Say Cheese!

Say Cheese at 1071 Thomas Jefferson Street NW is a specialty cheese shop in the Georgetown canal area, on the Thomas Jefferson Street block that runs parallel to the C and O Canal and the Graham Hotel. The specialty cheese shop format, which combines the retail cheese selection with the expertise to guide the customer through the world’s cheese varieties, is a Georgetown food retail category that the neighborhood’s culinary sophistication supports.

The cheese shop’s primary function is curatorial: the affineur who buys and ages cheese, or the cheesemonger who selects from specialty importers and domestic artisan producers, makes the decisions about which cheeses to carry that determine whether the shop’s selection is worth the visit. A good cheese shop carries the range of the world’s cheese traditions: the soft-ripened French styles from Brie and Camembert through the washed-rind cheeses of Époisses and Langres; the hard Italian aged cheeses from Parmigiano-Reggiano through the pecorinos and the Asiago; the English cheddar tradition from the clothbound farmhouse style through the younger commercial styles; and the American artisan cheeses that have developed significantly in quality over the past two decades.

The charcuterie selection that a cheese shop maintains alongside the cheese is the natural companion for the board format: the dried sausages, the prosciutto and other cured hams, and the pates and rillettes that the European charcuterie tradition provides complement the cheese in the same way that wine accompanies food: the fat of the meat cutting the acidity of the cheese, the salt of the charcuterie amplifying the sweetness of the aged cheese.

The Thomas Jefferson Street address is accessible from the C and O Canal towpath and from the M Street commercial district above.

Hours run from 10am most days and 11am Sunday. The cheese board format that Say Cheese supports is the format that the contemporary American food culture has adopted from the European grazing tradition: the assembled board of cheeses, cured meats, fresh and dried fruits, nuts, and condiments that serves as either an appetizer or a complete casual meal depending on its scale. The quality of the cheese board depends entirely on the quality of the cheeses at its center, which is why the specialty cheese shop is the appropriate source for the board-building customer. The Thomas Jefferson Street address at 1071 is in the Georgetown canal neighborhood, near the Graham Hotel and in walking distance of the C and O Canal towpath that the Georgetown waterfront area connects to. The specialty food shop at this address serves the canal-level Georgetown neighborhood and the residential community of the surrounding blocks. The seasonal cheese selection at a good cheese shop reflects the agricultural reality that cheese, like fruit and vegetables, has a seasonality. Spring milk from cows and sheep that have returned to pasture produces the soft fresh cheeses that reflect the new grass’s flavor. Summer milk produces the cheeses that will be aged through the fall. The aged winter cheeses reflect the complexity that time in the aging cave produces. At Say Cheese, the rotation of the cheese selection with these seasonal rhythms distinguishes the shop from the supermarket cheese counter that maintains the same products year-round. Hours run from 10am most days and 11am Sunday.