Like most New Yorkers, I find myself struggling to leave the house. As the days have gotten shorter and colder, November becomes a harbinger of seasonal depression. But I think I’ve found the antidote: cheese and wine.
Held at O’Cabanon, a family-run French kitchen in the heart of Manhattan, the seventh annual New York Cheese and Wine Week felt like a small escape to the South of France. The restaurant takes its name from the cabanon, a simple shed where friends gather to eat, drink, and talk. O’Cabanon has been bringing that spirit of warmth and conviviality to New York since 2013, and there could not have been a better setting for a night devoted to cheese and wine.
Cheese and Wine Week is a global celebration that began in Paris nearly a decade ago and has grown into a beloved event across France. It highlights the creativity and community behind local food and beverage cultures, and this year it reached even further with inaugural editions in Philadelphia, London, Brussels, and Italy.
Inside O’Cabanon, the atmosphere had a soft, glowing kind of ease that settles in when good food and good company meet. Guests sampled a variety of cheeses from sponsors like Entremont and Jarlsberg, paired with delicious wines and champagne. I spent most of the night tucked into the restaurant’s mini cabanon, chatting with people from all backgrounds who shared one simple thing in common: a genuine love for cheese and wine. And honestly, who doesn’t love that?
