COMMUNITY CHEESE

At Milkfarm, Leah Park Fierro builds a sense of community around her world class cheese selections and homey inviting atmosphere.
Story by: Leiloni Degruy

When you step into Milkfarm, wonderment is likely to  be your first response. When you’e confronted with well over 75 different cheeses, 14 varieties of meats, nine different homemade jams, five types of tapenades, four sweet treats, mixed olives, pizza sauce, fresh pasta, balsamic dressing, and a selection of nuts, who can blame you?

7 Super LA Cheese Shops and What They Have to Offer

To see the full article on-line by clicking here.

There’s DTLA Cheese at downtown’s Grand Central Market, Milkfarm in Eagle Rock and Wheel House Cheese in Culver City, all of which have opened in the last several months.

The latest generation of cheesemongers is bringing cheeses both classic and hard-to-find to neighborhoods that previously might have been gourmet-cheese sparse. Among them are Leah Park Fierro, a pastry chef and veteran of the Cheese Store of Silverlake, who opened Milkfarm on a bustling stretch of Eagle Rock’s Colorado Boulevard, and Alex Josef, who opened Wheel House in Culver City and sports a tattoo of a cow on his arm.

“Cheese is just cool,” Clarke said. “It’s never boring. It’s always ‘Oh, my God, cheese!’

Milkfarm

The charming black-and-white shop that Leah Park Fierro opened this spring carries a large selection of seasonal cheeses, along with charcuterie; paper-wrapped, string-tied sandwiches; and local food products. A recent selection of cheeses includes the English Stinking Bishop (rind washed in perry, a pear hard cider), fresh burrata, Four Fat Fowl triple crème from St. Stephens in New York, even squeaky Beehive Cheese Co. cheese curds.

How to Create the Perfect Late Summer Cheese Plate

Experts from three of LA’s best cheese shops share their favorite end-of-summer cheeses

http://www.lamag.com/digestblog/create-perfect-late-summer-cheese-plate/

A cheese plate can be the star of any party spread, but it’s easy to get stuck in a hors d’oeuvres rut by always relying on your same old standbys. We’re not judging, of course—we love Humboldt Fog and Red Hawk, too. However, just like wine, there are perfect varieties of cheese for every season, and changing things up is a delicious way to experience a broad spectrum of flavors and textures while impressing your guests.

To help us master the late summer cheeseboard, we asked three experts from some of L.A.’s best cheese shops to share their favorites of the season. Here’s what they told us:

Leah Park Fierro, Owner of MilkFarm:
“Wabash Cannonball from Capriole, Indiana or Couronne de Touraine from the master cheesemaker Rodolphe le Meunier from the Loire. Cheeses go best with bubbles and whites because of the fat. I would pair these with off-dry whites like Sancerre or my favorite Rose from Kermit Lynch Gris de Gris.”

Full-Service Cheese Counters Stake Their Claim in L.A. 

http://www.lamag.com/digestblog/full-service-cheese-counters-stake-their-claim-in-l-a/#comment-12125

It’s like taking that first bite of a watermelon,” explains Leah Park Fierro as she slices into an 85-pound wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano. She’s standing behind the counter at Milkfarm, her new artisan cheese shop that’s a short bike ride from her Eagle Rock home. “The community has been waiting for a place like this,” says the 32-year-old former pastry chef, who after six years of working at the Cheese Store of Silverlake went off on her own.

Fierro is part of a new generation of young cheesemongers eager to take the full-service cheese counter from special-occasion destination to everyday neighborhood stop. Deli cases at upstart shops like Fierro’s may offer a smaller selection than the gourmet emporiums in Beverly Hills or Brentwood, but that’s the appeal: They’re less intimidating.

