Monforte on Jefferson

Right up front, I have to admit to being crazy for Monforte cheese. I bought a subscription to their dairy (like a CSA for cheese) a few years ago when they were fundraising to expand the farm, and I haven’t regretted it at all – except that I’ve always had to plan my cheese shopping carefully, because they only came to Toronto for farmers markets.
Now they have a storefront. This could be dangerous.
The shop doesn’t just have cheese – they sell sweets from a nearby bakery, coffee beans and olive oil from small importers, and crackers and sausages from the Mennonite farmers near their dairy. (Very dangerous.) It’s the cheese that does it for me, though – I love sheep’s milk cheeses and often have to hunt for them, but Monforte uses mostly sheep and goat’s milk for its cheeses. The sheep yogurt is fabulous – thick and tangy and decidedly sheepy (it’s hard to describe, but you know it when you taste it). The halloumi is lovely and nowhere near as briny as the stuff sold commercially. They even sell goat milk and butter! And it’s nice to see a specialty cheese shop in Liberty Village – while Monforte did sell at the Sunday MyMarket, having a storefront is better.