Unusual blue cheeses are available at Boulevard Bread Co.

'We wanted to reinvent ourselves,' says Jason Neidhardt, business manager and self-described cheesemonger at Boulevard Bread Co., after they discovered that, instead of being the unique source of cheese for their customers that they were a few years ago, around 75 percent of their cheese offerings were available at the supermarket down the street. 

Boulevard now buys directly from small farms as well as from a source in Atlanta that provides them with around 20 varieties of domestic artisan cheeses, almost all of them 100 percent organic, including classic and aged Cheddars and blues made in the style of France and Italy.

'All these farmers have gone to Europe to study the craft,' Neidhardt says. 

The cheeses are mostly priced from $15 to $25 per pound. Then there's Rogue River Blue, a raw cow's milk blue-veined cheese made in Oregon and aged up to a year in special rooms built to simulate the ancient caves of Roquefort, France, which is $40 per pound. 'People think that's a lot, then they taste it,' he says. It won Best in Show from the American Cheese Society in 2009.

Boulevard has designated Tuesdays as Cheese Day with cheese prices reduced by 10 percent. 'It's a good way to get people in, get them to try them out,' Neidhardt says. He invites everyone to stop by for a sample any time.