Cheese, glorious cheese!

Less than two weeks after announcing that they'd be moving into the old Compucell space on Seventh Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets, the "cave to counter" cheese shop Valley Shepherd opened for business on Friday. If you're at all into cheese, you're in for a real treat.

About 20 varieties of cheese are currently available, most of the sheep and cow variety. The best way to get an idea of what's for sale is to go sample some for yourself, but I'd recommend checking out the Tartufo Shepherd, a sheep's milk cheese infused with black truffles. Cheese is available in every variety from super-young to extra-aged, and everything in between. There's also fresh butter, ricotta, sheep's milk yogurt, cream cheese, feta, and just about everything else you can possibly imagine making with milk.

All the cheeses sold (except for a few) are produced in Valley Shepherd's New Jersey farm, and owner Eran Wajswol decided to open a shop of his own instead of selling wholesale to gourmet shops in order to keep the prices down (that doesn't stop them, however, from supplying some of the city's finest restaurants, including Le Bernardin and Jean-Georges).

As well as the dairy-based products, they offer a whole smattering of local items, like cider, chocolate, spreads, crackers, dried fruits and nuts, jams, pickles from Brooklyn Brine, and everything that will make your holiday cheese board the life of the party.

They're also selling some fresh-made pastas like gnocchi and ravioli stuffed with their ricotta, and will soon sell sandwiches that pair their cheese with cold cuts like prosciutto, bresaola, sopresatta along with bread from Eli's, Amy's, Orwasher's, and Sullivan Street. Wine and Cheese tasting dinners are also soon-to-come.

Basically, this place is everything you'd ever want in a neighborhood cheese shop.

Valley Shepherd Cheese, 211 Seventh Avenue Brooklyn NY 11215. Phone: 347-889-5508.