[Photo: Kathy YL Chan]

At Saxelby Cheese inside the Essex Street Market, cheese might be the focus, but don't forget that they turn out excellent sandwiches here, and offer fabulous butter: $13.99 a pound, from Evans Farmhouse Creamery. It doesn't come cheap, but is well worth the money. A half-pound lasts me precisely two weeks: perfect, as that's how long the butter stays fresh. If you plan to keep it longer, wrap in wax and then plastic, and store in the freezer. A creamy yellow, it's luxurious, and for lack of better words, intensely buttery beyond dreams; pure and silky is how it feels in your mouth, and just a hint salty, depending on the season and batch. It's a fine balance with a sweet fruit jam smothered on toast. It will be hard to return to supermarket butter after this...

Saxelby Cheese

120 Essex Street, New York NY 10002 (map)
212-228-8204
saxelbycheese.com

About the author: Originally from Honolulu, Kathy YL Chan writes A Passion For Food, where she chronicles her eats and travels adventures between Hawai'i, New York and beyond. She firmly believes that there is always room for dessert.