IN THE MOOD FOR FOOD
Cheese rules at Takeaway Gourmet
Shopping at Takeaway Gourmet feels like a microbrewery experience, but with cheese.
As soon as you walk in, owner Aleana Young or her lone staff member Rebecca Toderian greet you by offering a sample.
Free cheese was a no-brainer for Young: “You wouldn’t buy a crazy looking cheese without being confident that you’d like it,” she says.
And there are some unusual cheeses here, although Young says she tries to stock eight “normal” cheeses.
She runs through all 14 varieties from mildest to most adventurous, beginning with her gateway cheese: The mild and creamy Chateau de Bourgogne from France, which was responsible for her “great cheese awakening of 2011.”
Others are more intense and Young doesn’t pull any punches in describing them.
There are cave-aged cheeses that “smell strongly of cat.”
There’s a goat’s milk cheese that tastes like a “lovely alpine meadow.”
The wrinkly Langres has a “farmy” taste. Concave, it’s traditionally eaten after soaking in Champagne.
These are all French, but Young’s supply extends to Britain, Spain, the Netherlands and Canada.
The “geai bleu,” a creamy blue cheese made of raw cow’s milk, comes from New Brunswick.
There’s a citrusy cheddar from Quebec that was aged in a stone silo.
And she has some salty Balkanstyle feta from Moose Jaw’s Coteau Hills Creamery.
Young’s love of cheese began while she was a university student in Montreal. There, she also discovered bagels.
Living blocks away from StViateur Bagel, she frequented the 24/7 bakery, whether it was on the way home from the bar at 2 a.m. or running to class at 8 a.m.
After moving to Regina in 2011, Young missed those bagels.
“You cannot get good bagels in Saskatchewan,” says Young. “There’s many things this province does well; we don’t have good homegrown bagels.”
In the years since, she occasionally had some shipped to share with friends. Now she’s doing it more often — every Thursday for her customers.
Her first order of 30 dozen lasted a day and a half. In the second week, she sold out within hours. For the third week, she ordered 70 dozen.
Young’s retail-owner journey began last spring, when she had to quit her part-time job at Pacific Fresh Fish to make time to run in the provincial election. She missed the social aspect of the job.
In the time since, she contemplated quitting her full-time office job with the City of Regina to risk opening her own store.
Until this spring, she didn’t feel she had a good enough reason — then she found a storefront in Cathedral.
She quietly opened Takeaway Gourmet July 25 and has been busy since.
Among Young’s customers are a “lot of ex-pat Quebecers” and a “lot of very happy French women,” but also local people who are willing and excited to try something new.
On her first Saturday in business, says Young, “I fully sold out of cheese.”
For the record, she does sell more than just cheese and bagels.
There are infused oils from Italy, chocolate croissants from Quebec, hot sauces from Vancouver, syrups, vinegars and cocktail mixes. Her Regina stock includes pies by Chef Malcolm, take-away meals by Best Food Forward, Mix granola, Sweet Tree preserves and Acre 10 tomatoes. She also has charcuterie from The Cure in Saskatoon and Gravelbourg mustard.
Takeaway Gourmet is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 2124 Robinson St.