Last summer I was in NYC and got a cheese board for dinner. One of the cheeses was very interesting but of course now I can’t remember its name. It’s the right-most cheese in this picture. It was a well-aged cheese and as you can see in the picture it’s crystalline and fairly brittle. It was a little bit sweet with a slight taste of caramel. Anybody have an idea what it could have been?
I’ve had aged Goudas that were crystalline, flaky and caramely. But I’m assuming you’d remember if that what it was.
Whatever it is looks good.
Bad assumption. 
My memory is that bad.
Looks very much like a 5-year-old Gouda I had a few weeks ago. Fantastic cheese.
A tiny bit of a rich nutty undertaste beneath the sweetness? 5+ year gouda sounds right to me too. My inlaws make gouda, and we’ve been tasting lots of competition recently. Such a hardship.
Freaking amazing cheeses, love gouda so much.
Yep, that’s what I was going to say reading the description (and then seeing the picture). About 5 years sounds about right looking at that photo.
Here’s a photo of 5-year Gouda.
Most Gouda is more orangish; with that color, I thought it may be some super-aged Parmigiano-Regiano,which can get that crystalline, and actually tastes quite aged-Gouda-y. Regular (real) Parmigiano is two years, “vacche rosse” (Red Cow, I have no idea why), which is easily available, is 30 months. Some shops carry private cellars’ worth much older than that.
But I don’t think it cut so large and not crumble.
Could be almost any of the harder, longer-aged cheeses. I’ve seen a wide variety of them take that sort of appearance.
That looks just like goat gouda to me. That is one delicious cheese.
Yup you mean Gjetost ?
Gjetost is something quite different, and doesn’t have the texture of what is pictured. Gjetost is not even really what I would call “cheese,” though I like it. It’s basically just whey that’s leftover from cheesemaking that’s been caramelized into a fudge-like consistency and flavor by boiling it down. Goat gouda is basically gouda cheese made with goat milk/cream. It’s an actual cheese in the rennet, separate curds & whey, press and age sense.
Thanks all for the suggestions. None of the pictures I’ve seen exactly match but that could be because they are cut differently. I guess I’ll just have buy different cheeses and compare. 
Looks like I’ll start with aged Gouda.
Definitely not Mimolette as that is a bright orange in color (from annato). The antique (4 or 5 year aged gouda that I have had has been a much darker shade of brown that that pictured. I’ve had a 10 year old Bitto that was similar to the picture.
It looks like parmigiano reggiano to me too. The “reggiano” bit refers to the region it is made in, there’s another kind called parmigiano Grana Padano which is made in a different region. Parmigiano vacche rosse is made from the milk of a herd of red cows that have some ancient bloodline link to the reggiano region. Any other parmigiano reggiano must come from that region and is made with milk from other breeds of cow, who still graze in the region.
Parmiginao mostly seasoned for two years, but as you say you can easily find it seasoned for 30 months. My husband’s family own a deli in Rome, they have their wheels of cheese sitting in Reggiano, seasoning away. They have them delivered at 36 months. It’s really something!
You can buy huge chunks of the cheese and it might crumble when you cut it. You really need to hack little bits off with a special blade which is tear-shaped with a point and about 2 inches long. You stab it into the cheese, wiggle and wait for a piece to drop off. Not much slicing involved.
Im going to move this over to Cafe Society.
I think it is an aged gouda. I had one a few days ago looking almost exactly like that, only with caraway seeds. I’ve also seen similar looking ones in the supermarket and cheese shops.
Btw, geitost wouldn’t become brittle like this and has a much darker color. Also, a real geitost isn’t sweet, like geitost made partly with cow’s milk or brunost. It is rich, sharp and salty foremost, with hints of chocolate and fudge underneath. It is fantastic to put in rich stews and sauces.
Was it a tapas restaurant? The meat looks like Serrano ham, and if it was a Spanish charcuterie, the cheese might have been a Manchego.
It was at Murray’s Cheese bar in NYC.