Custom charcuterie boxes for beach picnics are what keep me coming back…read more If I'm anywhere near Del Mar, I make a point to stop into one of my favorite cheese shops. I always take it straight to the beach because everything tastes better with your feet in the sand and front-row seats to the waves. This small European-style cheese shop is known for its curated selection and cheesemongers who actually listen. They follow my preferences every time: nothing spicy, no olives, no dried apricots, and always something sweet like jam or honey. There's never a hesitation or attitude like I've experienced at other shops. Whether I need a box for just myself or something larger, they customize it perfectly. Beyond their global cheese selection, they carry artisan charcuterie, truffle products, European crackers and breads, local honey and jams, boutique chocolates, and small-batch pantry items. I also love the little surprise chocolate they throw in. Thank you for always listening and creating the most beautiful, delicious boxes for me. I rave about your shop to everyone and will continue to do so.

A cute shop with a wide variety of meats, cheeses, and other tasty treats. We went in for a 6-item…read moresampler. We had no idea what to choose. The associate that helps us was very patient and knowledgeable. We ended up having them chose the items for us. We were pleasantly surprised at the beautiful arrangement. The social picked the perfect tasting plate for us.

Venissimo is a niche micro shop that offers a nice variety of various cheese globally. It's just…read morestanding room to browse and order. There's usually parking in the lot behind the shop. The staff are friendly and helpful. There's french cheeses with truffles and creamy Italian cheese and lots of other stuff to create your own charcuterie board. If you love cheese, you'll like a visit at Venissimo. Recommend

I was having a cute little picnic one day and I placed an order online for this cheese platter! It…read morewas so easy to do and the perfect picnic ready snack! It really elevated the vibe. The cheese is amazing and I love being able to try ones I wouldn't normal reach for at the store.

The charcuterie boards are beautiful and delicious. I recommend preordering one of their curated…read moreboards. It was intimidating for me to go into the shop and create a board, so it worked better for me to choose one they created. I enjoyed the mixture of sweet and savory nuts, fruit, jam and pickles paired with delicious cheese. I have ordered two boards from them and they have both been delicious and reasonably priced.

A bit smaller than the Venissimo store on Washington St., but no less interesting and useful, this…read moreshop offers a range of cheeses that will make you a better host, or cook, or cheese snob, or binge cheese eater, wherever your interests might lie. But parking for this Venissimo is effed up since some genius replaced the few available spaces with picnic tables. Not sure how to deal with that, other than to park a few blocks away and Uber to the store, or simply drive over to Mission Hills for the more considerate, more convenient version of this shop.

Small specialty boutique type food store located in a strip mall in Miramar. They specialize in…read moreimports from Europe, but I feel like there's a concentration from France. From cheeses, meats, breads, a pretty extensive frozen section, there are so many treasures you can find here. I came here with my cousin who was looking for some specific food items, side, and purchase anything myself on this trip. Partly because I was gonna be out all day and didn't want the food sitting in my car. But definitely if I plan better next time I'm in San Diego I wanna buy stuff to bring back home. Just a gem of a find. There also seems to be plenty of parking in the area as we parked pretty much right out front.

Am I a butter connoisseur? Absolutely, not. However, I do know that if you're interested in trying…read moreFrench butter, this is the place to go. I should have purchased the Beurre d'Isigny butter here rather than going to Paris, buying Bordier butter vacuum sealed butter, having the hotel freeze it, then paying extra for check in luggage since it's a colder storage area. Cuisenery didn't have Bordier butter but when I was doing my online research, I found that both of the brands I mentioned are pretty good. I actually liked my Beurre d'Isigny butter better, but that's more likely due to it being unsalted versus the salted version I bought in Paris (apparently, you MUST use salted on your bread per the Parisians). They also had a bunch of other frozen foods and condiments, including frozen escargot in puff pastry, frozen baguettes, mustards, and jams.

