DeLessio Market & Bakery is one of those small San Francisco gems that no one ever talks about, but everyone seems to know about. I make it there probably once a month as the company I work for has offices nearby so I think of it as a something of a treat.
DeLessio stocks some really lovely cheeses, usually cut into small wedges to be enjoyed as part of an al fresco style lunch.
I rummaged around and found a small wedge of aged mimolette, one of my favorite cheeses.
Then, I stumbled across something really interesting (and the answer to last night's trivia quiz...)
This is a piece of Cahill Porter Cheddar. David & Marion Cahill make this fascinating cheese in County Limerick, Ireland.
They specialize in small-batch cheddars, and blend them with traditionally Irish ingredients & "flavorings".
In the case of the porter, the Cahills pour the dark brown beer over the cheese, causing this beautiful marbled effect. The flavor is fairly mild but definitely somewhat "beery". The Cahills also make a similar cheese with Irish Whiskey & Elderberry Wine...
Finally, as I headed out, I couldn't help but pick up a few sweet bites, which made a perfect mid-afternoon snack.
First was a brown-butter cornmeal cake with lemon glaze, which you can sort of see in the photo to the left. I saved that one for C, who thought it was really yummy.
I treated myself to two mini-cupcakes... and, I do mean mini - these were about the diameter of a quarter, and maybe 1.5 inches tall. The German chocolate one was fresh and delicious - I'm pretty critical of this flavor, and I found the cake deeply chocolatey, and the frosting chock-full of pecans & coconut.
The other was a dark chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream. The cake was amazingly moist and soooo dark - it was almost black. Sadly, though, the buttercream left a bit to be desired - it tasted somewhat freezer-burned and a bit metallic.
All these treats, plus my sandwich (which was made with a really very good cumin-spiced grilled pork, and would have been great except for the pickle, which really didn't serve a single purpose) ran around $20.
That's why I love DeLessio.
DeLessio Market & Bakery
1695 Market Street (next door to Flax)
Ph: 415.552.5559
