OTHER CITIES: 
The Best Cheese Shops in Toronto
- Posted by Catherine
- Filed in Best of Toronto
- July 30, 2008
When you ask a cheese lover what it is they like about it, often the response is not so much words as it is a low gurgle of pleasure at the back of the throat.
But you can't force cheese love. You shouldn't startle a strictly cheddar eater with a Stilton or Roquefort. Though you might introduce them to a Cambazola or Saint Agur. To people just building their cheese palate, it can seem like an exercise in pain -- how much stink can you stand.
Until your senses are stretched in ways that make previously unpalatable scents and textures intoxicating. Similes become more flowery and favourable, replacing "smells like gym socks dipped in camel intestines" with "smells like seduction and a warm evening on the Champs-Élysées".
More so than other foods, cheese ensnares all the senses. It can take time to calibrate our sight and smell to cheese's more challenging properties. Some people will never understand why they'd want ash on their food, or overcome the edict that anything mouldy belongs in the trash. But a good cheesemonger (or fromagista) can conspire with you to build a selection of cheeses that will warm your heart and melt in your mouth.
À chacun son goût. May you find a goût to your liking in our list.
One special note about this list: Via our farmer's markets, we're lucky enough to have access to the fantastic cheeses of Monforte Dairy. That they're not included in the list below is only a question of category as they're not, strictly speaking, a shop.
But definitely pay them a visit wherever you find their stands. Their garlic scape cheddar is a win every time. It's no Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, but really, what is?
Global Cheese
When we were at school, a friend of mine and I would go to Global Cheese and buy an oversized wheel of brie. Nothing to put it on, nothing to go with it. Just a great big ol' round of brie. And then we'd split it in half, carve off great hunks and ate them. Drunk and giddy on the decadence of our purchase. Plus enthusiastic bylines ("when it comes to cheese... we speak your language!") crack me up. More...
The Cheese Boutique
You haven't even finished asking the question "where's the best place to buy cheese?" before a Torontonian shoots back with The Cheese Boutique!". You might get as far as "chee". And check it out, they have their own blog. Three "summery" cheeses featured in a recent post - L'Erimit (sheep's milk, a "smooth nutty flavour", Quebec); Vento D'estate (cow's milk, "notes of white wine and lavender", Italy); and Monte Enebro (goat's milk, "tangy, lingering, and complex goaty flavours", Spanish). More...
Olympic Cheese Mart
Open in the St Lawrence Market for 50 years this year, Olympic Cheese Mart also used to sell meat. But now they specialize in what comes out of the cow rather than the cow itself, selling a line of artisan Quebec cheeses, and 400 others from around the world. More...
International Cheese
You already see International Cheese in Toronto supermarkets (the Santa Lucia line), but you can also go back to the beginning and buy fresh at the retail store. 32 different cheese products, mostly Italian, including Burrini - a southern Italian specialty cheese, it's wrapped around a pat of sweet butter to be spread on the crusty bread it implies you'll have on hand. More...
Leslieville Cheese Market
Leslieville Cheese Market in the east end boasts that "everyone at Leslieville Cheese is a cheese expert". Check in with them in the fall about their cheese night school. Or try a Leslieville Cheese Board, 5 pieces of cheese totaling 1 kg. They even have a children's version, featuring a mix of mild cheeses ($35). (I guess you serve it with white grape juice.) More...
Thin Blue Line
The Thin Blue Line is fresh and local, just like Roncesvalles Village where they make their home. Cheeses are organized according to the animal they're squeezed out of - cow, sheep and goat. List includes Bluebry (half blue, half brie, all Quebecois), Bleu Benedictin, the famous Epoisse (still stinky, but, yes, pasteurized) and a chevre noir (a personal favourite). More...
Pasquale Bros
Pasquale Bros say "there is only one way to truly experience food - find a taste you love, and share it with the people you love." Finding a taste you love here shouldn't be too hard, with cheeses from 15 different countries. Their "miscellaneous" category that includes Finnish Lappi (on request), Argentinean Sardo, and Halloumi (special order). More...
Alex Farm Products
In a corner of the St Lawrence Market, as well as tantalizing cheese lovers with their eight other locations including Leaside and the Danforth. The "Adventure in Cheese" catchphrase on their website is even written in action-packed comic book lettering. I don't usually think of my cheese as an adventure of superhero proportions. But with 400 different cheeses on offer, and another 600 available on request, it could get a little daring. More...
La Fromagerie
La Fromagerie on College is just plain pretty. When new stores open up in Little Italy these days, they seem to know they need to step up to the style plate, and they open with character already in place. The emphasis in La Fromagerie's selection is on farmhouse, artisan cheeses, including raw-milk and unpasteurized options. More...
Cheese Magic
Cheese shops certainly do have magic -- like the magic of coffee shops that can stay open within doors of each other. Cheese Magic and Global Cheese in Kensington are just a stone's throw away from each other. Sample something from each, pick your allegiance and cheer for your champion in their duel for the cheese crown! (No, not really -- but who says no to a cheese sample?). More...
Cheese Emporium
The Cheese Emporium is where I convinced my shutter monkey friend that maybe, just maybe, there is hope for blue cheese. With a little help from the aforementioned Saint Agur, and the cheese mongers at the Cheese Emporium who are very free with the tasters. An extensive selection of other fine foods as well. One-stop fancy nibbles shopping. More...
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