The Little Cheese Pub menu is appealing and surprisingly varied–there are fondues and "toasts" and nutty snacks and salads and lots of mac and cheese options, in addition to a bunch of straight-up cheese plates, composed or not–and, although there is plenty of wines being poured, Angerer also emphasizes beer pairings with your cheese, hence the "pub" in the name. Anyway, we stopped in to the Little Cheese Pub a couple of times last week, on our way to and from various Chelsea gallery goings-on, for which it is ideally situated, by the way, location-wise, and enjoyed pretty much everything about the place.   

The Mac and Cheese at the Little Cheese Pub was particularly successful. Available in single-, double-, or even triple-sized servings, the "hand-crafted" mac and cheese arrives all gooey and bubbling in a cast iron pan, and they definitely don't skimp on the promised fillings. The Mac Carbonara, for example, made with an abundance of Vermont cheddar, was wonderfully charred on top, creamy below, and generously studded with chunks of house-made pancetta. Even tastier, perhaps, was the La Pampa Mac, salty and rich with manchego, the spinach adding terrific texture and flavor to the proceedings. Satisfying and delicious. 

Toasts get their own section on the Little Cheese Pub menu, and they make a nice starter or drinking snack. The Pig Lardo was pretty good, though a bit sweeter than we like, and laid atop a somewhat disappointingly nondescript white roll. Better was the Cacciotorini Crostini, the chewy bread slathered thick with a kidney bean paste, the dried, spicy, beef and pork sausage piled high. Not a light bite, to be sure, but, definitely a nice, hearty winter's treat.