Cheese Shops We Love: Astoria Bier & Cheese
Astoria Bier & Cheese is equal parts cheese counter, local food goods market, beer bar, sandwich café, and neighborhood hangout. If that isn’t compelling enough, it’s set in a place named as one of the world’s 50 Coolest Neighborhoods by Time Out Magazine.
Prior to the opening of Astoria Bier & Cheese, the Astoria community boasted an impressive selection of feta in its many international markets thanks to a local Greek community, but little else cheese-wise beyond what could be found in a conventional grocery store. Queens was still a couple of years away from having its first brewery since Prohibition; hard to believe given the dozen or so that exist there today.
With his finger on the pulse of the evolving neighborhood, local wine store owner Yang Gao opened the Astoria Bier & Cheese on Broadway in 2012. The immediate response to a single spot for beer and cheese was so great that within 3 years he’d be able to open 2 more locations, another in Astoria, and his first Manhattan outpost—rebranded Milk & Hops for geographical congruity. Each location is now independently operated, with variations on the beer and cheese theme, but the flagship store at 3414 Broadway in Astoria still buzzes with the kind of synergy that made it an instant neighborhood hit, and makes it a worthy cheese—and beer—destination today.
On top of the brightly lit cheese and charcuterie cases at Astoria Bier & Cheese sits a basket of various bread loaves and an impressive wheel of Ewephoria, an aged, amber, sheep’s milk Gouda whose taste and texture recall crunching through a hard butterscotch candy. On the wall behind it, a collage of feline artwork adorns the tile next to the hand-written specials: daily cheese plate offerings, and sandwiches auditioning to become regular menu items. Overhead, a chalkboard lists the current, largely local draft beer selections; any visit longer than an hour means you’ll probably see at least one change. The staff are knowledgeable and casual, the clientele follows suit: neighborhood denizens of all ages, including kids who might find some craft sodas on the lower shelves of the humming grab-and-go beer coolers. On some nights you may catch a local band on the front sidewalk or on the back patio. Should you make your way to the bathroom, you’ll find a mural by local artist Caryn Cast depicting Kim Jong-il milking a cow.
The Cheese
Gao initially engaged Mike Fisher, formerly of Brooklyn’s Bedford Cheese Shop, to put together what would be the borough’s first full service cheese counter, a task for which he recalls being “very excited.” The program has been maintained and adapted since its opening with great success by Queens cheesemonger Carlos Vega. Relying upon relationships with individual farms and creameries as well as distributors, ABC Broadway offers a respectable selection of about 50 cheeses, allowing for both depth and approachability, where old-world stalwarts like Roquefort and Taleggio amicably share the case with closer-to-home standouts such as Nettle Meadow Farm’s Kunik, and Jasper Hill’s Harbison.
Helpful tags for each cheese list the milk type, producer, and country or state of origin, as well as useful tasting descriptors and not just a little humor. Take the following for Reblochon: “GGGEBLUSHOH? GHLEBLEUCHO? It tastes like it sounds—runny and French. How can something smell so clean and dirty at the same time?” The tag for Gjetost, a sweet, Norwegian whey cheese, is written solely in Norwegian.
A small handful of precut selections are available in a grab-and-go cooler—Coastal Cheddar, young manchego, and Cambozola Black Label were on offer on my last visit—alongside olives and prepared items such as homemade beer cheese and a pimento cheese spread. Otherwise, cheese from the case is cut to order.
The Beer
That the first cheese market in Queens would have beer as its partner in crime, rather than wine, speaks to the laid back nature of Astoria. (Gao’s original wine shop is next door, so wine and cheese can be easily acquired together for consumption at home.) By its very price point, beer is a more democratic drink than wine. The most sought after brews top out around $20; this helps to establish a decidedly unpretentious vibe, aiding the notion that cheese can be equally approachable—and also makes for some easy pairing flights, described below.
Upon its opening, Astoria Bier & Cheese would have had only Singlecut to choose from as local brewers go, now their rotating cast of 10 drafts hardly needs to leave the borough, and almost never strays beyond the Northeastern United States. The constantly changing chalkboard menu is a stylistic grid—when one keg kicks, it is replaced by something similar in style—making it easy to assemble your own flight: slot 2 is always a clean pilsner or kölsch, slot 5 is something dark, and slots 6 through 8 are IPAs of varying intensity.
Beer Director Erin Barnicle also stocks the bottle and can coolers with a worldwide array of craft suds, with a strong showing by robust flavors and “unicorn” beers. The Alchemist’s Heady Topper only makes limited appearances outside of its home state of Vermont, but several times a year it can be spotted at Astoria Bier & Cheese.
Astoria Bier & Cheese’s status as a beer-only bar with a market function means you can enjoy a pint or more at the handful of available bar seats or cafe tables, and then take a DIY 6-pack or growler to go at the end of your experience. Any bottles or cans purchased can be enjoyed at a table for a $2 “corkage” fee.
The Café & Market
I fell in love with Astoria Bier & Cheese when I learned you could get the perfect afternoon snack of a cheese plate and a beer for less than $20. Their selection of 5 cheeses for a modest $11 changes periodically and adheres to a basic formula: mild, goat, aged, funky, and blue, with a handful of baguette slices and fig paste morsels for balance. A beer and cheese pairing plate of 4 selections coordinated between Vega and Barnicle also keeps it classic, but changes as often as the kegs do: on a recent visit salty and sweet Coastal Cheddar was paired with a clean KCBC Janiak Maniac Pilsner, rich and tangy Caña de Cabra with bright Lindner’s Summer Shandy Cider, candied Stompetoren with hop-forward Alewife Death to Ego IPA, and fudgy/edgy Fourme au Sauternes with mellow Shorts Soft Parade Fruited Ale. (Visit our partner site Alcohol Professor for a in-depth exploration of beer and cheese pairing.)
Otherwise, the single page food menu features cheese-forward small bites such as cheese curds or a warm pretzel with beer cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches that lean on classic approaches with a twist. The Mary Had a Little Lamb features three types of sheep and goat’s milk cheese: young manchego, goat cheddar, and chèvre.
Beyond the cheese cases, beer fridges, and menu, Astoria Bier & Cheese offers one-stop cheese plate shopping. A variety of international and domestic charcuterie shares real estate with one of the cheese cases. (Head cheese might even make it into the daily sandwich menu.) Artisanal crackers, pickles, and chocolate feature predominantly among the market shelves, as well as preserves, hot sauces, and spreads made by regional purveyors such as Food Snob, Eat This Yum!, and The Gracious Gourmet. The catering menu will even provide you the slate for plating.
A destination for cheese lovers, beer lovers, or just lovers of places that just have a great feel about them, Astoria Bier & Cheese is more than the sum of its individually delightful parts, and a cheese place we love. Visit Astoria Bier & Cheese online for more information.