A restaurant review from Charlotte magazine’s April issue about a gourmet cheese shop and café in Matthews, North Carolina.

Photo by Peter Taylor
“ANY OBJECTIONS?” a server asks after taking my order for a cheese board. What a silly question.
I give her some of my preferences—harder cheeses like pecorino Romano over brie—but cheese is cheese. I have no objections.
On any given day, The Loyalist Market offers more than 40 cheeses and 20 charcuterie options, and owner Chris Sottile can tell you about each of the selections displayed in the glass case. “I get chocolatey bacon notes,” he says, as if he’s just taken a bite of the Bayley Hazen Blue cheese. “A little bit of licorice and earthy notes on the back end … It’s got a little bit more funk on it than some.”