A wine and cheese party

When pastry chef Nancy Silverton gets behind the bar at Campanile on Thursday nights, she’s the queen of grilled cheese. Her classic ham and Gruyere, with its golden buttery crust, is so beguiling that some regulars never manage to graduate to the rest of her short menu of seductive tartines and sandwiches.

Now truly serious students of cheese can take a new course at Jar, when Silverton presides over Mozzarella Mondays.

Suzanne Tracht, Jar’s owner and chef (and a former chef de cuisine at Campanile), is still in the kitchen cooking her regular menu, but Silverton is in the bar presenting her menu of little courses starring locally made mozzarella, burrata (basically the same thing with a heart of cream) and ricotta.

There is one sandwich -- in which mozzarella romances prosciutto, arugula and tapenade -- but there are all sorts of other dishes too that allow Silverton to explore the properties of the beloved Italian cheese. Pulled mozzarella bobs in a subtly smoky tomato broth with a raft of grilled rosemary bread. Blobs of fresh, melting mozzarella come skewered and grilled, lavished with a slick of anchovy butter. Slabs of snowy mozzarella alternate with deep red piquillo peppers for something with a touch of Spain.

I’m partial to the ricotta with braised artichoke hearts, pine nuts and currants.

Nothing is more than $10, and the wines by the glass that night are all Italian and all $8.

The mood is flexible and relaxed on Mondays. You can stop in at Jar for a snack with a couple of glasses of wine or start with the mozzarella menu and move on to a serious dinner in the main dining room. Silverton’s posse of friends stays for the evening but usually leaves a handful of seats free at the bar. Otherwise, you should be able to nab a table in the newly reconfigured bar.

Check it out. And check out Jar’s new sophisticated -- and much warmer -- look.

S. Irene Virbila can be reached at [email protected].