Cheese Snobs, Unite!

164 Bridge Street
Phoenixville, PA 19460

He Said:

Tucked into a small, unassuming shop front, marked with a cheery yellow sign that says Cheese!, in the newly refurbed Phoenixville, PA, is a wonderful little cheese shop that I believe everyone within driving distance should try to get to on a fairly regular basis. This is Ramondo’s Cheese! and is a place that has quickly become one of our favorite spots to shop. Inside you’ll find a room about the size, maybe smaller, of a local deli with a selection of about 50 or so European and American artisan cheeses along with various jams, jellies, crackers, chocolates and a hodgepodge of other small sundries. The owner, Michael, is very often in attendance but if he’s not there, there are cheese helpers aplenty to help you out with all of your cheese needs. Oh sure, you can get some pretty great cheeses a lot of places, even some super-mega grocery stores have gotten into the act. What they are missing, however, is the personal touch, the vast knowledge and, to be sure, the ambiance of shopping a small local cheese shop.

I stopped in the other day to see if they had a particular French Cheese that I had read about in a cheese book that we have at home (forgive me for forgetting the names of the cheeses right now but I am old and my mind is feeble). To my disappointment he did not. What he did have, however, was the knowledge to recommend several other cheeses that were similar in taste, texture and style. Fabulous! Try and get that at your local Acme. And there’s no need to guess about any of the cheeses. Any cheese that you are interested in is available for tasting. That’s the funnest part!

My only criticism of Cheese! is the shop size. Because of their growing popularity, the shop seems to be getting more and more business all the time and once you’ve got five or six people in there it gets pretty crowded. Sometimes, Michael, size does matter. In this case, a little bigger would be a lot better.

So if you’d like to expand your cheese knowledge and experience something beyond your standard Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar (not that there’s anything wrong with that) then I think you owe it to yourself to stop in at Ramondo’s Cheese! shop. Try the St. Andre. Trust me, it’s to die for.

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She Said:

Mmmm, cheese! I totally adore this cheese shop - so much so that I even took a self-portrait standing under the sign! What I like the most about it is the knowledge that Michael and the other staff bring to this wonderful stinky world. If we walk in and tell Michael we're having a big bold old vines zinfandel with friends, he'll come up with the perfect match. If we tell him we're going to a bonfire in the cold, he'll come up with just the right thing to bring along. Seriously - it's tried and true!

I love the selection of accompaniments, too. There's always something new and interesting on the shelves. And don't forget to check in the chiller - you're sure to be delighted!