Location: Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. in the Strip District
Featured guest: Adam Ehrlichman, head cheesemonger at Pennsylvania Macaroni Co.
3 things that surprised me:
1. Penn Mac stocks between 300 to 400 varieties of cheese from all over the world. Back in the warehouse, Adam took me to the two massive walk-in coolers where stock is kept and explained the origins of the cheese. He took a huge wheel of 24-month-aged Parmigiano Reggiano out of a box and pointed out the number 822 on the side of the wheel, which signifies that this cheese came from a small farm just outside of Parma, Italy. On that farm, two cheesemakers produce fewer than 20 wheels of cheese a day. Adam’s cheese counter sells around a wheel of this Parmigiano Reggiano a day, so he’s buying more than a 20th of the farm’s output.
2. When Adam took me down to the basement, I was surprised to find it full of jugs of wine. Two varieties of wine have been fermenting here since the fall. During the holiday season, Penn Mac employees hand out wine to customers waiting in line.
3. Surrounding the office in the middle of the store, the walls are covered in business cards. I asked Adam when that tradition started, and he poked his head into the office to ask Dave Sunseri, one of the store’s owners. Dave replied that the business cards started going up when his dad, Sal, was running the business.
One thing that didn’t make the final cut: As part of his job as head cheese monger, Adam has visited cheesemaking destinations from Italy to Wisconsin to see how the cheese is made. He shared personal anecdotes about many of the cheesemakers behind the cheeses.
Want more Yinzer Backstage Pass? Check out our visit to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s secret annex.
