Zutz Cheese House

I had family visiting from out of state and they wanted to go to a cheese shop. We drove there and the place looked abandoned; Christmas decorations in the windows. I called to see if they were open before we approached on foot. The man on the other end of the line answered with “Hello?”, which is odd for a business number. I asked if they were open and he said, “No, I didn’t make it in today” and then said something about there being a lot of brush to clear after the storm the previous night. I said, “ok, thank you”, to which he asked, “What did you want?” I said, “To buy some cheese!”, with an incredulous tone! He just responded flatly, oh no not today or something along those lines…. What a way to run a business!

Dennis started right in about a college football story from the night before. It was a great comeback story that we appreciated since the Packers lost the week before and we were there to get great cheese which we absolutely did for the Packers home opener that night. Since we were tailgating, he sliced the cheese and meat for us. Great guy, great place, great experience! Be sure to take time for a story and to look at all of the antiques in the shop:

I remember Zutz's from decades ago. The building is well worn. There was a flag outside that said "open". The store didn't look like it was open. Went inside, it's kind of dark. A friendly fellow came down the stairs and turned the lights on. There was one cooler that was chocked full of various cheeses, cheddar, Asiago, and Swiss, oh my. We were attracted to the ghost pepper cheese. We were warned it's not for the weak. After getting it home we found it really good. This is a low key little store that sells cheese and various Wisconsin gift type items. You will get into a conversation with the owner, who is a nice guy. When it came to pay for our cheese we were informed that the store hasn't joined the 21st century yet, as they don't take any plastic. We drove to a nearby Kwik Trip to hit an ATM. Bottom line, this is not a big store like the other cheese places in the area. But the place does have wonderful cheese; and it is worthy of patronage. Bring cash.

A great variety of handcrafted cheeses from a true mom-and-pop operation. True Wisconsin dairyland genius!