Lisa Ochoa can recall the moment she first realized a dream collaboration for Don Froylan Creamery, a creamery based in Salem that produces America's best string cheese.
Exploring the booths at Feast Portland, a now-discontinued food and drink festival, Lisa remembers seeing a Burgerville booth showing off the fast-food-chain's Smokey Blue Cheeseburger, made with Rogue Creamery cheese.
"I just remember thinking 'Oh my gosh, someday we could be on a Burgerville menu,'" Ochoa said. "When you think of local burgers, Burgerville is what comes to mind... We were in Albany for 10 years, and that was our go to place."
For Francisco and Lisa Ochoa, the husband and wife duo behind the creamery, that someday has come. The Don Cheeseburger at Burgerville, a limited time offering available only at the chain's newest Salem location, is made with sliced Queso Botanero, a cilantro jalapeno cheese the Ochoas have been making for 15 years.
"It's an asadero-based cheese, which is like a Monterey Jack style cheese," Lisa said. "The fun thing about it is we're using fresh chopped jalapenos and cilantro. There's no dried ingredients, like a lot of people use for cheese. It's a really fresh and bright, creamy, melty, fun cheese."
The Ochoas have been operating the Don Froylan Creamery since 2001, building on a family tradition of Mexican cheesemaking that spans several decades. The factory processes more than four tons of cheese a day and specializes in traditional Mexican varieties, including queso fresco, queso Oaxaca, cotija, queso panela and Liliana's String Cheese, the creamery's award-winning string cheese, named for their daughter.
The creamery's prominence and reputation in the Salem community made them standout as a possible partner, said Becky McGrath, Burgerville executive chef.
"With the Salem opening it gave us the opportunity to find a hyperlocal partner to Salem," McGrath said in an email. "The milk they use comes from a farm 12 miles from their creamery. It doesn't get much more local than that."
According to the Ochoas, since the Salem Burgerville opened April 25, locals can't get enough of the limited-time Don Cheeseburger.
"At least every day two or three people, they're like, 'Hey, we saw you guys throughout the Burgerville menu,'" Lisa said. "So I know that people in the community are hearing about it."
The burger's popularity prompted Burgerville to extend its availability from the original end-of-June deadline through the end of August.
"We're super excited and really thankful for the community -- how they supported both businesses," Francisco said. "For us, it's a big accomplishment being able to partner with a company like that."
Seeing their Mexican cheese featured so prominently has been a meaningful moment of representation and pride for the Ochoas. It has also opened more people up to the world of Mexican cheeses.
"Just because it has jalapenos in it doesn't mean it's particularly a spicy cheese," Lisa said. "There's stereotypes around Mexican cheese. Maybe Burgerville is opening up those windows."
-- Chiara Profenna covers religion, faith and cultural connections. Reach her at 503-221-4327; [email protected] or @chiaraprofenna.