LAist: Cheese is the New Wine

Elise Thompson

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:02:46 -0800

My one place for Velveeta: Mac and cheese. You can only taste the sharp cheddar in the finished dish, but I mix 1/4 stick of butter, 3 oz. of cream cheese and 3oz. of Velveeta into the hot noodles before I layer them with sharp cheddar. In Silver Lake, the cheese shop attached to Alcove is good for such a small one. I bought the baguette to go with these cheeses at Le Pain Quotidien. Too bad I didn't have the tip on the mustard yet. Next time.

Zach Behrens

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:24:34 -0800

Speaking of good mustards, I think the best I've had is from Le pain Quotidien.

thunderboltfan

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:00:08 -0800

I've never been to the cheese shop in Beverly Hills but I'm told it comes closest to a NYC-style cheese shop, which is a good standard to aspire to. But, as powerful as my mania is for cheese, I can't accommodate the parking rigamarol anywhere west of Vermont these days. These days my mania is directed at Machos Tacos in Los Feliz which involves a bicycle to get there. As for the two cheese shops near me in Silver Lake (one on Sunset Junction and the other next to Trader Joe's on Hyperion,) I found them to be disappointing because of the meager selection compared to say, Murray's or Fairway in NYC. My reaction the first time I walked onto each of them was, "This is it?! Where's all the cheese?." But that was a couple years ago, not too long after I moved to LA. From the sound of this post it seems things may have blossomed. Maybe it's time I check them out again.

Lindsay William-Ross

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 11:01:41 -0800

i love love love cheese... but am a little wary of cheese shops for the reasons you've so hilariously relayed in your post. my favorite is Humbolt Fog, and the best i've had came from the Cowgirl Creamery in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. locally i've always liked getting cheeses from Monsieur Marcel's--the french market inside the Farmer's Market. i would, however, love to take a cheese tasting class. any cheese shop proprietors who run tastings out there who'd like a write up on LAist, give me a holler! :)

Ali Miller

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:11:04 -0800

D'affinois (i think its a triple cream brie) is by far my favorite, and they usually sell it at whole foods. If we're getting pretentious, L'epoisse is the strongest that I know of...Good god am I hungry. One of the more interesting shops I've seen is in the valley at Laurel Canyon and Ventura. They opened it up right next to a weed dispensary. Behold the power of the high-class munchie =)

Keyframegirl

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 09:53:08 -0800

I too have been spoiled by a cheese shop that makes cheese down-to-earth. The Artisan Cheese Gallery is a family run joint, where they want you to taste new things and let you try a little bit of everything before you decide. I think these new shops are trying to bring us a slice of Italy or France and return us to and era of costumer service that only our parents remember. And then....Beverly Hills once again ruins it all.

wskrz

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:21:27 -0800

Velveeta has it's place alright - on a high shelf, behind the forgotten jar of pickles. Because cheese -- oh, sorry, "process cheese food spread" -- that can be kept almost indefinitely at room temperature is just bizarre. My favorite cheese - anything that smells like stinky socks. That's what I ask for when I'm looking for cheese recommendations at the cheese counter. The stinkier, the better. Usually.