Exploring the Cheese Cave

If you want to talk about cheeses made in America, Stephen Catania’s got plenty to say. It’s a growth industry, he’d tell you, with new artisan cheese makers popping on the radar all the time. There’s really great stuff out there, he’d explain in greater detail, and the country’s really starting to catch up.

If you want to talk about American cheese, well, just don’t. The best you’ll get out of him is silence, accompanied by a look of disappointment. This isn’t a place for the processed, nor is it a place for the mass-produced. Everything here’s got a story behind it, and Catania’s going to tell it.

Catania just opened his new shop, The Cheese Cave, over the weekend on Monmouth Street. He’s not looking just to sell product, but to educate new and experienced palates alike about what’s new and exciting in the world of cheese.

As customers wandered in Sunday afternoon, each of them talking cheese and taking advantage of the shop’s samples, Catania said this is what he hopes will separate his shop from any market, super or otherwise, that deigns to open a cheese counter, complete with plastic grapes and orange sales stickers.

“We’re giving people a greater appreciation of what’s out there,” he said while holding chestnut leaf-covered goat cheese. “What sets us apart is that we are a niche business and we’re going to have great niche products.”

Better than just great niche products, in this case cheese, is the knowledge that comes along with it. Catania, a trained chef with more than 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, said he knows flavors and textures, and can provide insights on the best food and drink pairings, from wines to spreads.

You’re not getting the wide variety of cheeses, including those that are more challenging, at your local supermarket, he said. Even places like Whole Foods, a store Catania lauds for its efforts in putting together decent artisan cheese displays, don’t have the quality, or the knowledgeable staff, that his business does.

“I think that’s another part of the distinction for us, our level of expertise and service,” he said. “It’s all about helping people gain a greater appreciation and to keep them coming back.

“We try to get some kind of a baseline for what people like. If they’re not sure then we’re going to take them through it.”

The process of opening his own shop began in earnest more than a year ago as Catania looked to branch out on his own. The Middletown resident said Red Bank was a perfect fit for a number of reasons, including the foot traffic and other specialty shops in the area.

The Cheese Cave has been open for two days and already Catania is talking partnerships. He said he’s spoken with the owner of the nearby to start hosting joint , and on his first day the owners of , a restaurant on Broad Street, came in to purchase cheese for an impromptu cheese plate featured on their dinner menu.

Not content to only try and make this business thing work, Catania has also taken it upon himself to introduce customers to the more than just respectable artisan cheeses made here in America. Though his counter is full of cheese from Spain and France and England, there’s plenty of the good stuff found throughout the United States.

The American Cheese Society gives awards to the best domestic cheeses. In the past decade the number of entrants has jumped from about 200 to more than 1400, and a lot of it is good cheese, too.

Catania has made it a point to feature several American-made award-winning artisan cheeses in his shop.

“I also wanted to make sure we were exposing people to the industry of cheese making here in America, which has gone unrecognized,” he said. 

For information about the shop, contact or otherwise, visit The Cheese Cave website here.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our gallery above for a sampling of some of the great cheeses available at the Cave. Sure, it’s not as good as getting to taste it – you’ll have to go to the shop to do that – but it’s a feast for the eyes nonetheless.