few order slip-ups that night, but also was in the know about cheese in all its glory.

(Clockwise from top – cauliflower crudo, port wine & blue cheese dip and chickpea dip served with the spanish olives below)

I was really looking forward to the dip advertised as “Port Wine & Blue Cheese with melon and clover honey” because this is a combination I love. However, the menu failed to leave out the fact that there was an unbelievable amount of cayenne pepper in the mix, overpowering and incredibly spicy. Advice to the new spot: rename to “Cayenne pepper infused port wine & blue cheese.”

Next we dove into the array of mac & cheese options on the menu. There were six options; we tried four. All were made with conchiglie pasta, my personal fav for the cheesy dish. Most of the mac & cheese dishes were pretty good but this one was our unanimous favorite:

Grützie Swiss Mac with three alpine cheeses and crispy onion topping

The best part of the LCP is the wide cheese selection you can order a la carte, or in a composed cheese plate. We tried both, naturally. I forced the group to order the Italian cheese platter when I saw my favorite cheese listed — Gorgonzola Cremeificato — creamy, sweet and delicious. The cheese plates were also served with sweet apples which were a nice accompaniment.

At this point, we probably should have skipped dessert… would have been in our best interest. Nonetheless, we ordered a bunch of things off the menu. *Tip: If you are going to visit the LCP, go for the cheese. Duh. Perhaps we should have picked some of the cheesier dessert options, but enough is enough! We wanted chocolate. Desserts were non-impressive, save for this tasty treat:

The moist and delicious Tres Leches Cake – probably perfected after being on the dessert menu at next-door owned Brats.

The bee-nut butter bar and chocolate & hazelnut brownie were extremely dry.I was in a cheese-induced haze at this point, but one of our three desserts came out incorrectly. We were served this:

But ordered this…

We didn’t love either option, so there was no real loss.

The amazing part about the LCP is that five of us ate ‘tapas style,’ picking from a bunch of small plates, and we still left incredibly full. Ah, the magic of cheese. Definitely recommend for a date spot and well worth paying the LCP a visit when it is up a running (and has a beer/wine menu). Oh, and we LOVE that the chef/owner has a blog with some tasty recipes! Very cool.