Cheese that is stinky, smooshy, runny, crumbly, and wonderful. Nothing beats an exquisite cheese dish for treating your visitors to something unique. From San Francisco to Boston, our writers have shopped for cheese—here are some of their favourite spots to pick up a wheel or a wedge.
P.S. Nora Singley’s Cheesemonger column is one of our favourite places to go for cheese guidance. She knows what she’s talking about, having worked at New York’s legendary Murray’s Cheese Shop (which is also on our list of the finest cheesemongers). Visit her column for tips on what to purchase and how to shop.
Saxelby Cheesemongers (Manhattan): It operates from a small stand on the Lower East Side’s Essex Street Market. Anne Saxelby, a Murray’s Cheese graduate, is the cheerful proprietor. She mostly offers farmstead cheese, many of which are from New York State, as well as crème fraîche and butter.
Whole Foods Fromagerie (Manhattan/Various Locations): The Fromagerie caters to cheese connoisseurs. We left having spent far more and having enjoyed ourselves significantly more than we had expected.
Stinky (Brooklyn): Stinky Bklyn has a very pleasant ambiance and sells charcuterie, oils, sauces, chocolates, and cheese. The personnel was competent and willing to assist, and the unique approach to grading, with each cheese given a “nose” grade to assess its stinkiness, was amusing.
Formaggio Kitchen (Online/Boston): When you ask a salesman for help selecting cheese, “Goat, cow, or sheep?” is only the beginning. With perfect honesty, you’re just as likely to be questioned, “Stinking like a sock or stinky like a barn?” These folks are intelligent, and they will undoubtedly locate the exact cheese you never realised you need.
Cowgirl Creamery (Washington, DC): Cheese was in short supply in our nation’s capital. According to Steve B. on Yelp.com, Cowgirl Creamery launched a store in Washington, DC “just in time to save us from the empty hole that was DC’s cheese scene.”
Chicago’s Fox & Obel: Fox & Obel is a full-service gourmet grocery store in Chicago’s Near North Side featuring a well-stocked cheese department. Prices are more than at a grocery store, but the store is a good resource for hard-to-find niche items.
Provenance Food & Wine (Chicago): This grocery and wine business focuses on eating and drinking properly every day. What more do you need than reasonably priced wines (most are between $10 and $25), Red Hen bread, gourmet cheeses, and beautiful chocolates?
Cheese Plus (San Francisco): They provide a great assortment of local products. The staff was kind and knowledgeable about the cheeses. We loved the Petit Basque and the Chevre Raclette that were advised to pair with our salumi. We were even given tastings without being asked. That’s a wonderful touch.
Market Hall Foods (Oakland/Online): While we try to source the majority of our food locally, Market Hall Foods is fantastic for those hard-to-find products that can transform a dish or dinner into something truly unique and memorable. Their online cheese assortment includes Parmigiano Reggiano from Emilia Romagna and Ossau Iraty from the French Pyrenees.
Artisan Cheese Gallery (Los Angeles): The Artisan Cheese Gallery in Studio City, founded by a former lawyer and her parents, is a cheerful and charming destination for anyone with more than a passing interest in cheese.
So, what kind of cheese are you looking to taste?? Hope this article might have helped you explore the different cheeses all over the world.
The authored article is written by Darshana Joshi and shared with Prittle Prattle News exclusively.
