There’s a new cheese shop with a unique hook coming to Cutchogue.
Paige Pfeifer, owner of The Cheese Patch wine bar in Patchogue, is planning to open The French Picnic this summer next to Karen’s Country Deli on Main Road.
“I’m trying to focus on picnic baskets for people to take to the wineries or in-between the wineries,” Pfeifer said. “It’s going to be a little cheese shop with some outdoor seating.”
The Cheese Patch has been open for 10 years and Pfeifer wanted to have a small but elegant space on the North Fork. She plans to feature and highlight both local and other wines at The French Picnic, as well as gourmet cheeses, which will all be paired in the baskets.
“I’m definitely going to feature local wines, but what I want to do is replicate the wine map and feature the wineries that still allow food to be brought in,” she said.
Pfeifer plans to have several different baskets with wines and cheeses, including French, Spanish, Italian and North Fork varieties.
“I feel like you can break the rules with pairings,” she said. “It’s exciting for me to wow and surprise somebody.”
A lifelong Patchogue resident, Pfeifer has long wanted to expand to the East End.
“People order platters in advance to go out east and have been suggesting I should do something there,” she said. “So I thought it would be nice to have that with The French Picnic.”
If the new concept is a success, Pfeifer would love to expand all over.
“I’d love to do this throughout the United States, eventually maybe grow it into something big like Edible Arrangements,” she said.
Pfeifer plans to open The French Picnic in July.
