C’est Cheese

Where: 835 Santa Barbara Street, 805- 965-0318, cestcheese.com

What: Santa Barbara’s family-run cheese shop that also offers catering, charcuterie, wine, gourmet food stuffs, and now sandwiches

How much? Sandwiches at $6.95-$7.95, cheese at market prices but always priced per pound

The dish: Since December 2003 Michael and Kathryn Graham have been making cheese heads happy at their pleasant, ever informative shop in downtown Santa Barbara. While their extremely popular monthly tastings are the best place to learn about cheese (book at once if you’re on the email list), you can do so any day by asking for a sample of any of the 100 cheeses in the store, from the tempting Sir Francis Drake from Cowgirl Creamery to the Blu del Monviso from Italy’s Po River Valley. In addition to selling stunning charcuterie made by the likes of Armandino Batali (Mario’s dad) from Salumi Artisan Cured Meats, C’est Cheese now also offers made-to-go sandwiches like Jamon Serrano served with Mahon cheese or soppressata salami, fresh chevre, and dried cherries. The only question is how the town survived without this terrific shop before they opened.