665332 Fri Nov 06 20:08:13 -0800 2009 4 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 5162610 For weeks I’ve been stalking the burrata wrapped in the green and white packaging and tied, with ribbons. I’ve saw it at Whole Foods today, but my stalking was done at Berkeley Bowl. I was never there on the day it came in … or I wasn’t going home immediately … etc. It is delivered at the Berkeley Bowl on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I bought the last tomatoes for the season on Sunday at Tomato Heaven. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/657849 On Monday I made the trek to the Bowl to pick up that just-delivered burrata. It seems that the date might not matter as much as other burrata due to the cream that is used. I had not read this Chronicle article about the burrata until just now when I was Googling to see if there was a website http://www.sfchronicle.us/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/04/FDKR19T1VS.DTL It says “the Brunos import cream from Italy. American heavy cream, even the richer manufacturing cream, did not produce results they liked. The interior quickly became hard, says Stefano, while with the Italian panna (cream), the filling remains moist and supple for at least three weeks.” The burrata at A16 is still on my to-try list The best I’ve had was from Ubuntu. This is better than that. FYI, according to the cheese maker, the sell by date on the package is 21 days from the date the cheese is made. With Berkeley Bowl, check the date. There was still cheese from Friday’s delivery. However the Chronicle reviewer ate the burrata two weeks after the make date and wrote “In my experience, burrata sours quickly, losing the fresh, sweet creaminess that is its best feature. But the Di Stefano burrata was luscious, with a thin, intact "skin" of mozzarella surrounding dreamy, buttery, cream-laced curds. It was faintly tart but not remotely sour.” Since mine was just made it was nothing but sweet, fresh creaminess and so very delicate. It is just as good today. The cheese maker is 18 years old. A few restarantsthat had it on the menu; Zuni, Spork. Parcel 104 I just finished the tomato and burrata with lovely eggplant parmigana I made from a variety of Italian eggplant from Tomato Heaven. The last official taste of summer. Fri Nov 06 20:08:13 -0800 2009 10264 rworange 1 5162669 I believe the Pasta Shop gets this stuff and it is quite good. A bit different than some of the other Burrata's I've tried in that it is more creamy. Fri Nov 06 21:04:19 -0800 2009 5162610 280762 skwid 1 5163519 Importing the cream is a clever idea. A16 gets its burrata from Gioia, so you've probably had it elsewhere. They fly theirs in daily for maximum freshness. Sat Nov 07 11:52:27 -0800 2009 5162610 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 5196850 Di Stefano burrata at Rainbow $4.99, 10% off for seasoned citizen, sell by date 11/24. Fri Nov 20 12:45:51 -0800 2009 5162610 105235 wolfe 1 5197623 I got some of the Di Stefano earlier this week at Lunardi's in Burlingame -- $10.99 for an eight-ounce package, the price sticker seems to have obliterated the sell-by date. I was a little disappointed, but only because I'd just had my first taste of burrata last weekend and that was made the day before by a master cheesemaker who was visiting from Apulia. The Di Stefano is not as good as that. But it's pretty good. (BTW, as one of the notable bitchers and moaners in last year's epic thread about why Bay Area grocery stores are not very good, I have to say that Lunardi's is really quite decent. It mitigates my having moved to the Peninsula from Berkeley, but only a little bit.) Fri Nov 20 20:43:23 -0800 2009 5162610 17199 Nina