There's a New Kid on the Cheddar Block!

I was supposed to go to a friend's Taste of Home Entertaining party Saturday but I had written down the directions to party-giver's house address wrong and never could find it. On the way home I happened to glance over at a shopping mall and saw this sign:

Two of my favorite words:  "gourmet" and "cheese". Springfield isn't as small as it used to be but it's still small town enough that those two words together prompted me to flip a quick "U"ie right in the middle of Republic Road which prompted the guy behind me to flip a quick something too but I'm fairly sure it wasn't a "U"ie.

Walking in the front door I beheld a mini Dean & DeLuca, complete with wire chef's-shelved displays in the middle, wooden shelves and barrels along the walls, and a row of cheese and meat coolers across the back, along with chalkboard specials on the wall.  I could almost hear the angels singing over my head and see that movie spotlight honing in on me.  It was an ethereal moment.

Smack dab, the first display that accosted me was Rothschild's, which is now much more than raspberries. Rothschild's was my first introduction to "gourmet" food back in The Plant Boutique days when everyone went there to get uber cool snacks for home parties like for the one I was supposed to be arriving at right at that moment.  The Roth seems almost quaint to me now, but looking over all the new labels I'm sure I'll still be buying for old times' sake.  The raspberry honey mustard was a standard.  You really can't beat it. 

But there was much more to see in this new place.

As I wandered around the room I found regional honeys, capers, olives, TRUFFLES, dipping oils, multi-colored pastas, striped multi-colored pastas, grilling planks, French gray salt, and expeller pressed oils in cans that light won't penetrate and degrade them.  I found dressings and seasonings by our home girl Paula Deen and I left lipstick prints on at least one jar of something with The Barefoot Contessa's logo on it.  I don't even remember what it was. I was just so damn happy to see her.  In MY town.

What a great day.

And then I saw it. From across the room I saw "it".  I bee-lined across the room to "it" only to be met by the owner of the shop, a nice lady named Jana, who asked me if she could help me find anything.  Instead of helping me find anything, she simply wiped my tears of joy with the bottom of her apron.  I only need to say four words to you and you will understand the scene completely:  Springfield + Missouri + King + Arthur.  KING ARTHUR!  And then I saw the other "it" that goes along with King Arthur:  Nielsen-Massey.  Yes, kids, you can indeed get great baking products in our berg again.  The ghost of the Parisian Pantry stirs.

I passed out on the spot.  Awakening, I told the tin man and the scarecrow that I'd had a lovely dream that you could buy King Arthur flour and Nielsen-Massey extracts in this town and, oh, what a laugh we had. Wait. It's true.  Shake yourself, it's not a dream.  Everyone within a hundred miles of here, put down what you're doing right now and run straight for the The Cheddar Block on West Republic Road.  LET'S BAKE!

We're not even done yet.

Cheese.  Cured Meats.  The Dairy Case.  Let the photos speak for themselves on this one.  Jana said they try to keep at least 150 kinds of cheese on hand at any time.  That made the Christmas/Santa "I left him cheeeeeeese" commercial play in my head and I was probably grinning as big as that little girl. There were French hard cheeses and Swedish soft cheeses, cow's milk, goat's milk, white, orange, and in the case of a port cheddar, a dark purple cheese.  I wanted to swan dive in and bathe in the deli cases of cheese and Italian hams but I also wanted to be allowed to come back to the store so good manners won out.  For the moment. 

Above the meat counter is an array of jarred products opened for tasting and at the store's grand opening on July 14th, they'll have product tastings by six of their vendors.  So we're all meeting there that Saturday morning, right?

The Cheddar BLOCK  1440 West Republic Road, Springfield, MO

Hours:  Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm

Web site: www.thecheddarblock.com  (domain can be bookmarked but web site creation is still in process)

Owners:  Chris and Jana Daugherty

Soon, Jana said, they'll be adding cheese tastings and cooking classes. Keep checking the web site for more information.

Wanna see what I bought? Okay. Twist my arm and click below for my mini shopping spree and more pics of the shop.

Glenna's take:

Okay sort of left to right and back to front:  expeller-pressed canola and walnut oils, tri-color pasta, Maine Lemon salt, Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste, Benning goat cheese, Munchego cheese, black truffles, anchovy paste, Paula Deen's seasoning salt, Parrona cheese, Asiago cheese, King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, and Plugra european style no salt added butter.

Let's tour, shall we?

