Gourmet cheese shop in Wallingford will leave your mouth watering
WALLINGFORD— The butter slightly sizzled as Chris McMahon, co-owner/partner of Caseus Provisions, lathered up a spot on the grill before slapping two slices of bread down. With his left hand he scooped up the six-cheese blend and showered it across the bread.
A small container on the counter housed pulled pork, which he added to the grill right next to the cooking grilled cheese, covering it with a tin lid. After giving the pork a quick chop and a flip he covered it for another minute or so and then doused it in barbecue sauce. With another chop and a flip, he piled the pork on top of one of the slices of melty, gooey, cheesy bread before adding the top slice to complete the sandwich.
“The Hog is our Carolina style barbecue pulled pork,” said McMahon. “We braise the pork low and slow for about 12 hours; the Carolina style sauce is heavy on mustard, apple cider vinegar, and a little bit of brown sugar and honey in there, as well, so you have the sweet and the tangy.”
With the first bite I was serenaded with the richness of the butter and sourdough bread, the cheese blend and the rich and tangy flavors of the barbecue pulled pork. The pork was tender, but not overly tender, melting in my mouth and easy to chew. I am not a big onion fan so I opted out of the caramelized onions, but the mouth-watering Hog was still easily a 10 out of 10 for me.
Caseus Provisions is a slight play on what Caseus used to be.
“Cheese-centric,” McMahon said. “Get all of your cheeses, fine meats, honey, nuts, anything you need to build a charcuterie board, small format cheeses, exotic drinks, exotic chocolates, different types of jams, pastas, things like that. We really wanted to be a specialty store unlike anything Wallingford has seen in the past.”
One of the most popular cheeses is the Gouda Cheese Diamond.
“This is the gold right here, it’s a four-year, aged Dutch Gouda,” said Joe Meagher, director of operations. “It’s pretty smooth, aged for three years…
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