The Mac Daddy

Time to get your (mac)cheese on.

When a macaroni and cheese aficionado such as myself tells you that she's just eaten a "top 3 mac cheese of her life", it's time to take note. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Beecher's New York, a Seattle import which rocked my (mac)cheese-loving socks off this past Friday night.

According to their website's extensive "Our Story" section, Mr. Kurt Beecher Dammeier was a cheese lover from childhood and his artisan cheese obsession eventually led to the 2003 opening of Beecher's Handmade Cheese in Pike Place market. In June 2011, an NYC outpost was opened at the corner of 21st and Broadway, a cheese shop and cafe upstairs with the warehouse-chic decor clad full bar and restaurant "The Cellar" downstairs. Cue Friday night...

Delightfully cheesey

The Celler at Beecher's is a great spot for group dining. With an extensive drink menu (I took down 2 of their spicy "Henry Ward Beechers" with delight) and meats and cheeses galore, it's easy to chat and graze for hours, but my suggestion is to go for the full meal experience. Sharing one of the cheese covered flatbreads (the "meat: charcuterie, smoked flagship" blew our minds) a veggie plate and the burrata amongst my group of 5 allowed for tasty flavors and a good sampling with enough room left to hit the pièce de résistance hard core... I present to you, the self-proclaimed "World's Best Mac & Cheese":

Be still my heart...

One of six different mac cheese variations on the menu, the World's Best is not messing around. Baked to crispy on top and at the edges, creamy, gooey and just shy of too decadent on the inside, Beecher's mac was a lifetime favorite. (Due to variety of ingredients and texture, I cannot easily rank Beechers against the breadcrumb-on-top Chat n Chew brilliance or a few other variations of the classic I've encountered, so please accept my "lifetime favorite" as a highest possible accolade). Simply put, this mac cheese rocked my world and the tastes I managed to snag of the pork belly version (ordered without fennel by 2 in my party) only served as evidence that I must come back again and again until I've had one of every mac on the menu.

A peak into The Cellar

And in case you were wondering, Beecher's has plenty of non-mac entrees (Dr. H thorough enjoyed his Littleneck Clams) but the mac cheese is definitely their finest. Lastly, it should be noted that Beecher's "cheese-osophy" is that the cheeses are all au naturale, meaning they contain no additives or preservatives and the milk-makers (cow, goat, etc) are all hormone free. Plus, according to their website, they now have a gluten free mac cheese available! Now isn't that just cheese-tastic?