EAGLE ROCK’S DINING SCENE: 8 OF ITS BEST RESTAURANTS

On-line link: http://www.losangelesregister.com/articles/rock-603032-eagle-chef.html

E-Paper link: http://epaper.ocregister.com/Olive/ODE/LARegister/

Apparently Eagle Rock has had an underground artisanal cheese fan club just waiting for an affineur to open shop. They surfaced in April when Lea Park Fierro, a former pastry chef and Cheese Store of Silver Lake alum, threw open the doors to Milkfarm and local crowds poured in. Dozens of domestic and imported wheels and slabs fill an open case that looks like a Dutch Master’s still life painting. Supplementing the many varieties is an array of charcuterie and a case full of sandwiches on rustic, crusty loaves from Bread Lounge. Four kinds of cheese fill a grilled sandwich (which changes daily) and beef is roasted in house. At the back of the shop, several tables accommodate eating in. The store carries a beautifully curated collection of locally made boutique food specialties that make wonderful host and hostess gifts.

http://www.bovitzinc.com/blog/2014/7/23/inspiration-everywhere

Some of us visited a new cheese and sandwich shop the other day. And, all of us were inspired by it. We had some good cheese, accoutrement, and a well-crafted artisan experience of course. But more than that, it was what they didn’t have that struck us. They don’t have a website. They don’t have menus. They don’t have seats. And they certainly don’t have a loyalty card, rewards program, or any gimmicky promotions. 

http://iamkoream.com/milkfarm-founder-leah-park-fierro-is-the-big-cheese/ 

Leah Park Fierro spent years working as a pastry chef for major hotels before striking it out on her own and opening a shop selling one of her favorite foods: cheese.

The signs were there at a young age: sneaking Kraft singles into the rice cooker and waiting for the cheese to seep into the crevices of the bap; craving the cheese enchiladas from Koreatown’s El Cholo every birthday since she was 5 years old; and to this day, eating room-temperature juk, or rice porridge, side-by-side with cubes of cheddar. Leah Park Fierro was destined to become a cheesemonger.

Neighborhood Watch- Northeast Los Angeles

…Before you go, stock up on provisions at dairy temple Milkfarm, the cheese shop/lunch counter from Leah Park Fierro, formerly of The Cheese Store of Silverlake.

http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2014/06/beyond-cheese-eagle-rocks-milkfarm-stocks-up-on-sandwiches-bread-gourmet-goodies/

EAGLE ROCK –– If there’s one food thing Northeast L.A. needed, it was cheese. While Auntie Em’s on Eagle Rock Boulevard does have a small selection of great cheeses, up until a few weeks ago, the true cheese shop experience required a trip to Pasadena or Silver Lake. But not anymore. Silver Lake Cheese Shop alum Leah Park Fierro has filled the niche with her new Colorado Boulevard shop Milkfarm. The neighborhood spot offers local and imported cheese, assorted meats, local gourmet products, and a glass case overflowing with fresh-made sandwiches and pastries….

Zagat – http://www.zagat.com/b/los-angeles/wheel-house-and-milkfarm-new-cheese-shops-for-culver-city-and-eagle-rock

In Eagle Rock, Leah Park Fierro opened her new shop, Milkfarm, last month. The formerCheese Store of Silver Lake cheesemonger celebrates artisan cheeses, meats and other food products – especially those made in LA. In fact, there are regular “meet the maker” tasting events in the shop with companies like Z Confections caramel corn and Savour This Sauce. While the cheese selection changes regularly, you’ll find familiar hunks and wheels from producers like Humboldt Fog, Point Reyes and Cowgirl Creamery, as well as special appearances from Italy’s Toma Della Rocca among others. And, yes, it’s great to stop in for cheese and all of the extras that make it so delicious, but definitely pop by for lunch: a roster of sandwiches includes things like Applewood smoked bacon with chipotle cheddar, shaved red onion, kale slaw and Dijon on Bread Lounge ciabatta; Iberico salchichon with majorero, chive onion compound butter on ficelle; and pate de campagne with black truffle Dijon, onion and kale slaw. Lunch is available from 11 AM-3 PM, but the shop opens daily at 11 AM and closes at 7 PM (5 PM on Sundays). 2106 W. Colorado Blvd.; 323-892-1068