The Cheese Shop of Portland is a boon to the city’s nascent specialty shop inventory compared to the nonstop lineup of new restaurants recently opened or in the works. What the city lacks is a substantial roster of fine-food purveyors. Other than Micucci’s, and to a lesser extent, Rosemont or the various Asian markets, it’s still slim pickings to find ingredients called for in sophisticated recipes of world cuisines.
Otherwise Micucci’s remains a standout Italian specialty market for olive oils, authentic canned San Marzano tomatoes and double-rich tomato paste; their selection of dried pastas is terrific, too.
The focus of the Cheese Shop is, of course, cheese curated from top European and local creameries as well as a fine selection of vinegars, olive oils, charcuterie, coffees, pastas and preserves.
Owners Will and Mary Sissle hail from the extraordinary food purveyor Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and Boston’s South End, where Will was the international cheese buyer and Mary directed the vast online shopping business.
