Bklyn Larder | Sergio Hernandez

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Brooklyn, NY

Cheesemonger Sergio Hernandez is the co-owner of Bklyn Larder, a gourmet specialty shop in Park Slope in Brooklyn, NY. They off house-made salads, sandwiches, desserts, an impressive cheese selection and artisanal grocery goods. He previous works at Provisions International, a regional specialty foods purveyor in Vermont.

Sergio talks about creating the selections at Bklyn Larder, some of his favorite staples, and where he likes to eat, drink and shop in NYC.

Bklyn Larder | Sergio Hernandez

May 4, 2010

Bklyn LArder

We believe in celebrating the best ingredients available to us, and food products in their peak season. This food-philosophy is what makes the food at Franny’s and at Bklyn Larder so deliciously simple… when a vegetable is at its peak, we want to showcase it and accent it. For example, right now in the case at Bklyn Larder we have the first of the season’s asparagus, and we are dressing it simply with preserved Meyer lemons and spring onions and Sicilian extra virgin olive oil… it’s one of my favorite things to eat in the world.

Environmentally Friendly

Besides the food, our store was designed with environmental responsibility in mind. The refrigeration was all designed to be as efficient as possible, even using a soy-based bio-foam for insulating the walls for 4 times the insulation factor of conventional walk-in refrigerators, and we use bio-compostable plates, flatware and drinking cups in the store. We have a water saving faucet and toilet installed and all of our excess oil from the kitchen goes to Tri-State Biodiesel.

Food Evolution

I love to see more and more of my customers coming in and asking all the right questions - “what’s the difference between rendering the guanciale and the pancetta?” or “is this proper lard that I could use in my pie-crust?” or “these are this last season’s dry beans, right?”

People are more and more educated about where their food is coming from. Less than 5 years ago, everybody would have been scratching their heads asking “what are ramps?”. But the first batch we got in this spring went to making ramp butter, which we sold out of in 2 days… and it was mid-week.

I think that due to this constant customer education, more and more restaurants and provisions stores will have to ‘step up to the plate’, so to speak, in regards to the quality of the ingredients that they use, as well as seasonality. The answer to fixing our atrophied food system is in the consumers’ demand. The more people learn about where their food is coming from and question the restaurants serving tomato and basil salad in January, the more they are forcing the restaurants and ultimately the food chain to shop for their produce locally and seasonally. This is a big part of what is happening at the farmers markets and what a draw they are becoming… people are realizing how much better food tastes when it’s at its peak, and everybody wins!

Meat

Heritage Foods, which was formed as the sales and marketing arm for Slow Food USA. They only work with small farms, so you can trace the farm on the packaging. The animals are all well taken care of and we get our pork from them.

Fancy Meats of Vermont - amazing veal. They are the real deal, supporting small family dairy farms.

Choosing Products

We constantly taste new products that producers or importers bring in as samples or that we find either out shopping, traveling or just out to dinner. We (Francine, Andrew and myself) will all taste it and discuss where it fits in to what we are doing. Some may argue that this is not the smartest strategy – most stores will buy ‘products that sell’ and not everything we have selected has been a hit.

Ultimately, we like to stick to foods that come from smaller, artisanal producers that share our own philosophies of sustainability and seasonality.

Cheese

All the cheeses in the case at Bklyn Larder are farmstead – meaning the cheese is made right on the same dairy farm where the cows/sheep/goats/buffalo pasture and are milked.

Pantry Recommendations

Maldon Sea Salt

I love the delicate flakes that you can break up smaller by simply sprinkling between your fingers, or leave as is for a little texture in your salad or on top of your fish… it has a really clean saltiness, too.

Beans from The Beanery

Some kind of beans from The Beanery in Maine… usually Sulfar or Cannelini. They cook up so evenly and creamy because they are always from the recent harvest, unlike most dry beans which are all mixed up and sitting around a warehouse – we try to get our hands on as many of them as we can, because her crops are small & limited.

Pasta from Rustichella d'Abruzzo

Great quality dry pasta, like Rustichella d'Abruzzo, for the texture, and coarseness, so the sauce will cling.

Hot Sauce

Sriracha hot sauce. Ok, there is nothing artisanal or organic about this… it’s just delicious, and highly addictive.

