Cheese, cold cuts, and cocktails on Lake Zurich

Fischerstube Zürihorn is essentially a wooden house on the water, with a lounge inside and a wooden deck with tables surrounding it. That Wednesday, we were welcomed by the large refrigerator—the display case from Mini Metzg—positioned at the entrance, giving us a direct view of the selection of cold cuts and cheeses we could try. I have immense respect for the person behind this space who managed to get the job done in this heat, since the sun hadn’t set yet. Soon, Marco Colelli, the bartender at ORA who was behind this pop-up, arrived and directed us to a table right by the water’s edge.

The menu arrived very quickly, which I really appreciate at any place, since prompt service makes the experience even better. We already knew we’d order as many cold cuts and cheeses as two people could share, so we chose the charcuterie and cheese platters, selected by the representative from Mini Metzg. Along with the platters, we also chose two of the cocktails that whetted our appetite, though the choice wasn’t easy. ORA’s cocktails all looked interesting, and we started with the Almost Naked and the Slushy.

Almost Naked—which, given the temperature, I’d hope would describe me—was a very refreshing cocktail with mezcal from Oaxaca, Aperol, and watermelon. I’d like to make one at home sometime, since it’s one of the few watermelon cocktails I’ve tried that actually tasted like watermelon. Of course, this also depends on how flavorful the watermelon is that you happen to get if you do use fresh watermelon. The Slushy was a cocktail made with white tequila, passion fruit, toffee, and lime, and its texture was reminiscent of the frozen drink of the same name. A very tasty choice, with toffee clearly taking center stage, giving it that distinctive sweetness. Both were almost gone before the platters of charcuterie and cheeses even arrived.

All of the cheeses were unique, both because of their intense flavor and because each one had a distinct texture. We’ll start with the softest and work our way up to the hardest:

• Robiola 3 Latti, a soft, spreadable cheese that we spread on our sourdough bread
• Bella Lodi Riserva Bianca Bufala, a semi-hard aged buffalo milk cheese with a very flavorful rind
• Raw-milk Pecorino from Tuscany (Pecorino a latte crudo, Toscana), a hard sheep’s-milk cheese that I’d like to use in a recipe someday, but it’s also delicious on its own

The charcuterie platter featured five different options, three of which stood out to me:

Since we were still thirsty after the cocktails, we switched to wine and chose a Swiss wine from the canton of Neuchâtel, in the French-speaking part of the country. Sparkling wines aren’t usually my go-to choice, but this particular Chasselas from Auvergnier was subtle and as refreshing as the weather called for. Bonus points for the glass, which had a fish on it, courtesy of the Fischerstube—a perfect complement to the rest of the lakeside setting.

Before we left the place, I wanted to try more of Marco’s cocktails. So I asked him to make me a cocktail out of his imagination.

Needless to say, this cocktail was also consumed relatively quickly, and I want to learn about all the distillates they make at ORA Bar with the first opportunity. Not because I hope to make similar ones at home, but because I believe they make cocktails so much more interesting than standard mixers do.