PROFILE
Beecher's Handmade Cheese presents an awe-inspiring selection of domestic cheeses—many local or made by the company—as well as 100 SKUs of specialty foods that partner well with artisanal cheese.
Flatiron Cheesemakers
This New York City evolution of a famous Seattle specialty food market offers up a fully functioning creamery, a bustling cheese counter, a quick
and easy café and a swank restaurant. And Beecher's Handmade Cheese's ambitious goals don't stop with the new shop in the Big Apple.
BY EVA MESZAROS N
ew York City is rife with high-end cheeses and specialty offerings. Rare varieties and cave-like aging rooms are par for the course at cheese shops around the city. But only at Beecher's Handmade Cheese, in Manhattan's Flatiron District, can visitors observe the cheesemaking process, taste the fresh curds and purchase the final product all under one roof. The presence of an open-vat creamery, encased within sunlit glass walls, is a fitting introduction to this ambitious business. "Everything
that we do tries to get people to think about the provenance of their food," says Kurt Beecher Dammeier, founder of the market and café, which originated in Seattle, where Dammeier runs the market along with several other food businesses including Bennett's, a natural-foods bistro, a deli called Pasta & Co and a roving food truck—shaped like a pig with moving mechanical parts—named Maximus Minimus, serving sandwiches. "Our stated company mission is to change the way America eats."
34 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com
PHOTOS: REBECCA MCALPIN