I love cheese and have been staring longingly at this pop-up shop's dates in my calendar for more…read moretime than I care to admit. Today was finally the day, and it was exactly what I hoped it would be! This "shop" is an enclosure in front of Macy's on the first floor of the mall. It was only moderately crowded today, but it's a small space and I could see things being crazy tomorrow. They supposedly offer thirty types of cheese, and I didn't count, but there didn't seem to be that many. In fact, I saw very few hard cheeses. But for everything they had, they were offering samples. How can anyone resist? There were some old standbys like Brie, but plenty I'd never tasted before, and I fell in love with the creamy Saint Agur. Despite the "Cheeses of Europe" name, they seem to be focused on French cheeses. They also had some drinks (not selling those, though) and butters to sample on bread, including a sea salt version with distinct, salty crystals. My friend just came back from Paris gushing about this butter style, so I was delighted to try it for myself. The prices are surprisingly reasonable, with most working out to around a dollar an ounce. It's more than I would typically pay for grocery store cheese, but far less than from a specialty store like Venissimo. Everything is pre-sliced and packaged, which will give true gourmands pause, but I'm not enough of a snob to be bothered. Purchases come with a little pamphlet of cheese recipes and information about cheese types. Credit cards are accepted. If you fall in love with any of the cheeses, they sell them at a number of Whole Foods stores in the LA area, but not in San Diego. So come while you can!

Jaybird Superette is a market deli. Located in a cul de sac of a PUD planned urban development…read moregated community in the hills of La Jolla. Plenty of free parking in the lot. It's a smallish shop with a menagerie of foods and goods: cheeses, wine, tin fish, and a variety of nosh and charcuterie worthy items. A great selection of cheeses from America, South America, Canada and Europe. Some Asian products: chili oil and pickled veggies. Their menu offers sandwiches with cold cuts and cheese. The house baked organic semolina baguette and focaccia breads are scrumptious and taste samples are gratis!! For such a small shop there was considerable amount of customers. The staff were busy helping customers patiently answered questions about products. Limited outdoor seating available to enjoy a pastry treat, coffee, sandwich or cheese and baguette. Jaybird Superette is a fantastic addition to this neighborhood and the La Jolla community. Worth a visit. Recommend

Yes, Please, and Thank You! We came in this morning and you could smell the fresh baguettes from…read morethe parking lot. It was like a warm hug, and as we walked in, they were setting out salted French butter for the baguette samples. I asked for a cheese plate to go since I wanted to nosh on it throughout the day. It was beautiful, with three cheeses I would never have had the opportunity to try. A soft creamy goat, a peppery hard cheese from Germany, and a luscious buttery cheese. At $20, this was a true value, the servings were more than I expected, and the fancy British crackers, fruits and a spread were included. Add the baguette, do not leave without a baguette! My next visit will be with friends so we can sit on the patio and try one of the great wines for sale. And more cheese and some cured meats. I splurged on an apricot jam and have zero regrets. This little corner feels like lunch at a ski chalet in Kitzbuhel, but you don't have to fly there or get cold, or ski. I wish I had taken a photo!

I'm out of state and was ordering a charcuterie board to say thank you to family and friends in the…read moreSan Deiago area. I asked for a special note to be included and changed the delivery time, and Liz didn't miss a beat. Liz provided outstanding service! The family and friends told me how beautiful and delicious the board was and that it was delivered right on time. Highly recommend Bougie and Brie.

Patrick gave us outstanding customer service!! The coffee was perfect and the SOURDOUGH PIZZA OMG!!…read moreComing back for more now that we moved here from Hawaii!!!

So I'm guilty of not making the trek into Ramona for the full experience, but I snagged one of…read moretheir blueberry pies for Christmas when I saw them sitting at Frazier Farms! They were sitting right next to the Julian pies and it kinda looked like a fight, like a battle of the mountain bakeries kind of fight. Needless to say, I grabbed both because everyone immediately glorifies the Julian pie so by including the Ramona pie, my objective was to introduce some low risk novelty for my Christmas get-together. I didn't have high hopes for Ramona's blueberry because I was suspicious of the huge bready looking crust roll in combination with the sticker on the front boasting "no seed oils". I'm not fluent in baking alchemy. I was raised on Costco pie (bleh). So, I thought this was going to be dry and overly sweet but much to my whole family's surprise, Ramona was the winner! My takeaway: Do not discriminate the chubby crust roll! Take it from me because I'm a savage that eats a pie right out of the fridge. The crust is like a shortbread cookie. It's almost on the Italian pastry spectrum. Very delicious. Very coffee friendly. The blueberry filling was also perfectly balanced. It wasn't too sweet and even with the crumble topping, I felt like I could eat it with yogurt in the morning and trick myself into calling it a wholesome breakfast. Now, I'm going to say this with a huge shield up... but it knocked the Julian apple pie way off the shelf for me.