Birmingham - supermarket cheese

[sheilal]

A few years ago, some Bham supermarkets used to offer Goya brand cheese. The most memorable was the chipotle cheddar. It was wonderful. Creamy with a nice kick to it. Goya also made a deli-sliced cilatro turkey that was to die for! Srsly - it puts Boarshead and others to shame. Does anyone know if these are offered anywhere in the city - perhaps a local mercado?

[curej]

Seems like this thread has died. I'm going to try to revive it with a related theme:
What are you favorite cheeses that are available locally? Where do you buy them? What wine, beer, fruit, nuts, preserves/jams, or whatever, do you pair them with?

[curej]

Best Birmingham cheese selection overall is probably Whole Foods. Try Wal Mart for Goya cheese. They carry a lot of other Goya items.

[sheilal]

I've already tried several Walmarts, Publix, Winn Dixie, & Piggly Wiggly. No Goya to be had. I thoughts perhaps some of the Hispanic food hounds could respond if they'd seen it in an ethnic market. So far, nada.

[curej]

Lo siento mucho.

[Big Daddy]

Two places to check, both mercados: El Mercado at the corner of Green Springs and West Valley, the plaza up on the hill. Its sister store is on Hoover off Lorna Road. It, too, is up on a hill, at the light where Centennial Drive goes off to the left and Colonia Drive goes to the right. Turn right (there's a self-serve car wash as a landmark). Those are your two best bets. I don't remember seeing Goya brand lunchmeats and cheese there, but I've never specifically looked for them there. If you strike out at the meat counter, check the refrigerator cases for the cheeses.

[CamJ]

The Piggly Wiggly on Clairmont Ave. (which is terrible) may be worth a peep. They do carry Goya products & mexican cheeses but I am not sure if they have Goya cheese.

I 2nd the Cabot's cheese. The jalapeno (heck, the light jalapeno too) & habanero cheeses are great.

[sheilal]

I've tried the Cabot cheese, but honestly, they don't hold a candle to Goya.

[Dax]

I emailed their customer service was advised that they do not sell their cheeses in this area. Good luck.

[sheilal]

Thanks Dax! I never even thought about doing that. Not the news I wanted, but hey, at least now I know.

[Dax]

Not sure as I have never seen Goya brand cheese or meats.

But boar's head tends to put out about the most bland, water-filled meat products on the market. I have no idea why people revere them so much (although their natural casing hot dogs are not bad, albeit too lean). V Richard's house cooked deli meats are not bad (the roast beef specifically, although I wish it was a little on the rarer side); I haven't tried the ones at TRIA.

On a different note, I love Cabot's habanero jack cheese which I have found at a few local Westerns. Nice kick.

[pinotboy]

Just FYI, TRIA closed about two weeks ago.

[Dax]

Edit: website reads "Tria is Closed for Remodeling. We will be open again in May!" I heard there are new owners?

[pinotboy]

It is not reopening as TRIA. Here is a link to an article from The Birmingham News explaining what will replace it:

http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2009/...

[Dax]

Interesting. I would rather have kept TRIA but then again I rarely went because V Richard's is so close to my house.

[Big Daddy]

Tria is a huge loss. They had one of the best cheese counters in town, and someone who knew cheese who would cut it fresh (don't snerk) and to order.
They had a great butcher counter that stocked Duroc and Berkshire pork, did their own charcuterie (including a fantastic tasso and Berkshire bacon), and sold both aged and regular prime beef.
When Tria opened, its salumi selection was second to none. The slow evaporation of the salumi choices ended up foreshadowing the entire store's fate.
And what's more, they were extremely friendly folks.
The V offers much of that. But the competition made the V a little better than it was before Tria.

[birminghamvisitor]

I could not agree more! Tria is a huge loss...where else can I get dry aged mead?

And I too agree that V Richards has stepped up a bit since Tria and Whole Foods came in. Lets hope they keep it up!

And FWIW I pretty much refuse to go to Whole Foods.