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Let’s Eat: Share some charcuterie with pals at La Fromagerie

Downtown eatery now offers far more than just cheese

If you really want to share in style, La Fromagerie will bring that to a whole other level à la charcuterie.  

Wine, spirits, imported and local cheeses along with tapenade and spreads, flatbreads and other appetizers can all be split down the middle.

It’s that kind of sharing that owner Val Fremlin envisioned when she and friend Kelsey Cutinello took over the restaurant in 2017.

The two worked at The Tap House and decided to try their hand at ownership, re-opening La Fromagerie with a name tweak.  

A Bohemian upscale style was added, along with hanging plants wrapped in macrame, a resituated and beautified bar and expanded patio with an ever changing and expanding menu.  

Fremlin and Cutinello hope this third ownership change to the downtown restaurant on Elgin Street is a charm. And they certainly are putting many more ideas to the test.

The duo has set their sights on trending luxury picnics at the grounds of your choice complete with rattan chairs, tables and textiles.  

Customers can book the La Fromagerie horse trailer mobile bar for their next event. In addition to that, they offer wedding packages, showers and other celebrations complete with decor to go and a co-ordinator.  

It doesn’t end there. Cutinello and Fremlin were successful with local collaborations throughout the lockdowns and plan to continue with that.

“We have done picnic boxes, Mother’s Day boxes, Halloween treats for kids,” says Fremlin.  “Most boxes were for adults. We like partnering with local businesses and that won’t end.”

She says COVID-19 was a scary time for local business, and it was mentally and emotionally draining, but sales are bigger than ever.  

“I wonder if it is because people were sitting behind their cell phones so much and started to take notice of what is around them,” says Fremlin. “Either way, it has made us stronger. We feel like if we get through that, we can achieve anything.”

The duo does not believe in being stale and feel the key to success is the ever changing atmosphere, business plan and menu. They have added colour-changing drinks to go with that theme.

Like the ever-changing menu, the crowd has changed in recent years. What started out as a place for young people and couples, then professors at the School of Architecture has become an anything-goes crowd. Fremlin says the clientele is as eclectic as the menu.

Fremlin says right now customers can’t get enough of dill gouda and port wine derby cheese.  Her favourite is a simple parmesan. But when it comes to the full menu, she likes the baked garlic shrimp and thai peanut salad paired with Perrier or an iced latte.  

To learn more about La Fromagerie hours, its cheese club, and its menu visit the eatery’s website. You can also find them on Facebook at La Fromagerie to book an autumn or Halloween themed luxury picnic for you and friends. 

Anastasia Rioux is a freelance writer and good food lover in Greater Sudbury. Let’s Eat is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.


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