Formaggio Kitchen

Late Saturday afternoons usually call for a delicious snack of some kind. My roommate and I generally like to reward ourselves with treats after we jog around Fresh Pond, and today was no exception.

The Formaggio Kitchen is owned by Ihsan and Valerie Gurdal. Ihsan, from Istanbul, manages the Cambridge location, while Valerie runs the South End location. The Cambridge store is the original, however, and also boasts the country’s first installation of underground cheese caves that maintain their enormous variety of fromage at the ideal temperature and humidity levels.

The shop is a handy 15-minute walk from my house. As we approached the storefront we could see a line of people standing out front. Saturdays feature an outdoor barbeque during the summer months. Two store employees—today it was Vinnie and Tripp—work a grill and keep the food coming as the long as there’s a line, or until 2:30.
Once inside, we were overwhelmed by our options, as usual. Craft beer or flavored sparkling water? Mangoes or champagne grapes? Chevre or Comte? The options are endless, for the Formaggio shelves are literally packed with anything you could ever want in a specialty produce/grocery/cheese/wine/bakery/and meat shop. Local and international sources provide honey, cheese, olive oil, pasta, teas, chocolate, coffee, sweet breads, jams, pickles…you name it, it’s likely that they have it. An added bonus is the sprinkling of free cheese and pastry samples scattered throughout the store, and on top of all this sensory stimuli, they were offering tastings of a wine and cheese pairing on one side of the store.

I’ll be honest about the prices: they are steep. But, given the international, sustainable, and small-scale production qualities of many of their products, this comes as no surprise. I wind up with a pint of pasta from the deli counter (oh yes, they also have freshly made salads, sandwiches, and various side dishes) with pea tendrils and summer squash, a fresh apricot, and a Boylan's orange seltzer. Tony opted for some roasted fingerling potatoes and a sundried tomato bulgur wheat concoction.

Outdoor seating is limited (to about 4 or 5 small tables, all of which were full), so we parked it right on the curb and ate with glee. I highly recommend this place to anyone even remotely in specialty foods—especially beer and cheese. They have a phenomenal selection (you can try any of the cheeses if you just ask), and enough craft beer to keep even the biggest beer snobs happy—try Pretty Things’ Jack D’or from local Cambridge brewers Dann and Martha Paquette and tell me you’re not satisfied.

Formaggio Kitchen
244 Huron Ave., Cambridge, MA
617-354-4750
Monday - Friday: 9 am - 7 pm

Saturday: 9 am - 6 pm

Sunday: 10 am - 4 pm