Cheese Recommendations

Casa Madaio

For raw sheep’s milk cheese from Sardinia. Calcagno is some of the best I’ve ever had. It’s made from the milk of animals that are sotto cielo (under the sky), which means they are outside grazing in the pasture.

Twig Farm in West Cornwall, VT

For raw milk goat cheeses, called Wheel, Tomme, and Square. The most perfectionist and talented domestic cheesemaker. They use a mixed herd of goats to make Catalan-style cheese.

Upland Farm in Wisconsin

For Pleasant Ridge Reserve, arguably the most consistent cheese made since the 1980’s, Alpine style, really crystalized. This makes Europeans mad that Americans make such a good cheese.

Recipes

- Mayonnaise

- Olive Cake

- Caramel Bars

New York City Guide

Find | Cheese Shops

Murray’s Cheese

Photograph courtesy of Murray’s Cheese

Murray’s Cheese

They do a great job. I would love to some day be as established as they are.

254 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10014

T: 212.243.3289 | www.murrayscheese.com

Murray’s Cheese

Photograph courtesy of Murray’s Cheese

Bedford Cheese

A great selection of cheeses that is well-edited and well-curated.

229 Bedford Avenue, New York, NY 11211

T: 718.599.7588 | bedfordcheeseshop.com

Formaggio Essex

Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.

Formaggio Essex

An offshoot of Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge run by Ayse Gurdall, and offering the same selections of top quality, unique artisan cheeses and cured meats that her father, Ishan has been importing himself for years.

120 Essex Street, New York, NY 10002

T: 212.982.8200 | www.formaggioessex.com

Eat | Restaurants

Brick Chicken at Vinegar Hill House

Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.

Vinegar Hill House

For their Brick Chicken and Double-cut Roasted Pork Chop.

72 Hudson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201

T: 718.522.1018 | www.vinegarhillhouse.com

Café Le Gamin

They have a young talented chef serving classics like Steak Frites and doing it really well.

108 Franklin Street, New York, NY 11222

T: 718.770.7918 | www.legamin.com

Hummus at Mimi’s Hummus

Photograph courtesy of Mimi’s Hummus

Mimi’s Hummus

For their amazing, fresh, Mediterranean food. I have brought so many friends here, who I think were just coming along to shut me up because I wouldn’t shut up about it… and they are all now believers. If Mimi’s was in my neighborhood, I would eat there 3 to 4 times a week.

1209 Cortelyou Road Brooklyn, NY 11218

T: 718.284.4444 | www.mimishummus.com

Lucky Eight

For amazing Chinese food.

5204 8th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11220

T: 718.851.8862

Tacos El Bronco

On the weekends, this truck serves pig’s ear tacos, tongue, chorizo and Carne Asada.

4324 43rd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232

T: 718.788.2229 | www.tacoselbronco.com

Crispy Fried Watercress at SriPraPhai

Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.

SriPraPhai

For Thai food in Woodside. The crispy fried watercress salad is great. I think everybody in Gray Kunz’s kitchen was a SriPraPhai fan, and probably one of the chefs or sous chefs turned Chef Kunz onto it. Gray's cuisine has alot of Thai influence, so the strong, aggressive flavors of chillies, lime juice and fish sauce always appealed to all of our palates.

64-13 39th Avenue, Woodside, NY 11377

T: 718.899.9599 | www.sripraphairestaurant.com

Bark Hot Dogs

Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.

Bark Hot Dogs

For a hot dog and disco fries. The owners of Bark Hot Dogs are two of the best cooks that I ever had the pleasure to work with. Josh Sharkey was the saucier at Cafe Gray when I was there and ended being Gray's Executive sous-chef by the time he left. Brandon Gillis was the sous-chef at Franny's for the first few years they were open. They are completely committed to using/sourcing local, high-quality ingredients for everything they serve and prepare at Bark.

474 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217

T: 718.789.1939 | barkhotdogs.com

Brookvin

A wine bar with a great cheese program.

381 7th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215

T: 718.768.9463 | www.brookvin.com

Casellula

They have a very aggressive cheese list for a place that size and they do a really great job with their pairings.

401 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019

T: 212.247.8137 | www.casellula.com