Cheese Hunt: Santa Maria Lacteos, Melrose Park

Cheese Hunt: Santa Maria Lacteos, Melrose Park

Mexican cheese has been on my mind lately, and driving back from a morning meeting along Lake Street in Melrose Park, I saw Santa Maria Lacteos and skidded to the curb.

I went in looking for queso Oaxaca, and got some of that (for those as ignorant of Mexican cheese as I am, this is the cheese frequently used in quesadillas – it’s very white and melts beautifully).

Speaking with the extremely friendly signorita (who must have offered me samples of six different cheeses during the 10 minutes I was in her store), I started to take an interest in some of the slightly aged cheeses. Cincho is a crumbly Mexican cheese that usually comes in a large orange block, big as two VW tires stacked on top of one another – you can see these mammoth mounds here and there on Maxwell Street. I tried some of the cincho, and compared to the fresh queso Oaxaca, this cheese had a depth of flavor that I really liked: kind of nutty and tangy, but not as aggressive as some of the funkadelic fromage I’ve been feasting upon lately (http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=6452). Got some of that, too.

I also sampled some fresh cheese from Jalisco and Michoacan, which was extremely mild…perhaps too mild for my jaded tongue.

Santa Maria Lacteos is a good local source for south of the border cheese as well as tamales, a selection of chili, some homemade moles, and huitlacoche (canned).

Santa Maria Lacteos
2216 W. Lake
Melrose Park
708.450.0322

Hammond

Did you notice or were you able to find a Oaxacan cheese with epazote and chiles. This was our first cheese purchase in Oaxaca city, we bought about 5 pesos ($.50) worth for a chunck as big as my fist. The texture of the outside the cheese was shaped like the draining basket and tasted a bit like a fresh farmer's cheese aside from the chiles and epazote. Needless to say, we bought several others like it, some with more salt than others, but that first...you'll always remember your first.

David, thanks for the report. I wonder if this is a branch of the store on 26th Street that bjt posted on:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2995

I also have a post about visiting there:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3065

Santa Maria Lacteos (y Cremeria)
3424 W. 26th St.
773-277-1760

The one in La Villita is a great store -- how wonderful to have their selection available elsewhere too!

Amata

pdaane wrote:Did you notice or were you able to find a Oaxacan cheese with epazote and chiles. This was our first cheese purchase in Oaxaca city, we bought about 5 pesos ($.50) worth for a chunck as big as my fist. The texture of the outside the cheese was shaped like the draining basket and tasted a bit like a fresh farmer's cheese aside from the chiles and epazote. Needless to say, we bought several others like it, some with more salt than others, but that first...you'll always remember your first.

Peter, I remember you asking about this cheese, and they didn't have it there, though they did have a lot of other stuff I've got to try. I picked up another brand of the queso Oaxaca at Marion Street Market (just for comparison) -- it was much smoother in texture, but I'm not sure if it differed much in flavor. Sourced in Wisconsin.

Amata wrote:David, thanks for the report. I wonder if this is a branch of the store on 26th Street that bjt posted on:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2995

Amata

Amata, yes, I believe it's the same operation...never noticed it before in Melrose, so I think it's new to the neighborhood.