Fresh off filming, and two weeks before the premiere of Top Chef, Season 21 in Wisconsin, contestant Dan Jacobs is on vacation in Michigan. But once he starts talking about Wisconsin cheese, he can’t stop.
“We’ve been playing around with a grilled cheese sandwich using Roelli Cheese Haus Red Rock,” says Jacobs about the orange-hued cheddar with a striking blue vein. “We’ve thought about French toast with Uplands Cheese Company Pleasant Ridge Reserve, or stuffing Pleasant Ridge into a doughnut. Most recently, we did a tartare and grated Hook’s Cheese 10-Year Cheddar on top. It adds salinity and umami once it’s aged that long. It adds a tangy sharpness, and you’re compounding flavor upon flavor.”
Jacobs, alongside Dan Van Rite, co-owns Milwaukee-based DanDan, an American-Chinese fusion restaurant, and EsterEv, which offers a seasonally rotating prix-fixe menu. Jacobs’ recipe tinkering was mostly in preparation for EsterEv’s move to a larger space in April. The restaurant’s now open four nights a week—an upgrade from weekend-only dining in a private space within DanDan.
