Cheese Shopper's Guide to NYC

[ahr]

Seeing as you're being candid here -- as well as informative and entertaining, which are only to be expected -- how about an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the major NYC cheese shops? Who's best at what, by type or region? Most frequently offers unusual (or supralegal) treats? Most likely to sell product that's at its peak? Offers the best bargains? Should be avoided like the plague?

Thanks.

[master cheesemonger/grocer]

Far be it from me to speak ill of my fellow cheesemonger. If I had the energy and the time I'd dish til the cows come home. But I don't so I won't. All of us smug New Yorkers have a splendid cheese operation or two in our purlieus. Some are better than others. I've got no right to criticize other counters because I pay very little attention to my own. Avanelle Rivera is the master cheesemonger at the Fairway on Broadway and in Harlem. Her husband Randy is also a remarkable cheese retailer, decidedly a master, and he runs the operation at the Fairway on Long Island (Plainview). I oversee their work and put my foot down now and again, but I do so much non-cheese work that I am no more than a dilettante these days, a master cheesemonger emeritus. Avanelle and Randy do all the cheese work. I'm an importer. I ferret out and import direct all the stuff that I think makes Fairway so much cooler than any other store that ever was. The stuff you can't get anywhere else. That takes up all my time. Murray's on Bleecker is great; Zabar's has a lot of good stuff. So do Grace's and Eli's and Ideal with Jimmy Coogan, a master cheesemonger of the first water. The issue is YOU must get to know the boss of your local operation. Make her/him work for you. Ask questions. Cajole. Coddle. Praise. Share food anecdotes. Handle. Hondle. Mold and shape your local operation into the kind of counters mine were throughout the late '70's, all of the '80's and half of the '90's. Now THOSE were cheese counters. Someone (me) just WAITING for you to show up so's I could thrill you or die trying. And hell, all those other counters? What a piece of cake. I fixed it so every cheese they could possibly want is available to them. All they have to do is stock them.

[ahr]

Far be it from me to speak ill of my fellow cheesemonger.  If I had the energy and the time I'd dish til the cows come home. But I don't so I won't.

Well, I just thought I'd give you the opportunity.

The issue is YOU must get to know the boss of your local operation.  Make her/him work for you.  Ask questions.  Cajole.  Coddle.  Praise.  Share food anecdotes.  Handle.  Hondle.  Mold and shape your local operation into the kind of counters mine were throughout the late '70's, all of the '80's and half of the '90's.  Now THOSE were cheese counters.  Someone (me) just WAITING for you to show up so's I could thrill you or die trying.

This is actually the best advice you could have offered, more important than recommendations regarding specific shops or cheeses. I had such a place for a couple of years, but the guy then moved up, on, and out. FWIW, though I haven't been around the city much the past year or so, I generally found Fairway (Broadway) too cramped and crowded for much schmoozing and sampling during the hours I could make it there.