Remembering Master Cheesemonger Jimmy Coogan
James Coogan, New York’s quintessential cheese man, died on November 7, 2020, in New York City at age 55. He had an impeccable palate and unmatched expertise. More than just a cheese man, it was Jimmy’s genuine passion that made him “the convivial host, the guide, the center,” says his friend and former coworker Lori Levy.
Born in Yonkers, New York, cheese lovers around the city knew and loved Jimmy from the counters at Balducci’s, Agata & Valentina, Ideal Cheese, and Fairway Market. A proud member of the guilde des fromagers, he worked as the cheese buyer at Eli’s Manhattan Food Market up until his death.
The Upper East Side apartment he shared with his wife Bambi Ray, a Sales Manager at Astor Wines & Spirits, was certainly a center. Cheese and specialty food people, music friends, poets, and more could be found talking about culture, politics, music, art, food and wine on any given day or night, enjoying delicious bites and funky, wonderful wine. “Just a typical Sunday afternoon at the Coogan’s,” says Levy. Being one of Jimmy’s friends was a true privilege, a privilege I counted myself lucky enough to enjoy.
Digging into tinned Basque fish or one of the big, bold cheeses from the Adopt an Alp program Jimmy championed, listening to a record, and laughing with Jimmy and Bambi, I really felt as if I was in the center of, well, everything.
After cheese and Bambi, music was Jimmy’s third great love. “Always go to the show,” was a motto of his. (His other motto: “Never underestimate the importance of a cheese man in your life.”). Jimmy’s dad played the accordion and his sister, Mary Ellen Coogan, is part of the traditional Irish all-women band Cherish the Ladies. Jimmy and Bambi’s apartment was full of vinyl. “He was very committed to music and the community of people he met through music,” Ray says.
Jimmy Coogan and Davide Fiori
Jimmy and Bambi met in New Orleans through a mutual friend Jim Yonkus and fell in love on a trip to see Jimmy’s favorite band, the Drive by Truckers, in Athens, Georgia. Their first kiss was on a Friday the 13th, and they got married on Thursday, November 13 in New York City on 2014. Last Friday would have been Jimmy and Bambi’s sixth wedding anniversary.
Jimmy could be skeptical and grumpy. “He was a true New Yorker,” Ray explains. It wasn’t easy to win Jimmy over, but once you were a friend, you were a friend for life. “The things he loved, he loved 150 percent. He was as selective as his palate, but the people he loved, he loved despite their flaws.”
If you were in search of an off-the-charts cheese gift or an amazing cheese or charcuterie plate, he was the go-to guy. “He has touched every food institution that makes New York New York,” Levy explains. Friends remember his encyclopedic knowledge, his razor-sharp intellect, and his heartfelt joy for life’s pleasures.
From fine dining in Midtown to dim sum at Café Evergreen on 1st Avenue, where Jimmy and Bambi had their wedding lunch, Jimmy knew his way around New York’s food scene. Restaurateurs were quick to send a new dish for Jimmy; they knew they could trust his feedback. It was a favor that would be returned at his counter, where he’d hook up his friends with finds you couldn’t get elsewhere. Each cheese came with a story of a place, a moment, and its producer, who was most likely also a friend. Customers came away from his counter with new understanding and love, not just a hunk of cheese.
“He had a richness in his life that the wealthiest people would never know,” said Levy.
He is lovingly remembered by his wife Bambi Ray and his sister Mary Ellen Coogan. Memorial donations may be made in James Coogan’s name to Nuçi’s Space.
Cheese to enjoy in remembrance of Jimmy Coogan:
Comté has been made in France's Jura mountains more or less the same way for a thousand years and counting. It's a cheese that's hard not to love—creamy, roasty, nutty, complex, versatile, and very possibly addictive. It's crafted from the raw milk of Montbéliarde cows and aged to perfection in cool, dark caves in the foothills of the alps.
Fort Saint Antoine, in the Haut Doubs forests in the east of France, is a former military fort that now houses more than 100,000 wheels of Comté cheese as they age on traditional spruce boards. The 3 Year Comté is set aside because these wheels will just sing as they mature, developing layers of caramelized onion, butterscotch pudding, sweet cream, coffee, leather, and prune, depending on the season and the batch.
"L'Etivaz – Alpine Sheeps Milk Cheese, Switzerland" byfroboy is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
In the 1930's, much of the cheese world was moving towards industrialization and the government subsidies that came along with it. In 1932, 76 families in the Swiss Alps made a very different decision, choosing to sacrifice income to protect the tradition of their small-scale cheesemaking. To this day, L’Etivaz makers work by strict methods, preserving their cheese's history and integrity.
The L’Etivaz that Coogan sold comes from the mountain Tompey, in the canton of Vaud, through the Adopt-an-Alp program. It's made completely by hand only when the herds are up in the Alpage—the mountain pastures surrounding the village—between 3,500 and 6,500 feet above sea level, and aged for about 18 months. Its dizzyingly complex, with flavors of roasted hazelnuts and brown butter and a lingering sweetness