Food November 2007 Atlantic Monthly

Cheese Whizzes

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Formaggio Kitchen, Cambridge, Massachusetts (www.formaggio-kitchen.com, 888-212-3224), is as notable for its Italian and French candies and oils as for its cheese.

Artisanal (www.artisanalcheese.com, 877-797-1200) brought affinage on a large scale to New York City after Terrance Brennan and Max McCalman made the cheese course at Picholine (where Brennan was—and remains—chef and owner and McCalman was maître d’) a city legend. Now they age and sell cheese for restaurants and mail-order customers all over the country.

Also see:

The Art of Aging Well

A cult destination in London has revolutionized cheesemaking, winning converts as far afield as Vermont.

Zingerman’s, Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.zingermans.com, 888-636-8162), is the national leader in educating apprentice cheese-lovers. Its co-owner, Ari Weinzweig, long ago formed a partnership with Neal’s Yard Dairy, in England, and still gets the best selection of the cheeses it ages (and often transforms through aging).

The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills (www.cheesestorebh.com, 800-547-1515) has become a Los Angeles favorite. It is prized for its discoveries of farmhouse cheeses in both Europe and America, and the care it takes in presenting and selling them.

The Cheese Board Collective (cheeseboardcollective.coop, 510-549-3183) is a Berkeley institution that predates even Chez Panisse, which is directly across the street. Its members are owners and are unusually generous in their enthusiasm for the cheeses they all help to select and age.