Cuba Cheese, please! It's a Western New York favorite

Some people come home from Cuba with cigars and rum. We come home from Cuba with cheese.

I’m talking cheese from Cuba, NY, a village in southwestern New York State, about 15 miles east of Olean (my mother’s hometown and my college town) and 75 miles southeast of Buffalo.

The Cuba Cheese Shoppe is best known for its own award-winning white cheddar cheese and cheese products. For more than a century, Cuba cheese was available only to wholesale and select mail order customers.

The retail shop in downtown Cuba opened in 1976 and has expanded over the years to welcome hundreds of domestic and imported cheeses, like Manchego from Spain, Ricotta Salata from Italy and Stilton from England. We’ve been going there for years and always pack a cooler when our travels take us to that corner of New York.

In addition to a world of cheeses, you’ll find cheese boards, slicers and spreaders and shelves-full of crackers to complement selections. The shop also stocks oodles of gourmet foodstuff: jams, jellies, mustards, barbecue sauces, spice rubs and more. There’s also syrup and other maple products from local favorite Sprague’s Maple Farms (and restaurant) in Portville.

On a recent visit, we came home with a brick of Cuba reserve cheddar (aged two years), a slab of Palatine Valley Dairy tomato, basil and garlic cheddar (from the Mohawk Valley), a container of Cuba cheese curds (a form of cheddar; slightly chewy and squeaky and a great snack) and a tub of Old York sharp cheddar spread – a souvenir for my sister. 2023 update: Cheese spreads labeled Old York no longer appear to be available, but there are several Cuba Cheese spreads on the website. 

Cuba Cheese has gone through several ownership changes over the years. It's currently owned by Ohio-based Great Lakes Cheese, which operates the Empire Cheese plant in Cuba (and is supposed to expand to a larger facility in Franklinville, according to news reports). The Cuba Cheese Shoppe is indepenently owned and operated.

The Cuba Cheese Shoppe is at 53 Genesee St., Cuba. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.  The online shoppe is open 24/7.

The Cuba Cheese Museum chronicles Cuba’s (and the region’s) rich cheese-making heritage. Click here to find out more.

(From a postcard image)

 

Comments

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Hello, Cathi --
I am not sure of the status of the Old York spread. It appears there are several cheese spreads available via the Cuba Cheese online store but they are not labeled Old York. https://www.cubacheese.com/cheese-spreads.html
Thanks for visiting my blog. This is a 12-year-old post!

[Cathi]

We just visited the Cuba Cheese Shop a week ago and couldn't find Old York cheese spread. Do they still sell it?

[Lori Lee]

We used to stop every year on our way to Indiana. It was our lunch stop and we would take extras for the trip. Planning a trip to introduce my husband to the pleasures of the Cuba Cheese Shop.

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Hi, Wanda --
I hear you! How could I not have known about Sprague's Pancake House in Portville? Let's contact the CNY Bona alumni group and rent a bus to visit the Olean foodie destinations!
I regret not getting the 1-pound or larger package of cheese curds at Cuba Cheese. They are SOOOOO good!
Thanks for visiting.
Cheers,
--Margaret

[Wanda]

Hi Margaret,
Another Bona alum here (Class of '91) and CNYer. How did I not know about the Cuba Cheese Shoppe when I was in college? Cheese is my weakness. I'm sure there are many local treasures like this around Olean that I didn't know about back then, but would certainly appreciate now. I think it's time for a summer road trip to visit our alma mater. LOL.

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Hi, Laura --
I was thinking after I wrote the post that it would be fun to spend a week at Cuba Lake, bring our bicycles, spend a day in Ellicottville, stock up on Cuba cheese, etc. It's a beautiful part of NYS and I love getting back there.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
--Margaret

[Laura]

I went to school in Houghton, NY and love Cuba cheese. My dad is from Rushford, and my uncles still live up that way so we get bricks sent to us, in Florida, for Christmas! Such a treat!