Devout Muslims are encouraged to make the Haj to Mecca at least once in their lives. But where does a devout Canadian foodie go for his holiest pilgrimage in his own country? The Cheese Boutique in Toronto, that’s where! I first learned about the Cheese Boutique from Peter Minakis, the genius behind Kalofagas (www.kalofagas.ca), a blog site dedicated to fine food, especially Greek. I won’t bother trying to better Peter’s pictures of the Cheese Boutique, which you can see here. Unfortunately, as good a photographer as Peter is, his pictures cannot do justice to what should rightly be a religious shrine to Foodism.

Mapquest reveals a curious route into a basically residential area where one would not imagine any kind of business. As you turn the corner onto Ripley Avenue, looking for #45, your thoughts are likely around the vagaries of GPS and computer mapping, which sometimes lead one astray.  But it turns out that Ripley Avenue is an anomaly; a strange little street of what appear to be small manufacturers, machine shops, and garages. Suddenly, you’re almost on top of #45…a rambling building with a somewhat tacky sign up front; an image of a mouse in artist’s garb standing in front of a cheese wedge.

Wander inside and you find room after room stocked from floor to ceiling with the most exotic imaginable comestibles. Pastas of every variety, scores of balsamic vinegars, olive oils I’ve never even heard of, including many single varietals. Bottarga (dried fish roe)? Of course, two kinds, even the rare and highly prized tuna. The clerks are maniacs, trained in the infinitesimal minutiae of their craft. Ask for advice and you will surely be steered to a new version of culinary Heaven. The high point is the aging room where they age cheeses an additional 2, 4, 6, years or more.

I bought two kinds of bottarga, plus a selection of hyper-aged raw-milk cheeses; one Gouda from Thunder Bay aged 4 additional years, and a Quebec cheddar aged an extra six! Two bottles of organic olive oil from Greece, as well as Greek balsamic vinegar (wonderful!), and a couple of hand-made pastas rounded off the mix. Oh, yeah, and the home-made sausages…how could I forget those?.

I wrote to thank Peter for the heads-up….’cause I really need yet another place to drop $500 on food in 15 minutes.