Here's a shot of the lovely Jana, the tasting counter above the meat display case, and the chalk specials' board:

Our girl Paula Deen:

Our other girl, Ina:

Multi-colored striped pastas:

Gray salt:

Grilling supplies:

That's only the highlights. I forgot to photograph the King Arthur and Nielsen-Massey stuff altogether. Can you believe it? 

Next time you're on that side of town stop in to say hello, pick up some goodies, and tell 'em Glenna sent you.

By the way, I did eventually make it to the Taste of Home Entertaining party and ordered a really pretty square footed cake stand and a grill pan that I've been wanting to buy for a while. 

But now I'm done. No more spending money for at least a month!

Comments

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

Now, Glenna, don't you just know getting lost is the absolutely best way to find yourself!
Would you say you liked this place?
Great photos! So glad you finally made it to the party and home so you could post this one.

[sher]

I remember you at Dean & Delucca, so I can imagine the ecstatic trance you went into at this place! It looks great! I predict they will see a lot of you there. :):) By the way, I love that Plugra butter. It's sooooo delicious.

[Glenna]

Tanna--Okay, I liked it maybe a little. :-) Glad I got lost too! That was well worth driving all over that end of town.

Sher--I know! It was just like that. Me worshipping at the King Arthur altar. Can't wait to try the butter. I've seen it on the net and Auntie Miranda told me one of their factories makes it, but never had the pleasure until now. Yum!

[candy]

first, thanks SO much for commenting on my blog! i was starting to fear noone liked me :( anyway, i appreciate it.

this place sounds so awesome! in KC i have a favorite store called better cheddar but the cheddar block sounds like the same concept only bigger & with more stuff. if i'm ever in springfield, i'll have to put this place on my list.

[Tartelette]

WOw! What a great store! I would go crazy in there and probbaly spend all my money and then some!

[Alisha]

I am so jealous!!! You'd think as big a town as Vegas is we'd have something even remotely similiar. *sigh*

BTW, what color cake plate did you get? I have the olive one (love it but wish it had a lid) and I also have the grill pan (love it too!)

[Steamy Kitchen]

incredible store! bake away girl, bake away!

[LBP]

I never realized how lucky I am to live in Boston - the land of Trader Joe's, Whole Foods... Every grocery store no matter how ghetto carries at the very least some sort of King Arthur Flour! Though I had never heard of the Nielsen-Massy extracts. Must resist buying more baking goods...

[foodierachel]

OMG! That store sounds AWESOME! I'm totally going.

[Glenna]

Candy--my pleasure! And I think they might be related somewhat. I did a goodle search and they do seem to be similar. Very cool! We live in the same state and we both have a gourmet cheese/foods store. yay for us!

Helene--Yep, that's MY plan! LOL!

Alisha--Oh surely you guys have something! Man, I can't imagine all that great food coming into the hotels and no one thinking to open a store for the locals. On the other hand, yeah, I sort of can. Call the culinary institute and see if they've heard of anyplace local to buy from...???

I got the mustard one.

SK--LOL! Oh man, don't you know I will be!

LBP--Yes, you're back east. you're right. You have access we don't. I used to mail order Nielsen Massey when I had the cake business because I simply couldn't get it here any other way. Wild, huh?

Rachel--Go for it! Tell Jana and Chris I said "Hi!"

[Dianne]

OMG, Glenna. We have been web-looking at houses in MO., and the only reason I shied away from Springfield is because I thought the only foodie shops would be in St. Louis, or maybe K.C. Where I live now, I have to drive for about an hour to buy any gourmet goodies/supplies.

[Glenna]

Dianne--fear Springfield no more! That is pretty funny. We actually do have foodie stuff available in this town, you just have to know where to go. We also have some very good chefs who do cooking classes, the grocery stores are finally starting to bring in higher grades of products and more ethnic products, and the farmers' markets, orchards, and family farms are excellent. We also have a local dairy who's milk stays here and is convenient to get to and local free range chicken farms for eggs with high omega-3's. It's not as bad as I joke about.

[play station 2 console]

Nice site. Thanks!

[gina.tohe]

Glenna,

So glad you made it to Carolyn's Taste of Home Entertaining party. It was great meeting you. Do me a favor and check out our new catalog http://gina.tohe.com/catalog for me. I would love the opinion of a real "foodie".

Gina Smith

[gina.tohe]

That link isn't working - try this one, then click on the catalog. Thanks for the feed back. http://gina.tohe.com

[Glenna]

Thanks for commenting Gina