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“I was bored,” is Mathew Silverman’s answer when we ask him why he started making cheese four months ago at the Vintner Grill, along with “everyone’s making charcuterie now and I wanted to do something different.”

And different it is…although also comfortingly familiar at the same time. His Stilton-style cheese looks as gnarly as the real thing, and is properly gamy, his Camembert just as runny (if not quite as nutty) as it’s supposed to be. “Getting Camembert right is the hardest,” he continues, “because you have to acidify the milk for the longest time. Basically, you learn from your failures.”

But learn he has, and over less than half a year, his home-grown cheese operation now churns out a goat’s milk feta, fresh goat, Saint-Maure-style and Castel Blue-style that closely mimic the substance of the famous originals.

Silverman’s fascination for fermented curd comes stems from it being “…the only product in the world so many variations spring from…all made from one ingredient (milk).” His enchantment with affinage has been our gain, and any restaurant, especially a Las Vegas restaurant, that makes its own cheese is something so special, we cantal you how much we camembert it.

You can order these cheeses on line by clicking here.

One last cheesy note: Silverman’s Roquefort cheese panna cotta (picture #2  above) might be the sweetest use of this iconic cheese ever put on a dessert platter.

VINTNER GRILL

10100 West Charleston Blvd. Ste. 150

Las Vegas, NV 89135

702.214.5590

www.vglasvegas.com