Artisan Cheesemaker joins Boombozz

We are pleased to welcome Mario Monacelli to our staff. He is a Master Artisan Cheesemaker from, Abruzzo, Italy with over 25 years experience in making a wide variety of artisan Italian cheeses. He completed his apprenticeship under master old world cheesemakers, using no hormones, preservatives or coloring. His speciality is Fresh “Fiore Di latte” Mozzarella a sumptuous cheese used on our several of our pizzas. We are delighted to have a Master Cheese maker direct from Italy, making it in our facility, here in the hills of the Bluegrass.

Cool beans! So will we be able to buy cheese by itself?

Annemarie is correct, we are in the testing stage. I am very pleased so far with the results. Having our Fresh Mozz made in house is a natural compliment to our other house made ingredients, including our Italian sausage.
We will keep you posted when its official!

At the risk of coming off as a bit of an ass (which is admittedly not unknown territory for me), I have some questions about this whole Mozz-mania which seems to have taken grip lately. Is this a big trend in the States? To me it seems like a bit of a gag given that mozzarella cheese is, well, relatively easy to make. The real effort, as far as I know, is on the dairy end of the value chain. Do these local establishments have a herd of water buffalo in Shelbyville somewhere? Or are they just cashing in on a fad and making mozzarella from cows milk? I mean, admittedly there's added value in the freshness factor... even if it's made with cow's milk... but still.... you see where I'm going?

To me mozzarella, even the good stuff made in Italy or Switzerland or Roumania/Albania/whatever is still kind of a staple product. Not particularly nuanced like an aged cheese. As a form of "fresh cheese" there doesn't seem to be much scope to make significant qualitative differences other than simply having well-fed and very pampered water buffalo and getting the product very quickly to market.

Again I'm not shooting across anyone's bow in particular here... just curious about this particular trend.

/Have eaten at Boomboz and liked it
//Have not eaten at MOZZ but probably will next time I visit
///Not an expert on cheese but I damned sure like it
////Wish Mario all the best for his stay in the Lou and hope he really adds something special

[Robin Garr]

Dan, don't be too hard on yourself. Recognizing a problem is the first step toward making it better.

As to Mozz, as I reported in my review, they make their cheeses the artisanal way, using locavore milk from a small-farm dairy in Logan County, Kentucky, that treats the product as minimally as the law will allow.

While it's true that making mozzarella isn't as time-consuming a process as, say, making Parmigiano-Reggiano, sometimes making the simplest dishes very, very well can be as challenging - and fulfilling - as taking on more complex tasks. A perfect omelet looks simple, but crafting it perfectly takes skills. Same for a perfect steak or ... well, you name it.

Mozz does it the right way. I see some shortcomings at Mozz, but the cheese, and the food in general, is outstanding there.

And knowing Tony P's reputation for award-winning quality at Boombozz, when he undertakes a project like this, he's not shining us on with flavorless cheese curds from Kroger.