Auray Cheese Shop – Cheese & More

by The Wesfoodie

Cheese, bread, sausage for a late summer's meal can all be found at Auray. Recipes, too, at their website.

(September 6, 2007) For those readers who thought that is was mere coincidence that Larchmonters have a nuanced understanding of The Little Prince, are inexplicably enthusiastic about Mickey Rourke and are neighbors with Anthony Bourdain’s brother, it may come as a surprise that our little village is a second chez soi for much of the French financial industry’s presence in America.

In fact Larchmont is teaming with French nationals and owes much to its French contingent, including the continued success of Auray Cheese shop. Auray first opened in Larchmont in 1999, having previously been run in Philadelphia by founders Warren Reid and Dale Saffir. Those two sold the store to current owner Matthew Peretz in June of 2005.

American palates have only begun to gain a mature appreciation of fine cheeses in the last few years. The French, of course, have been devoted to fine cheese for centuries and the large French community in Larchmont has supported Auray Cheese Shop’s unwaivering devotion to the best hand crafted cheeses available. The relative sophistication of the French customer has enabled Auray to resist lowering its standards to fit the arrested development of the American palate for fermented and coagulated edibles.

Auray has its best seller cheeses of various types:

• Hard Cow's Milk: Cave-Aged Gruyere
  
  
• Soft Cow’s Milk: Fromage de Meaux (a small batch, well crafted “Brie”-like cheese from France and one of my favorites)
  
  
• Sheep’s Milk: Ewephoria (sheep’s milk Gouda)
  
  
• Blue Cheese: Pastor Picon
  
  
• Goat: Le Chevrot.

Among the French clientele, Papillon Roquefort is a favorite, but fewer Americans purchase this type. Mr. Peretz attributes this discrepancy to the fact that it is an expensive cheese and “most of the other customers from other ethnicities don’t like such strong blue cheese. They’d argue about that but it’s true in general.” On the mild side, St. Nectaire is another French favorite, and Mr. Peretz suspects "it’s another association with home for the French. The one they get there is probably better, since it would be raw milk.”

Despite the established favorites, Mr. Peretz never stops searching for great offerings of cheeses and other products.

Auray has recently added a number of new cheeses. There is La Peral, a Spanish blue cheese crafted in Asturias. Mr. Peretz says that the cheese “has barnyardy flavors, buttermilky, a little salty but not too much - I'd consider it a milder blue." He says it goes well with Syrah. There is also Mont St. Francis, a raw goat's milk cheese from Capriole Farm in Indiana described as “reminiscent of an Alsatian Munster – although that probably makes no sense (Munster is cow’s milk).”

Auray has also introduced new honeys (including a raw chestnut honey), imported candies and something called “Arrope: Grape Must and Pumpkin” from Spain. Mr. Peretz says that it’s like a thick grape syrup with pumpkin pieces in it.

Oh yes, and there is a new partner who will focus on gourmet prepared meals and catering. Carolynn Dilworth has joined Matt Peretz as a co-owner of Auray. Ms. Dilworth has many years of experience as a caterer in Germany and world traveler as well as over twenty years of experience as an investment banker.

Mr. Peretz can remember his childhood in the 1970s when his mother used to shop at Zabars on the Upper West Side.  “My earliest memory of great cheese was a triple-crème called Explorateur - which at that time for Americans was pretty darned fancy," he said. "My parents definitely taught me to appreciate finer foods in general – and some of the then exotic things like cheese and caviar in particular.”

With Auray, Larchmonters can be certain that their children will have equally rich memories of great food adventures, whether they grow up to be cheesemongers or merely cheese appreciators.

The Wesfoodie, a Larchmont resident, has written for Westchester Magazine, the Westchester Times Tribune and blogs about food (www.wesfoodie.com). When not eating his way round the 'burbs, The Wesfoodie can be found bemoaning the exponential growth of waistlines in direct proportion to sleepless nights of childrearing and other immutable laws of mid-life in the suburbs.

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