Walk into the Miami Cheese Shop through an unassuming door from an alleyway between two luxury high-rise condos overlooking Biscayne Bay. It’s quiet inside, yet with a warm and welcoming feel. The tempting wares and tasting room are directly inside, as is a cheesemonger eager and excited to chat about cheese.
There’s a cheese-centric flavor everywhere, from cheese grater pendant lights to cheese grater flower vases on the tables. Cold storage in this cozy space is limited, so every cheese here is remarkable. What’s more, the selection rotates weekly.
“Think ‘small but mighty,’” says Courtney Khoshafian, who opened her shop in Miami’s upscale residential neighborhood of Edgewater in February 2024. Last year, WalletHub named Miami the “Best Foodie City” in America thanks to its culinary offerings, including fine cheeses once unavailable in the city.
CHEESE BECOMES A CALLING
This isn’t Khoshafian’s first fromagerie or self-started company. Born and raised in the Los Angeles County town of La Canada, CA, Khoshafian moved to the Bay Area with her husband after earning a Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. While in San Francisco, she ran a community and events startup accelerator.
“While advising startups and guiding them to follow their dreams and passions, I decided to take my own advice,” she says. “I started studying cheese online and took classes at the Cheese School of San Francisco. I went to every industry event and learned as much as possible, then buckled down, made a business plan and opened the LC Cheese Shop in Los Angeles in 2019.”
Khoshafian moved to Miami with her husband in 2021 with a vision to open an East Coast cheese shop. Her plans were put on hold for a few years when, at 32, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Once healthy, she moved ahead on opening The Miami Cheese Shop.
“My vision for the Miami Cheese Shop was to bring unique cheeses to the city and be a destination for people in the community to learn about cheese.”
— Courtney Khoshafian
“I have dedicated the last seven years of my life to all things cheese, from cheese courses at Stanford, The Cheese School of San Francisco, Cheese State University in Wisconsin, and the London Academy of Cheese, to traveling and meeting the cheesemakers, their families, and animals. So, my vision for the Miami Cheese Shop was to bring unique cheeses to the city and be a destination for people in the community to learn about cheese.”
TAKE A TOUR OF THE STORE
When customers walk into the Miami Cheese Shop, one of the first sights to the right is a selection of curated products that complement the cheeses for sale. There’s honey, jam, crackers, chocolate, pickles, olives, and many other gourmet groceries, as well as a selection of zero-proof spirits and alcohol-removed wines.
Also on the right, and behind the complementary products, is the main attraction: the cheese case. Among the best-sellers, Khoshafian says, are raw milk cheddars made at Plymouth Artisan Cheese in Plymouth, VT. The famous producer was founded in 1890 by John Coolidge Sr., father of the 30th president of the U.S., Calvin.
The selection at the Miami Cheese Shop includes the Original Plymouth Cheddar, a full-bodied cheese aged for a year that tastes like a walk back in time, and Hunter Cheddar, a two-year aged cheese that’s among the sharpest in the shop.
More contemporary flavors include Garlic Peppercorn, Sage and Herb, and Black Truffle Cheddars. There’s also a spicier Tex Mex-style Hot Pepper Cheddar and Sambal Cheddar, the latter flavored with a chile-garlic-tamarind-and-shrimp paste Indonesian-style chile sauce.
Some of the Miami Cheese Shop’s newest cheeses are from Goot Essa, an Amish six-family cooperative in Howard, PA, says Khoshafian. “Their cheeses are high quality and very unique. A specific family makes each type. They make cow, goat, and sheep milk cheeses in various styles. We love the Garden Pepper Raw Milk Cheddar, a farmstead washed curd cheese, and their Alt Medisher, a raw milk, hard-style goat’s milk cheese similar to Gouda. It’s so good!”
Khoshafian adds, “We are the only shop in Florida that carries Goot Essa cheeses and the Koch line from Switzerland. Of the latter, the two we sell the most of are the Lavandula, which is a raw milk Alpine style dusted in lavender, and their 8 Blumen, which is a smaller scale, raw milk version of alp blossom made by a husband and wife cheesemaking team.”
The Miami Cheese Shop also imports several unique French and Spanish cheeses not found at other shops in the area.
Family, history, and tradition are the three words that guide Khoshafian in searching for select cheeses to stock at the Miami Cheese Shop.
“My husband and I were both in the tech/startup space when we moved to Marin County for work in 2017. Once there, I began exploring the local creameries and farms on the weekends. I spent time at Tomales Farmstead Creamery, Marin French Cheese, Cowgirl Creamery, Point Reyes Farmstead Creamery, Nicasio Valley Creamery, Cypress Grove and more. That sparked my passion for cheese.”
She says from there, she competed in the San Francisco Cheesemonger Invitational in 2019, where she met worldwide cheesemakers. “Those are always my favorite part of the competition because we get one-on-one time with some of the world’s best cheesemakers from the U.S., Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, and more. I have competed multiple times, and the years I don’t compete, I still attend to reconnect with all the cheesemakers.”
Across from the cheese case is the tasting room. However, Khoshafian’s favorite part of the shop is not something customers typically see unless they walk to the restroom. It’s a bookcase in the hallway with about 100 cheese books.
OMAQUESO CHEESE CLASSES
The Miami Cheese Shop offers every cheese style and milk type, meaning there’s something for everyone, Khoshafian says. “Our family-style marble tables hold up to 16 people. We think 12 to 16 is perfect for our hands-on OmaQueso tasting classes.
OmaQueso is a play on the Japanese term, Omakase. This translates to a highly curated cheese-tasting experience where the cheesemonger presents a specific assortment of global cheeses based on what’s at its best quality and seasonal availability.
“We keep our classes small so everyone can ask questions and get involved. We discuss the basics, like the history of cheese, cheesemaking, cheese styles, and milk types, and then dig into each cheese individually. We want to give everyone the tools and confidence to learn about and enjoy cheese,” she says.
CHEESE ON LAND & SEA
Khoshafian also operates a cheese-centric catering company. It offers the one-of-a-kind marriage of her skills at sourcing spectacular cheeses not readily available in Miami and placing them at the heart of a menu. The company operates out of a separate licensed prep kitchen and cold storage facility across town since its residential shop and tasting room can’t accommodate the prep/storage on a catering scale.
“From cheese and charcuterie grazing tables to cheese-focused hot appetizers, chef stations, and cheese wheel cakes, we offer a selection that caters to all events. We can host up to 20 in our shop or come to where the customer requests. We have even done a lot of catering on yachts, especially for sunset cruises.”
Fine cheese served on the high seas is definitely one of the best-of-both-worlds experiences in Miami.
