Murray's Cheese Shop and the upset customer.

One of my favorite cheese shops in town is Murray’s Cheese in the village on Bleecker and also their outpost at Grand Central Station.  The staff knows and loves their cheese, and will be glad to let you taste most of it.  You can kill quite a bit of time and put on some pounds while working with one of the staff to find the right selection of cheeses.  The New York Times even featured Murray’s in an article about cheese fanatics in New York.

I once had one of those great New York moments that you have here in the city when you hear other people’s conversations.  For those of you not familiar with New York, this has nothing to do with eavesdropping.   In the rest of the world this would be eavesdropping.  Instead, here it is a factor of the number of people on this small island.  We are often witness to strangers’ lives without even meaning to be a part of them.  And I won’t even mention some of the things I have seen through open windows in this city (at least until a later blog entry!).  A word to the wise, if you don’t want to share your intimate moments with large numbers of Manhattanites, close the drapes!

But back to the story.  While walking down the street past Murray’s I overheard two snobby looking women speaking about the store.  One refused to ever return because she had seen the person who was waiting on her handle the cheese without wearing gloves.  Aghast, she pointed this out to the man behind the counter.  He turned to her and said, “Lady, …it’s cheese.”  Obviously this woman had no sense of humor and didn’t seem to care that she was sticking mold in her mouth.  The waitstaff’s bare hands were just too much for her.

The reality is I have been in Murray’s many times and it is very hygienic, especially for a place that specializes in growing molds and aging cheese!  Having just written this, I have the urge to head down there now and munch on one of their fragrant cheeses.

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