San Francisco Food Blog

For years, local French expatriates and lovers of French food have descended on the occasional open-warehouse sales held in Brisbane by importer Made in France, aka Village Imports, aka LeVillage.com. That company's founders sold it last year, and have opened a retail store, The Gourmet Corner (873 N San Mateo Dr, San Mateo).

If you're a Francophile foodie, this new shop is worth the schlep from SF. It offers the best selection in the area of hard-to-find preserved truffles and foie gras products, as well as a wide variety of less luxurious French essentials such as dried mushrooms, vinegars, and sausages.

Cultured dairy products are another highlight. I was excited to find Crème Fraiche d'Isigny AOC ($9.50, 200g), since as I discussed last month it has not been available here since the federal crackdown on raw-milk cheeses in 2004. This one, from Isigny Sainte-Mère, turned out to be a pasteurized version, much thicker and with a different flavor, something like mascarpone. While not what I long to pour on my tarte tatin, it's delicious, and closer to the real thing than any domestic attempts.

Maîtres Laitiers Fromage Frais Onctueux ($7.99, 500g) is the best quark I've found in this country. It's perfect for the classic German breakfast of quark and apfelkraut (dark, not very sweet apple butter, available at Lehr's German Specialties, 1581 Church) on pumpernickel. Two other dairy-case goodies worth checking out are Maîtres Laitiers Petit Suisse ($4.99, 30g six-pack), a tart little fresh cheese served as dessert with sugar, fruit, or compote, and La Fermiere Le Yaourt Nature ($6.99, 280g two-pack), an extraordinary rich yogurt made from cow's milk and cream.

The first time I tasted it, I thought I'd do a "Cheap Wines That Don't Suck" post on the shop's Cellier des Dauphins nonvintage Côtes du Rhône ($9.99 3-liter bag-in-box). However, on tasting it a day later, it had gone downhill a bit, so didn't quite make the cut. Still, for the equivalent of $2.50 a bottle, I'd take it over Two- Buck Chuck any day.

The panorama above (click for a larger image) shows only the front room of the shop. There's a second room in back with cheeses, more wine, some Italian stuff, and more.