Formaggio Kitchen South End is a unique gourmet food shop in Boston’s historic South End. We hand-select the finest artisan products from Europe and North America, including small production cheeses, charcuterie, hand made sweets, rare spices, pantry staples, natural wines, craft beers, and freshly baked breads from local bakeries.
The original Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge was established in 1978 in the style of specialty shops found throughout Europe. Ihsan and Valerie Gurdal joined the staff in the early 1980s and under the guidance of Ihsan as manager and cheese buyer, the shop developed its unparalleled selection of cheese. Eventually, Ihsan and Valerie took over the business and further built on their desire to bring the European-style of neighborhood shopping to Cambridge and Boston. In 1996 Ihsan built a cheese aging cave in the basement of the shop – the first of its kind in the US. At the cave opening, we were proud to have our loyal customer Julia Child in attendance.
Formaggio Kitchen South End is a unique gourmet food shop in Boston’s historic South End. We hand-select the finest artisan products from Europe and North America, including small production cheeses, charcuterie, hand made sweets, rare spices, pantry staples, natural wines, craft beers, and freshly baked breads from local bakeries.
The original Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge was established in 1978 in the style of specialty shops found throughout Europe. In the 1980s Ihsan and Valerie Gurdal took over the business and further built on their desire to bring the European-style of neighborhood shopping to Cambridge and Boston. In 1996 Ihsan built a cheese aging cave in the basement of the shop – the first of its kind in the US. At the cave opening, we were proud to have our loyal customer Julia Child in attendance.
In 2000, Valerie opened our smaller sister store in Boston. Formaggio Kitchen South End proudly joined Hamersley’s Bistro as one of the first gourmet outposts in this now celebrated historic neighborhood.
In December of 2022 the Formaggio family of stores was purchased by Julia Hallman, longtime General Manager of the Formaggio Huron Ave location, upon the retirement of Valerie and Ihsan. Julia continues to uphold the long Formaggio tradition of sourcing the very best in specialty foods from Europe and the United States.
Cheese
The Formaggio Kitchen family has a 30 year history of sourcing artisanal cheeses directly from small farms and affineurs, giving us a broad and unusual selection. We import the majority of our cheeses ourselves, eliminating middlemen and allowing us to control storage conditions every step of the way from Europe to Boston. We store our cheeses in a temperature and humidity controlled cave below our Cambridge shop. We cut our cheeses to order, and wrap them in special imported cheese paper. If you are looking for a specific cheese, please feel free to call us or email our cheese buyer David at david@formaggiosouthend.com.
Wine
We’re happy to have the opportunity to recommend a wine to pair with your selection of cheeses when you come in. Our space is limited, so we carefully hand select each wine on our shelves. We admire and support sustainable, organic and biodynamic producers and small family wineries who believe in letting the personality of their grapes & land shine through. We strive to meet winemakers in person and whenever possible to visit their properties to gain a more complete idea of the winemaker’s philosophy and terroir, and the local cuisine (especially cheeses!). If you are looking for a particular wine, or would like help with pairings, please feel free to call us at 617-350-6996 or email our wine buyer Julie at julie@formaggiosouthend.com.
Our Kitchen
Each day, our chefs prepare an assortment of seasonal sides and salads to fill our deli case. Our sandwiches are made each morning on fresh breads from local bakeries. Our daily dinner selection is available for pickup after 2pm and our popular roasted chickens are available throughout the day.
In our freezer case you will find ready-to-cook items like cheese gougeres, mini meatloaves, macaroni and cheese and tomato and Bolognese sauces. We also offer housemade chicken, veal and fish stocks, as well as rendered duck fat and leaf lard. Please feel free to contact our kitchen via email to catering@formaggiosouthend.com.
Sustainability
Formaggio Kitchen South End is an active participant in the Save That Stuff composting program, composting all of our biodegradable waste.
As a company we are constantly striving to make small environmentally friendly changes from using biodegradable coffee stirrers to driving a hybrid company car. We are also working to increase the number of organic and sustainably produced products we carry, and now offer a wide variety of organically produced olive oils, vinegars, jams and sweets, and local cheeses, as always from small family farms and businesses