Grate expectations: Cheese expert dishes on DC’s cheesiest cravings

In the D.C. region, conversations often start with, “What do you do?” WTOP’s series “ Working Capital ” profiles the people doing the work that makes the region unique.

Jill Erber turned her fondness for cheese into a community staple when she opened Cheesetique , a cheese and wine shop nestled in Alexandria, Virginia’s Del Ray neighborhood, in 2004.

Over the past 20 years, Erber has seen Cheesetique grow from a quaint storefront to a neighborhood institution with an adjacent restaurant space as well as a long line of online and in-person events, including workshops, tastings and festivals.

Erber’s devotion to cheese began soon after the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s. Her job at the time was in software development and software development management, but after losing her job, she joined her brother-in-law’s food importation company where she directed sales.

“My job was to work with chefs in the D.C. area and sell them everything from butter to flour to sugar to cheese,” Erber said. “And what I found is that the cheese was the one thing that the chefs would always ask me to come in and teach them about.”

As she taught chefs more and more about cheese, her passion for cheese grew at the same time to the point where she decided to open a specialized shop dedicated to cheeses.

What’s changed about DC cheese culture since 2004?

Cheesetique is certainly not the first cheese shop in the D.C. region, as seen with Bowers Fancy Dairy Products in Eastern Market, which has been operating since 1964 .

Working Capital

But Erber said when she first opened the business over two decades ago, people at the time “didn’t really understand it,” saying Cheesetique seemed like “kind of this cool novelty.”

Erber told WTOP she has also seen the interest in specific cheese food trends come and go since opening, in part sparked by people’s international travels as well as the advent of social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

“People are seeing and learning about these amazing products from all over the world that they otherwise would never have had an opportunity to even witness, much less enjoy,” Erber said.

“So what we found is that as technology and as people’s travel has increased, so too, has their interest in trying new and interesting things.”

What has remained the same within the last decade or so, though, is the interest in American-made, homegrown cheeses. There’s still persistent interest in cheeses from France, Italy and Spain, but locally made artisan cheeses are “something they can be proud of now,” said Erber.

These American-born cheeses can include cheddars and soft-ripened cheeses similar to Brie, but, according to Erber: “We really can make pretty much every kind of cheese here.”

A few of the local farms that Cheesetique works with include FireFly Farms in Accident, Maryland, and Meadow Creek Dairy in Galax, Virginia, and Keswick Creamery in Newburg, Pennsylvania.

But Cheesetique also works with international businesses to supply some of the best cheese and wine products — a pursuit that comes with its own challenges that many other businesses are also currently experiencing.

“Many of the goods that we carry are from Europe and other places that are having tariffs increased, and we’re definitely seeing those cost increases,” Erber said. “What we’re also seeing is producers and importers and distributors trying as hard as they can to absorb as many of those costs as they can so that they’re not passing it along to, you know, the little guys at the end like us.”

She said there is currently “a lot of cooperation” happening to minimize the tariffs’ impacts on businesses like Cheesetique, and she said she hopes to “absorb” those potential increased costs as long as they can.

“No price changes, not yet, but the price changes will be coming soon if things continue like this,” Erber said.

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