3 Questions

with John Gutierrez

If you don’t like cheese, you’re no friend of mine. Few if any comfort foods are devoid of it, they instantly make any sandwich better and, as we all know, the moon is made out of it. For John Gutierrez, cheese is more than a topping, it’s a passion, and on Thursday at 2 pm, his coagulated dream curdles in the form of Cheesemongers of Santa Fe, a cut-to-order artisan cheese shop smack in the middle of Marcy Street.


When did your love affair with cheese begin?

When I was a customer in Forward Foods in Norman, Okla. It's owned by my business partners in this venture here. In fact, all of the refrigeration in this shop are the first cheese cases I worked with, from the original store. I used to go in every time I got a paycheck, spend hours there and it became more than something I just enjoyed, it became an academic interest, really. I started buying books and reading about cheese in my own time, and I was eventually hired there.

What's been the most interesting part of opening up this shop?
It's all pretty tiring (laughs). It's been a bit of a dream—I get to bring in all of my favorite things. It's like an old-school deli, you get to eat what I like to eat. I work with who I want to work with, I can buy from as many different people as I want to buy from—I have over 70 vendors.

Say you're stuck in a deserted island with nothing but Walmart-brand slices of cheese product for sustenance. What do you do?
Jump into the water.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.