I'm not sure how it happened— but, I ended up spending the past 5 weekends at Murray’s Cheese Bar. It started as just enthusiasm for a great place and then turned into a quest for mayorship on Foursquare.

I have written about my experience having the cheesemonger's choice at the beginning of this year. But, in fact, Murray's Cheese Bar has a really great menu. Below you can read about all of the food I've ordered from this place over the past five weeks:

Week 1

My friend Kim and I have begun to ferret out excellent brunch locations over the past couple months and one of our stops had to be Murray's Cheese Bar. Just as a matter of clarification, to me, a brunch needs to have two things: eggs and alcohol. So, we started out right, and ordered mimosa bar flights.

The mimosa bar flight was a bit of a novelty, but it does give you the opportunity to mix things up and try some new flavors. They offer lychee, pear, orange, and blood orange varieties— my least favorite had to be lychee.

For food, my friend ordered the Murray’s Breakfast Melt (one fried egg on an English muffin, with thick-cut Nueske’s bacon and melted Fontina) and I got myself the Farmer’s Breakfast (Farmstead cheese, Felino salami, frisée, one fried egg, toasted bread, jam & butter). Both were amazing!

Week 2

My friend Edith and I met up in the West Village for a cheesy brunch. We decided to split the Classic Melt (a secret blend of cheeses on thick-cut buttered Pullman loaf) and French Toast served up sticky bun style (Two slices of thick-cut Pullman bread, soaked in a brûlée custard and pan fried, served with toasted pecans, cinnamon toffee & cream cheese).

In retrospect, it was a lot of Pullman loaf; but, both were tasty. The French toast was a bit too crunchy for my taste, but I appreciated the design of it.

Week 3

I reunited with my friend Smiti, after she served up archeological realness in Ethiopia over the summer. We were hongray; and, ordered lots of food, which, if my memory serves me right, we finished all of it.

We started with a cheese flight, the Week in Review, which were Prairie Fruits Farm Black Sheep, Abbaye de Belloc, Old Chatham Ewes Blue (from left to right).

We went on to gorge ourselves on Mac & Cheese (Cheddar, Scharfe Maxx, Gruyère and Gouda with crispy fried onions) and a spinach and pine nut salad.

Last but not least, we decided that it would be a great idea to try the Peanut Butter & Cheddar cheese ice cream.

Having never tried cheese ice cream before, my friend and I didn't really know what to expect. The peanut butter has a very strong flavor so you only taste a little bit of the cheddar flavor. It was delicious, and a unique experience.

Week 4

On week four, Kim and I joined forces again to get me that Foursquare check-in, after a long day of brunching and eating custard. We feasted on this amazing wedge of Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove Chevre and washed it down with some Hairbender Blend from Stumptown Coffee.

Week 5

By the fifth week, feeling a bit over confident in my ordering abilities, I ended up ordering way more than my friend and I could finish off. We split a Ham & Brie (Applewood Ham and Green Hill on thick-cut buttered Pullman loaf) and Cheddar Grits.

The sandwich was delicious. On the other hand, the cheddar grits were a little disappointing. The cheese was sort of just melted on top, and the grits themselves didn't have much flavor. It my eyes, it needed salt, but honestly wasn't worth it. Additionally, I didn't realize that a side of grits would be such a large portion.

We also grabbed ourselves The Weekender cheese flight (Fresh Ricotta with honey, Green Hill with preserves, Prairie Breeze Cheddar with apple).

This was a pretty great cheese plate, but by the time we got to it we were already full. Next time, I'll order less, but for the price and amount of food you get, it's actually a pretty good deal.

Wrapping up

My experience at Murray's Cheese Bar over the past five weeks was generally awesome. On a funny note, out of the eight or nine times that I've been here, I've sat at the same table. Next up, would be to check out the dinner menu...

Where should I go next? Let me know in the comments below.