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Cheese Shop
updated: Sep 01, 2012, 9:26 PM

I really miss The Cheese Shop that was in Paseo Nuevo. They had the best & most extensive selection of gourmet & special order cheeses of anyplace I've ever been. Can anyone suggest a place in Santa Barbara that might be considered a worthy successor?

Places People Are Talking About:

C'est Cheese

Lazy Acres

What People Are Saying:

COMMENT 315087P	2012-09-01 10:43 PM
C'est Cheese is the best.
COMMENT 315099P	2012-09-02 06:18 AM
Try the "Cheese Lover's Limited" on Sun.Nov. 4th. An extensive tasting of a dozen Old and New World artisan cheeses. Entertaining and inspriring for those who'd like a new twist on spending a fun Sunday with thier pals. Bring a favorite vintage to enjoy along the way. Cheeses from C'est Cheese, of course! Information: http://store.goletadepot.org
COMMENT 315109	2012-09-02 07:35 AM
Lazy Acres has quite a few cheeses and tuffle butter too.
COMMENT 315114	2012-09-02 07:45 AM
Trader Joes has almost the same brands & selection as those high-end cheese shops. AND for a fraction of the cost.
COMMENT 315129	2012-09-02 08:35 AM
Hear, hear. I second the Goleta Train Depot special vintage train car- Cheese Lover's Limited. This day-trip to SLO and back featuring cheese tasting and cheese making while covering some gorgeous coastal scenery is a hoot. Don't miss out.
COMMENT 315145	2012-09-02 08:57 AM
Too bad Brink's in La Cumbre Plaza no longer exists!
COMMENT 315155	2012-09-02 09:15 AM
Can't believe no one's mentioned C'est Cheese on Santa Barbara Street between Canon Perdido and De La Guerra. Great selection. Nice folks.
D8VANILLA	2012-09-02 09:43 AM
There's a nice cheese shop on 800 blk of Santa Barbara Street. Close to Canon Perdido St.
COMMENT 315169	2012-09-02 09:50 AM
Definitely C'est Cheese!
REXOFSB	2012-09-02 09:51 AM
There's a cheeze shop on Santa Barbara Street near Canon Perdido. I think it's called Coupe le Fromage or something.
MTNDRIVER	2012-09-02 09:52 AM
C'est Cheese, Lazy Acres, Whole Foods, good but all expensive. Costco if you can use large hunks. Trader Joe's of course, not the same selection as C'est Cheese, etc, but for sure the prices are right.
COMMENT 315177	2012-09-02 10:02 AM
C'est Cheese will soon be taking over the two adjacent spaces in the building now occupied by Thrasher books and Our Daily Bread.
COMMENT 315179	2012-09-02 10:09 AM
Yeah, great people those C'est Cheese folks. Forced the permanent closure of one business and forced Our Daily Bread who had been in their location for 30+ years to spend $300k to move. Wonderful community members the Graham's!
COMMENT 315188	2012-09-02 10:20 AM
You know, everyone who is saying C'est Cheese is probably right. They do have a great selection. When they first opened, I went in looking for a cheese I'd recently had in my travels to the UK and the guy who was helping me was incredibly condescending and rude that I just never went back. I got the feeling some cheeses were "beneath him" and the whole thing seemed so incredibly silly to me that I couldn't see going back. Whole Foods also has a good cheese section.
COMMENT 315200	2012-09-02 10:58 AM
I miss the wine and cheese shop on east valley. It was the place to pick up sandwiches before the hike. Just like the Monterey sandwiches up at cielo store.
COMMENT 315250P	2012-09-02 12:53 PM
Well, C'est Cheese has good stuff and may expand, but because of their messing with Our Daily Bread, nary a foot will I put into their shop ever again! C'est true??
COMMENT 315261	2012-09-02 01:25 PM
What are the facts behind Our Daily Bread moving? What are the facts causing some people to blame the owners of C'est Cheese?
COMMENT 315266	2012-09-02 02:00 PM
If a cheese shop can force out two businesses because more people want to eat more cheese, I say America has finally come to its senses. Bravo, or is it Vive La Fromage. Goodness, I love cheese.
COMMENT 315267	2012-09-02 02:01 PM
Yes, someone please enlighten us as to the facts of the C'est Cheese expansion. I don't know, but the owners seem like very nice people, and the book store is part of a rapidly dying industry, and Our Daily Bread's owner has in the past not exactly been easy to get along with. I can imagine that the landlord may have been tired of ODB as a tenant and may have jumped at the chance to replace two other businesses with a known commodity. This is mostly speculation on my part--who will add some facts?
ESL TEACHER	2012-09-02 02:52 PM
Our Daily Bread donates a lot of of bread to Food From the Heart, so I know the owners are community-minded.
COMMENT 315297	2012-09-02 03:07 PM
State law prevents bakeries from selling old products. Not sure giving it to a charity ranks as community-minded. Nice, but more convenient than charitable because they have to get rid of it anyway.
COMMENT 315304	2012-09-02 03:22 PM
Yes, I've seen the facts about businesses leaving get distorted on edhat before. Who does have the legit story about ODB? If the C'est Cheese folks don't own the building, then they aren't the ones forcing ODB out! (I remember when everyone thought that the Greek Italian Deli was being forced out of it's location by greedy building owners - but, guess what - the building owners were one and the same as the Italian Greek Deli owners who realized they could make more money leasing to a Verizon store, than slogging away in a deli all day themselves. So, if you don't know the story and are just speculating about it, then keep it to yourselves, or at least off edhat).
COMMENT 315316P	2012-09-02 03:54 PM
