About a year and a half ago, Pittsburgh was blessed with Chantal's, a high quality speciality cheese shop right on Penn Avenue in Bloomfield. They offer both local and international cheeses, as well as a variety of unique accoutrements. You'll feel like you've walked into a Parisian fromagerie. It's the perfect place to go when you're building a cheese board for your next soirée.
When I went in I had the pleasure of meeting one of the owners, Anaïs Saint-André. She was incredibly bubbly and willing to share her opinions on what we should buy. One of their cheesemongers was also incredibly knowledgeable about all of the different cheeses and what complemented what. Both of them made deciding what to buy a no-brainer!
The selection of cheeses at Chantal's is impressive. Local favorites abound like Goat Rodeo hootenanny, but they also offer international goods, like Valençay from central France. When you're at their shop, it's the perfect opportunity to try something new.
They also hand pull their own mozzarella with curds from Caputo Brothers. I bought and it was perfectly stretchy. It gave me a ridiculously gooey cheese pull on my cauliflower gnocchi.
It would take me forever to list all of the cheeses they have, but whatever your preference, they'll have it.
Cheese isn't all Chantal's offers! They have an abundance of accoutrements from your traditional (honey comb) to the inventive (cherry chai jam). They offer a variety of nuts, charcuterie, and crackers. They even have baguettes from La Gourmandine, everyone's favorite French bakery. I easily could have spent over an hour looking at all of the tasty accompaniments they sell. My favorites were Mike's Hot Honey, balsamic pearls, and Firehook's sea salt baked crackers (that snap though). Also, don't forget to grab one of Chantal's tasty sandwiches before you pay!
If you're a cheese lover, Chantal's will leave you starry-eyed with their array of products.