"Maître fromager (cheese master) Afrim Pristine is an inimitable maestro of fine and funky food. 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. You’ll also find a wine bar on the second floor, created in collaboration with Franco Stalteri of Charlie’s Burgers, and Pristine’s famous tourable cheese vault, which secures a million dollars worth of nose-tickling, age-ripened products." - Tiffany Leigh
