The Cheese Store of Silver Lake will plan your whole evening

Walk into The Cheese Store of Silver Lake on Sunset with no plan and walk out with a complete evening: a custom cheese board, a bottle of natural wine somebody behind the counter actually stands behind, cured meats, the right crackers, a jam you didn't know you needed. It is not a restaurant. It is the store you stop at so that whatever happens next is better.

The thing that separates it from a fancy grocery aisle is the counsel. The staff treat cheese the way good record store clerks treat music: ask for something funky and washed-rind, or something your picnic guests won't be scared of, and you get a confident answer, a taste, and usually a short education. The wine wall leans natural and biodynamic, the olive oil is imported and serious, and the mozzarella is the kind you eat in the car.

It has been a Silver Lake institution long enough to have a loyal following that treats it as essential infrastructure for dinner parties, Dodger-game picnics, and apology gifts. A 4.8 rating from the neighborhood confirms what the line on a Saturday afternoon already tells you.

Go before your next dinner party. Ask for help. Trust them.