Formaggio’s Kitchen | Tim Bucciarelli Tell Us about Formaggio's Kitchen? The shop opened at its Huron Avenue location in 1978. Ihsan Gurdal came to the shop in the mid 1980s and built the store into what it is today: a vibrant specialty food store with a focus on artisan products from Europe and around the globe. We are best known for our world-class selection of cheese. We have developed this unique selection from the farms in the U.S. and abroad. Many of these cheeses are sold exclusively in our stores. In 1992 we built the first retail cheese cave in the U.S. Julia Child, a long time customer, was among the guests at our cave opening. All of our products are handpicked for the qualities we look for including exceptional taste characteristics, expression of tradition and terroir and ideally sustainable production practices. Over the years we have developed an international reputation for the quality of our products and our personal service and yet we will remain very much a local establishment. Why Cheese? Cheese has always been a love of Ihsan's and he has shared that love with both staff and customers. Cheese itself is a complex product from its origins in the pasture to the final cut that you take home for dinner. Cheese has always held our attention in all of its diverse forms, flavors, textures and aromas as no two wheels are the same and characteristics change with the seasons. These days, it has also become seen as natural way to help support the small farms that might otherwise disappear to development. On a more practical level, when the shop opened, it was modeled after European shops of the time where you could come in and buy a small selection of exquisite products. Cheese has always been a staple of the European diet and as we taught our customers about the wonders of artisan cheese, they came to us looking for more unique and interesting varieties. This dynamic has helped built our cheese program into one of the best in the country. What are the do's and don'ts of a superb cheese plate? 1. Don't over do it - buy enough cheese to enjoy, without overwhelming your palate. We recommend 3 - 4 cheeses about ½ - 1 ounce per cheese per person. 2. Buy a selection that offers some diversity of milk type, texture and flavor. We suggest a goat milk cheese, sheep milk cheese, cow milk cheese and a blue cheese of any milk type. 3. If the setting allows, eat the cheeses in order from mildest in flavor to strongest - this preserves your palate as the flavors get progressively stronger. 4. We always encourage folks to include some nice condiments that pair beautifully with cheese - perhaps a spoonful of honey, a slice of membrillo and some unsalted toasted walnuts. 5. Don't eat cold cheese! Let your cheese come to "room temperature" (65 degrees is a good target) before you start eating it this will allow the aroma and flavor of the cheese to be more fully expressed. What is the number one mistake consumers make when purchasing [SPECIALTY] cheese? Outside of our store, the number one mistake is buying a specialty cheese that has been sitting on a supermarket shelf wrapped in plastic wrap for days or weeks. Inside our store, the number one mistake is being afraid to ask questions and get a taste of a cheese before buying it. Anything special coming up? Events? New menu? We are constantly bringing in new cheeses. Last year we brought in the most amazing Swiss cheeses we've ever tasted. This year we are doing the same with German and Austrian cheeses. These are countries that produce lots of exceptional cheeses but they have not found a market in the U.S. We're doing our best to change that. We are also building on our selection of organic and biodynamic products especially in our wines. We have also recently re-launched our website offering delivery of our products throughout the country. Where does the inspiration come from? Plain and simple: love of food and appreciation of its connection to community. What is it about Cambridge that Makes Formaggio's Kitchen such a great fit? A lot of what makes it work are the intangibles of what makes Cambridge work on its own: appreciation of diversity and an interest in preserving and building on the roots of the community. Our Cambridge customers have always had an appreciation for the European model of shopping where you buy what you need on a regular basis at many small independently owned stores in the community. We have always been a local shop where many of the folks who work with us live in Cambridge and personally connect to our customers. As development and consolidation has continued to erode one's ability to do this, stores like our have become even more essential to the community. Having been in the same location for about 30 years now, we feel that we have grown to be what we are in large part because of the support of the Cambridge community. Every Year Formaggio's is the first stop for Taste of Cambridge patrons. How do you account for your popularity? We love what we do and we communicate this clearly to our customers every time they visit our stores. Our customers get this, they appreciate it and they tell their friends. Return to Vendors Page
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