Cheese Quest

May 25, 2006 8:21 AM

Seeking advise for a Los Angeles cheese tour.

My wife and I are going to Los Angeles for the coming three day weekend. One of the items on the itinerary is a tour of all the cheese shops in the area. But I've only been there a few times, and my knowledge of the LA "cheese scene" is limited to what I've found online. The items I've found are -

Cheese Store of Silver Lake
Cheese Store of Beverly Hills
Artisan Cheese Gallery
Monsieur Marcel
Say Cheese
La Brea Bakery
Whole Foods

Are there some I've missed? Any of these places closed? Any farmers markets over the weekend I should check out? Other cheese related destinations in the city? Also, which Whole Foods is best for cheese?

Another concern is that I'm most interested in American artisanal and British farmhouse cheeses, and a bit "off" French cheese these days. But some of the comments I've read indicate some of these places can be rather dismissive of folks who think real cheese comes from places other than France. How much will I get laughed at for going into Cheese Store BH and asking for some fine Shropshire Blue?

Any advice or tips for an LA cheese tour welcomed. Thanks in advance.

posted by MrCheese!!! to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

I live in LA and I love love love cheese, but am not particularly knowledgable. I just like to eat it.

I have been the the BH cheese store as well as the one in Silverlake, and they were fairly decent to me.

I live on the westside in Venice and usually buy my cheeses at:

Stroh's Gourmet
1239 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291

Market Gourmet
1800 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291

I can tell you that they have smallish-but-high-quality selections at both places, are knowledgable and super-friendly and happy to chat it up. Plus they're both blocks from the beach.

When you got to the Market Gourmet consider having breakfast at the French Market across the street, and consider hitting Stroh's around lunchtime, as their sammiches are awesome.

I would love to hear your recs after the visit, and please feel free to email me if you would like any more info about the area.
posted by gregariousrecluse at 9:54 AM on May 25, 2006

Skip Say Cheese. Beverly Hills Cheese Shop is very good (ask for Raffi) and Silverlake is quite good also. You might try the Larchmont Wine & Cheese Shop; they're more on the wine side of things, but have excellent sandwiches.
posted by spacewrench at 10:17 AM on May 25, 2006

There's (excellent) raw dairy to be had at the Hollywood Farmers Market on Sunday, including cheese.
posted by scody at 12:33 PM on May 25, 2006

Response by poster: Follow up - A write-up on our visit (self-link warning)

We only got to about helf the places I had panned. Mainly because we found too many cheeses we wanted to buy. LA has a much better cheese scene than San Doego.
posted by MrCheese!!! at 9:44 AM on May 30, 2006