Whole Foods

Considering the abundance on offer, a visit to the massive Time Warner branch of Whole Foods can be remarkably pedestrian, even exasperating — less an opportunity to explore than a mandate to shop.

Once in a while I'll sidle to the far side of the checkout line (whose trailing edge, during the busiest times, is marked by a handheld sign indicating "the end is here") to the cheese counter, most recently for Texas-raised goat's milk mozzarella wrapped in hoja santa (shown; about 5 oz.; $6.99). Though the raw leaves have a peppery scent, wetted down by the pasty cheese, the two meet somewhere around a mild sasparilla.

On other occasions:

Istara ( $18.99 per pound). Mold-dusted caramel-colored rind; compact, cream-colored interior; herbaceous aroma disappears amid a buttery mouthfeel.

Idiazabal smoked sheep's milk cheese ($15.99). Caramel-colored rind; pocked, parchment-colored interior; nutty, almost stale aroma; nutty flavor, too; dry, and almost crumbly.

Fontina Val d'Aosta ($14.99 per pound). Raw-milk cheese, cream-colored with a mold-dusted rind; firm, with an earthy, haylike aroma that's also apparent on the palate.

Whole Foods
10 Columbus Circle (Broadway at 59th St.)
(one of many locations)
212-823-9600
www.WholeFoodsMarket.com

Comments

[Vishal]

Hi Dave,

Have you tried the Pizza at Whole Foods. I found it very different from what you'd find elsewhere in the city. Am trying to remember, and I don't think they had a whole lot of cheese. I could be wrong, but I though they were definitely worth a try.

[Dave Cook]

With so much pizza in town, I don't know that the Whole Foods version will be high on my list, but I'll keep it in mind.

[Ike]

In my opinion, the prices at this Whole Foods (the Columbus Circle one) are abominable. Not that most Whole Foods have particularly good prices anyway, but this one is even worse than most. It's a supermarket for rich people. I ain't settin' foot in there ever again, esp. with a perfectly decent Fairway just a few blocks up Broadway.