On the Yahara A-Z

P.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve on the French Exit, Underground Butcher, Willy Street. As you walk in the doors of the authentic old blacksmith shop from the 1870's turned modern butcher, you are taken

back by the wide variety of custom cut meats and charcuterie displayed in the cases.  Up along one broadside of a hanging rafter are selections drawn out in chalk, including daily menu items of fresh cut sandwiches and an east Madison famous take out brisket meal that you can call for ahead.  And

then there is the simplest item of all, sitting in a basket pre-made on the front counter, what is called the French Exit sandwich.  Looking like nothing more than a standard French baguette cut in half and draped by sausage, this only tells a small part of the story; bite into the crisp, downright rigid, baguette and inside is the wonderful concoction of thinly sliced Underground Salami, a pinch of

slathered dijon, aioli and a knock out cheese by world famous Wisconsin dairy Upland Cheese called Plesant Ridge Reserve.  The farmers at Upland take their cheese very seriously and it has been rewarded for its care by becoming the most highly prized in America winning best of shows multiple years.  It's always hard to know just what the difference is between the standard grocery cheese and

the so called good stuff...until it goes on a sandwich alongside hand-crafted salami.  The two family cheese operation describes it like this, "In mid-summer, when the cows are the peak of their production, a batch of cheese may yield up to 78, 10lb wheels a day.  Because we're very particular about using milk from only the best pasture conditions, the weather largely determines how many batches we can make in a year.  When the pasture conditions aren't ideal, we sell the milk.  Some years we're able to make more cheese than other years.  This may seem like a luxury, but using only the ideal milk is the most important way we ensure the quality of our cheese." This commitment to the process of a slow made cheese fits in with grass fed, no additives, production of the meat sold at Underground.  When these two combine, one bite might send you back to the 1870's when food tasted like what it was.