Let’s be honest — no one needs a reason to eat a warm, filling, grilled cheese sandwich, but in case you were on the hunt for one, April is National Grilled Cheese Month and it’s officially time to celebrate the iconic American comfort sandwich. Read on for the 10 best places in L.A. to celebrate our new favorite month.
2106 W. Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock; (323) 892-1068, milkfarmla.com
Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Park Fierro.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Leah. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I am an Angeleno, born and raised. I always had a love for food and the food industry. When I was in high school, I worked at Baskin Robbins, Islands and Johnny Rockets!In 1999, I enrolled in the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco when I was 17 years old and started to work pastry departments. I bounced around a lot in my youth, working in San Francisco, the Virgin Islands, Florida, Boston, and Beverly Hills. After a healthy run in the culinary industry, I decided to quit my job (last one being the Assistant Pastry Chef at the Regent Beverly Wilshire) and decided to travel solo around the world for a year with one of those gigantic backpacks.
Upon my return, I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my career, but I knew I wanted to stay in the culinary field. I longed for the good food and small bodegas that I experienced everywhere around the world. I found a job at The Cheese Store of Silverlake; it was a game changer. The cheese industry opened my eyes to an amazing sector in the food industry I had never known and kept me connected with professionals in the industry. I was there for six years and by the end of my term, was managing the shop with Chris (I miss him dearly).
I left The Cheese Store of Silverlake in 2013 to open Milkfarm; we opened our doors on April 7, 2014. Milkfarm is a compilation of nearly 20 years of my life in the culinary industry, my world travels, and the definition of everything I am about as an Angeleno…. oh, and it’s a cheese shop!
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t think it is possible to have a “smooth road” when opening your first small business. NO ONE knows how to open a business until you put one foot in front of the other and start the process. Yes, overall, Milkfarm has been a bit successful, and I am extremely grateful for our supportive customers.Owning a business is like being on a double black diamond ski-run full of moguls… it’s exhilarating, but there’s a good chance you won’t make it out without falling. There are literally hundreds, if not, thousands of things to think about when opening a brick and mortar, when having employees, when handling food, when handling beer/wine, when owning a small business in LA (I hear it’s one of the hardest places to own a small business), and especially working with something as perishable as cheese. I remember a few weeks into being open, we suddenly had no hot water. After 30 minutes on the phone with the Gas Company, I realized I never opened an account!
When people come to me and say they are planning on opening a business, I tell them “ask me anything!” Because you’llneed all the help and advice you can get…I know I did!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Milkfarm – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Milkfarm is an artisan cheese shop and cheese is our main focus although our sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies sometimes steal the show. We also have beer/wine/sake/cider that can be enjoyed in the shop but can also be purchased like a bottle shop to-go. I really enjoy when people ask for a glass of wine to enjoy while shopping or trying cheese. It creates a special environment that is pretty unique to what we do.I believe there are many things that set us apart from others. First and foremost, it’s highly curated. I try to focus on local producers, Good Food Award Winners, and interesting cheeses (just to name a few topics). When a vendor comes in with a dozen jams, we taste every single one and only pick the flavors that we think are amazing. I try to do this with everything from crackers, wine, chocolate, and even almonds! When people ask “have you tried this, is it good?” we can say with confidence that we have tried every single item in the shop and it is delicious.
Also, I take a lot of pride in staff education. I literally test my employees. I want them to know ALL about cheese. They need to know how it is made, where it is from, what is lactose and casein, which animal has the fattiest milk, etc., etc. The more knowledge they have, the more confident they can be as Cheesemongers and the more they enjoy their job. We have A LOT of cheese in our case, and it can be really intimidating to a cheese-novice customer, so the more my Cheesemongers can talk about cheese comfortably, the more we can open the lines of cheese-communication with our customers. It’s very rewarding to have a customer come in and ask for an obscure cheese like Challerhöcker, that means we’ve done our job.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love how diverse LA is. How I can walk down the street and hear several different accents and see a ton of different dressing styles. I love that I can decide to eat kibbeh, kimchee, or kraut and find it within five miles of me. I love that I can be a Korean-American female that owns a cheese shop, plays the accordion, and be married to a man of Mexican descent… it’s bonkers, it’s so LA!I hate the traffic and the taxes.
Leah Park Fierro worked as a pastry chef and traveled the world before landing a job as a cheesemonger; now, she owns and runs this LA shop. In addition to a highly curated collection of cheeses and accompaniments, Milkfarm offers sandwiches and cookies, plus craft beers and wines, which can be enjoyed on-site. The selection of around 100 cheeses (150 during the holidays) rotates frequently, but not to worry—highly knowledgeable staff are at the ready to guide customers towards that perfect wedge or wheel.
Milkfarm engages customers by providing fun and unusual events, such as sake and cheese pairing classes and even Girl Scout cookie pairing classes. Educational events like Meet the Maker demonstrations put customers in contact with local producers, while Parmigiano Reggiano cracking parties feature an explanation of how the cheese is made,
plus samples from a freshly cracked wheel.“My goal is to spread the gospel of fine cheese to everyone,” Fierro says. The shop’s local involvement and inviting atmosphere help her to do just that.
culture: Do you have a mentor that inspired you to become a cheesemonger?
Leah Park Fierro: I grew up watching Yan Can Cook, Julia Child, Jacques Pépin, and a funny show called How to Boil Water. Those old shows definitely inspired me to get into food.
culture: Is there a book or online resource you reference most in your work?
LPF: Culture magazine, obviously! We also refer to The Oxford Companion to Cheese (Oxford University Press, 2016) and The Cheese Lover’s Companion (William Morrow Cookbooks, 2007) for quick Q&A.
culture: What’s the coolest new food book or TV show you’ve come across lately?
