Here’s some grate news: The Eastwood neighborhood of Syracuse now has a cheese shop. That cheese shop is The Curd Nerd.
For months, Sarah Starace and her fiance, Matthew Simiele, have been renovating the wedge-shaped storefront at the corner of James Street and Collingwood Avenue into a bright and welcoming space. The walls are painted a buttery yellow and the space is filled with greenery from Found Things Co., a plant shop that has taken root a couple doors down Collingwood.
One of Sarah’s goals with her shop is to stock as many local cheeses as possible and support local cheesemaking. That makes me happy on so many levels.
The shop is in the “soft open’’ stage, with a grand opening planned for later in the month. Early offerings include chevre, feta and other goat cheeses from Lively Run Goat Dairy and cheddars and blue cheese from Muranda Cheese Company, both in the Finger Lakes.
Do you like spreadable cheeses? Then Sarah recommends the everything bagel-seasoned Quark cheese from Shults Family Farm in the Mohawk Valley. Quark is a soft farmers cheese that’s perfect for schmearing on crackers, toast and bagels and used as a dip for vegetables. Another soft cheese Sarah recommends is the Harbison from Jasper Hill Creamery in Vermont. It’s an oozy, bloomy-rind cheese that’s wrapped in spruce bark, which gives the cheese an earthy flavor. You might want a baguette to go with this cheese.
Other local/regional cheeses include Jake’s original gouda and Jake’s smoked gouda from Oneida County, Alpine-style cheeses from East Hill Creamery in Perry, and offerings from Old Chatham Creamery, which started out in the Hudson Valley and is now based in Groton. Selections in the case will change regularly, as Sarah figures out what her customers want.
Why cheese? Why Eastwood? And why now?
Sarah is a native of Queens who started out at Binghamton University on a pre-med track thinking she would become a doctor. For fun, she helped to establish the Binghamton University Cheese Club, a group of students who sampled different cheeses every week and spread their love for cheese on campus through activities and events. Sarah ended up getting a degree in cell and molecular biology and told her family and friends she planned to become a cheesemonger. She considers cheese her calling and is working to become a Certified Cheese Professional through the American Cheese Society.
Sarah met Matthew at Binghamton and they moved to Syracuse after graduation (he’s an electrical engineer). She worked at Wegmans for a time and considered working as a farmhand to learn more about the dairy industry. Then the pandemic happened. They bought a house in Eastwood and eventually met Realtor Stephen Skinner, who connected them to their space. A year later, they took down the paper covering the front of the shop and quietly opened for business.
Sarah sees The Curd Nerd as a specialty grocery store as much as a cheese shop. You’ll find locally sourced bread, yogurt, honey, salad greens, mushrooms, apples, Clean Slate Farm oils and vinegars, salts from Syracuse Salt Company and everything that partners with cheese: crackers, dried fruits, nuts, olives, cured meats and more.
In a nod to the lactose intolerant, the shop sells packs of lactase, an enzyme that aids in the digestion of lactose. I hope I never become lactose intolerant. I love cheese too much.
I left The Curd Nerd with a fat wedge of Muranda Blue from Muranda Cheese Company, a container of feta (my new favorite cheese to have on hand) from Lively Run and a personal cheese box ($6; shown below) curated by Sarah. It contained slices of Shire (a cow’s milk cheese collaboration between Lively Run and Hopshire Farm and Brewery), a wedge of Nancy’s Camembert from Old Chatham, two kinds of crackers, dried apricots, strawberries, HoBe Honey, marcona almonds and toasted corn nuts. It was the perfect lunch – not too big, not too small, just right.
All cheese/charcuterie boxes, boards and trays are made to order. Visit the website, call 315-299-7006 or email [email protected] for more information.
The Curd Nerd is at 2800 James St. Hours (subject to change) are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Visit their website and social media for more information.
All photos © Margaret McCormick