The 38 Essential Toronto Restaurants

"Maître fromager (cheese master) Afrim Pristine is an inimitable maestro of his fine and funky edible art. His family has been in the cheese business since the 1970s, and they’ve run this gourmet grocery store and fromagerie on Ripley Avenue in the west end of the city since 2000, when they moved from the original Bloor Street outpost. In a not-so-subtle quest to take over the entire block, the cheese empire has expanded into a 12,000-square-foot epicurean emporium filled to the gills with artisan charcuterie, olive oils, truffles, fresh produce, prepared foods, and over 500 varieties of wheels, wedges, slices, and hunks. (There’s an additional bodega/bakery/homewares store in a separate building, as well.) You’ll also find a brand-new wine bar on the second floor, created in collaboration with Charlie’s Burgers’ Franco Stalteri (a speakeasy dinner party organizer-turned-wine subscription connoisseur and educator). If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, the biggest spotlight is saved for Pristine’s famous tourable cheese vault, securing over $1.1 million USD of nose-tickling, age-ripened products." - Tiffany Leigh