Curd It Through the Grapevine

Saxelby Cheesemongers Expands to Red Hook

This is what 120 square feet looks like.
This is what 120 square feet looks like. Photo: Shanna Ravindra

For over four years, Anne Saxelby has operated her excellent Saxelby Cheesemongers out of 120 square feet in the Essex Street Market — and now, at last, she’s expanding. A tipster writes in, and Saxelby confirms, that sometime in January she’ll take possession of a 900-square-foot “cheese closet” in Red Hook that she plans to use for storage and affinage. Though she won’t be adding any retail sales, the new digs will allow her to expand her restaurant wholesale business and increase offerings of the farm-sourced fromage she’s known for. In other news, Saxelby has begun collaborating with some of said farms to design custom curds. The first of these, the Caspian, a joint effort with Vermont’s Jasper Hill Farm, is a small wheel of cow’s-milk cheese wrapped in grape leaves that have been soaked in ice cider, giving it a caramel, nutty quality. Wheels retail for $12.99 and are available for a limited run this winter.

Saxelby Cheesemongers Expands to Red Hook