LPF: Ugly Delicious. Gotta support my Korean-brother-of-another-mother [David Chang]. The Thanksgiving episode was a mirror image of my family experience and a good example of an immigrant family assimilating to American food culture and traditions
To read see the article on-line CLICK HERE.
Paving the Whey!
At this point in history, when people brag about how many grams of fat they’ve crammed into their day (because macros or something?) and avoid carbs as cautiously as we avoided fat in the ’90s, it’s a really good time to be a fan of cheese — nature’s power bar, loaded with fat, protein and minerals. But cheese is more than its calories — it’s fun, it’s tradition, and it’s connection. Mention cheese to most people, and their eyes will light up and their stomachs start rumbling. Throw a photo of cheese up on Instagram and you’ll be showered in likes. And, with so many independently owned cheese shops in L.A., staffed by earnest, cheerful cheese professionals (called mongers), there’s really never been a better time to run out for a cheese snack. Whether you want to call it your new keto diet, supporting local business or simply treating yourself, we support you wholeheartedly and offer five of our favorite cheese shops in Los Angeles County for your immediate pilgrimage.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
We were thrilled and honored to be invited to the KTLA 5 Studio to be showcased on the 9am news for National Picnic Day!
To watch the complete segment on KTLA’s website, CLICK HERE.
http://ktla.com/2018/06/18/celebrating-national-picnic-day-with-milkfarm-the-larder-at-tavern-and-the-larder-at-burton-way/
Milkfarm, Eagle Rock’s only artisan cheese shop, is a dangerous place. From the Bandaged Bismark to the Brie de Meaux, one can imagine even the most disciplined vegans struggling to walk in and out without giving the carefully constructed French ham ficelle sandwiches a double-take.
Equally overwhelming are the six women behind the counter, each wearing a headband in her own style, eager to educate customers on proper cheese storage and appropriate wine pairings. Customers, unfamiliar with most of the gourmet brands, pick up blocks of white, blue and yellow cheeses, asking them, “Is this any good?”
“Literally everything on the shelves, we think is good,” four-year Milkfarm employee Devra Golden said. “At least Leah has tasted everything on the shelves, and whenever possible she tries to always make sure to save samples so that the rest of the staff have an opportunity to taste all the things that we bring in to sell.” ………..
Milkfarm
A fairly recent addition to the cheese-shop scene, Milkfarm opened in 2014 when owner Leah Park Fierro struck out on her own after managing the Cheese Store of Silverlake. Milkfarm carries one of the best selections of cheese and a great stock of accompaniments, including baguettes and mini loaves from Bread Lounge. The store emphasizes knowledgeable service from cheesemongers versed in the science and production of each cheese. It also carries a variety of interesting extras, everything from cheese-themed, letterpress greeting cards to cheese knives, with a preference for made-in-L.A. products. (Keep an eye out for the popular raclette nights to return this fall.)
2106 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock; (323) 892-1068, milkfarmla.com.
To read the full article CLICK HERE.
With its myriad food options and niche stores, there is a reason Redfin named Eagle Rock the second “hottest” neighborhood in the country. Eagle Rock is booming with small businesses, a number of which are owned by women. Many of these women comprise the Lady Bosses of Eagle Rock, a club of local female business owners.
Lady Bosses of Eagle Rock was founded in March 2015, by Michelle Harwell, owner of Michelle Harwell Therapy and Leah Park Fierro, owner of the cheese shop and lunch counter, Milkfarm. The group is comprised of approximately 50 members and meets quarterly, rotating locations to the businesses which can host. The club’s only requirement is that members identify as female and own brick and mortar business owner within the 90041 zip code. Each meeting focuses on one informational aspect of business, ranging from accounting to social media or business security, as well as supporting each other in their personal experiences as female entrepreneurs in a typically male-dominated career.
“Women want to know other women, and we have this unique capacity to build community and learn from each other and support each other,” Harwell said.
Park Fierro is the owner of Milkfarm, an artisanal cheese shop and lunch counter located at 2106 Colorado Boulevard. She has lived in Eagle Rock and been running her business for three years. Fierro has been working in the food industry for 18 years, originally as a pastry chef for luxury hotels. After quitting her pastry job, Fierro traveled around the world for a year. Upon returning home, she missed the niched, specialized food shops she found in Europe and she looked for a job at an independent cheese store. She worked at the Cheese Store of Silverlakefor six years. Fierro wanted to create something of her own, however.
“When you’re young and a child and you’re growing up, you know if you have the entrepreneurial spirit,” Fierro said. “You know if you want to own something one day, you know if you want to be your own boss. So that’s always kind of been at the back of my mind. Just because of my life experiences and where I was in my life, it happened to fall heavily in cheese and gourmet food.”
Harwell is a frequent customer of Milkfarm. A year ago, when Harwell had the idea to start the club, Fierro was one of the first women she approached.
“I was 100 percent on board immediately, like the second the words came out of her mouth, I was all about it. I’m very, very, very proud to be a female, minority business owner,” Fierro said.
Fierro enjoys being a member of a club that provides not only a network of support, but also informational sessions to help guide the members as entrepreneurs.
“It’s very empowering … to just be around so many successful women who have really, really great, popular shops in Eagle Rock. It makes you feel really extra proud to be in this neighborhood because you know there’s so many other women that stand side by side with you,” Fierro said. “I’m very proud to say that I am a business owner in Eagle Rock and I think that this group really brings us together.”
To read the full article CLICK HERE.
Here is the full URL: http://www.theoccidentalweekly.com/features/2017/04/25/lady-bosses-eagle-rock-unify-female-leaders/2887922