C'est Cheese is a fantastic speciality store that is locally owned and employs more than a dozen locals. They have a fantastic selection of cheeses and a very knowledgable staff who are happy to let you taste anything. They are also always looking to improve, so if you have any concerns or complaints, I know the owners want to hear about them. Call them or the manager or send them an email. C'est Cheese does not own their current space or that of Thrasher Books or Our Daily Bread. The person who owns all three properties/spaces offered to lease the bookstore and ODB spaces when their leases expired. C'est Cheese accepted the offer and will begin expansion, including building a new cafe, after the first of the year.
FROGGY3	2012-09-02 06:24 PM
Bravo for what sounds like reputable info about C'est Cheese. I never believed they were trying to "force out" anyone. If for some reason you have a problem buying there, try going to Metropoulos Fine Foods, they have lots of fine cheeses. They are located on Yanonali at SB Street.
COMMENT 315360	2012-09-02 06:41 PM
Trader Joes has one of the best Roquefort (imported from France) cheeses I have ever tasted, and I grew up in New York, with a European-born father, who shopped the highest-end gourmet shops there, back in the 1950's when we were still able to get the best international goods at low prices. TJ's offers many of the same products you would spend two-to-three times as much for in the so-called gourmet cheese shops. That is one of the reasons there is always a parking problem at TJ's.
COMMENT 315366P	2012-09-02 07:01 PM
Heck - I am just chillin til my figs are ripe enough to marry them with a fine blue chesse on a beautiful plate with my compadres-IF the eyes are rolled back in the head after consumption - you gotta know it was FINE!!! My palate needs this annual late summer fix.
COMMENT 315420P	2012-09-02 11:07 PM
297 - Can that be correct about state law and selling old bread? Lazy Acres sells old bakeries - and Tri-County Produce also does when there are rolls, bakery products left over.
ZEUSTHEGOOSE	2012-09-03 10:57 AM
does anyone know where to get to get Mt. Tam by Cowgirl Creamery or Humboldt Fog by Cypress Grove Chevre? I miss these California cheeses that were easily acquired at them any cheese shop while living in Berkeley.
EDHATBARBARA	2012-09-03 11:18 AM
C'est Cheese has Humboldt Fog and Mt. Tam; there was another thread here recently about the cinnamon bun shop that devolved into a discussion about ODB moving and which explained that C'est Cheese's owners didn't have anything to do with it!
COMMENT 315898	2012-09-04 09:54 AM
C'est Cheese: Hello Mr Landlord, we'd like to expand and are going to move unless you can accommodate our desires. Landlord: No Problem C'est Cheese, I'll kick both Thrasher and Our Daily Bread out of their spaces.. C'est Cheese: Thank you! Result -- one business is forced into oblivion and another will be in debt for years due to expensive relocation costs. Had C'est Cheese simply moved, they would have spent the same amount of $ their expansion will cost -- except they wouldn't, of course, be burying three families in a mountain of debt and uncertainty. Great people those Graham's! I understand the landlord had something to do with it as well, but in reality, the responsibility lies with the C'est Cheese owners!
COMMENT 315914	2012-09-04 10:53 AM
The facts about the C'est Cheese taking over Daily Bread space are that the building owners (who are NOT the Grahams of C'est Cheese) had been telling Daily Bread for a few years that they needed to find a new location. Once their lease was up, they made good on that promise since they were not great tenants for the building. As a side note, C'est Cheese uses Daily Bread for their sandwich breads. So what does that tell you? And yes, C'est Cheese is an awesome local shop that we are fortunate to have in our community!
COMMENT 315948	2012-09-04 11:46 AM
C'est Cheese no longer uses Our Daily Bread for their sandwich breads. What does THAT tell you? Our Daily Bread has been in that location for over 30 years and now the landlord has decided they're not a good fit? I have a bridge to sell you......
COMMENT 316284	2012-09-05 08:31 AM
Apparently the landlord decided several years ago ODB was not a good fit and so notified ODB it would not have its lease renewed and they should start looking elsewhere. Incompatibility of ODB working hours starting very early in the morning and the surrounding residential units has been mentioned. Bakers have to start very early in the wee small hours to get their product mixed and rising so it can be sold first thing in the morning. This is a given in the industry. Best they locate where these activities do not disturb sleeping residential neighbors like all those apartments that surround ODB, and the old Mimosa site will be perfect. Sounds perfectly legitimate to me. Not sure why posters want to find blame and demonize C'est Cheese, when this was a long-time decision in the works and ODB knew all about it. Bad PR for ODB playing victim if you ask me.
COMMENT 316302	2012-09-05 08:53 AM
Our Daily Bread has been in the same location 30 plus years with the same landlord, so this abject BS about a decision being made "several years ago" is laughable. Are you just making this stuff up as you go? Guess what, 30 plus years ago when Our Daily Bread moved into that location, the apartments were there too! And listen, I don't care if you think this is just business as usual, because you're probably right. But it isn't very neighborly and karma is a beeaotch. C'est Cheese and their expansion plans should have moved elsewhere when they discovered they would be supplanting two viable businesses that didn't want to leave. But did they? No. They held all the keys in this situation and they made the "final" decision to screw Thrasher and Our Daily Bread. Wouldn't surprise me if the landlord and C'est Cheese had eyes on Our Daily Bread's successful retail business. Guarantee C'est Cheese will be open at 6 am selling coffee and pastries now!