Right on the heels of the terrible cheese/chocolate choice, I find that somebody has made an important cheese choice for me. I went to Diesel Cafe for lunch as I often do and ordered the Branch Trio as I often do – in fact, it was the winner of the Davis Square cheese-off back in May – but found that they had dropped it from the menu as part of a general refresh done this month. The nice lady offered to cobble together a “Branch Duo” since they had only two kinds of cheese – cheddar and jack.
Only two kinds of cheese? There are a dozen sandwiches on the menu and only two kinds of cheese in the whole shop? This is starting to sound dangerously like that Monty Python sketch. To be fair, there is also fresh mozzarella and cream cheese, but those never really belonged on the Branch Trio.
Interestingly, the improvised Branch Duo, while lacking one cheese and some sprouts, featured toasted bread and for some reason cost $2 less than any of the official sandwiches on the menu.
I understand the need for a business to control food costs, and how this can lead to the elimination of a favorite item or ingredient. (If you don’t, you might need to hire a restaurant consultant.) We’ve all seen sandwich prices rise on account of the price of tomatoes, for example. I guess this is how its going to be. Unless the next president can muster the guts to open the national cheese reserves, it might be a good idea to begin hoarding cheese and maybe also buying cheese futures as a hedge (wedge?) against future cheese inflation.