Food review blog from San Francisco.

Restaurant: Foreign Cinema (San Francisco)
Food description: Baked fromage d'Affinois (French cheese), green olive tapenade, warm roasted potatoes, cornichons, and croutons
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I hadn't heard of this particular type of cheese before, but I remembered reading in the Chronicle that this was one of Foreign Cinema's specialties, so I couldn't resist. It's usually not a great idea to have 1/4 lb of cheese as your brunch appetizer, but in this case, it ended up being the highlight of the meal and was worth the extra pounds. Who needs chefs when you can just pick out an amazing piece of cheese, toss it in the oven and voila! Brunch is served! The cheese was unique in that it had an aged flavor, but retained a soft and buttery texture. The flavor was mild, creamy, and extremely rich, in between a double- and triple-cream cheese, and had the right salt content. Due to a controversial method used to create this cheese, the rind was also softer and milder than brie, and blended better with the melted cheese inside. As rich and adequately salty as it was, I would've preferred a pairing of fruit to cleanse the palate over the salty olive tapenade and starchy potatoes. Much to my dismay, there were definitely not enough croutons to go around, only four, for that huge wedge of cheese. I tried to request more, but the server was nowhere in sight, so I was forced to eat it with the potatoes--otherwise the cheese would have gotten cold (we were sitting outside). So although I didn't get to totally enjoy the cheese in all its cheesy glory, it was really outstanding and will make it really tough for me to go back to what I once thought was good brie.