Austin J. A.
Yelp
I love Wasik's. In addition to cheese, they have a huge selection of other foods, like artisan pastas (they have a striped lasagna that's out of this world), nearby and faraway gourmet comestibles (their collection of candy from the UK is a welcome sight, as is their local maple syrup), and dried mushrooms (hello, morels by the pound). There's always something new at Wasik's; a few months ago, there were photos of Julia Child for sale! That was really cool.
I love cheese, but I can't talk intelligently about it at all. Yet despite this, I have never once encountered a single worker at Wasik's who was anything but kind, cheerful, and incredibly helpful. Try walking into, say, DePrisco's and getting that kind of response! ;) These folks are cheese rockstars. They've helped me to shop by geographical region, by pairing (food and drink that will be served with said cheese), by ingredients (what animal/animals did the milk come from? is the rind herb-crusted?), and by Don't Be A Wuss Just Try This Delicious Thing You Needn't Be Afraid Of We Swear You'll Love It.
One of the coolest things about the staff at Wasik's is that they are always genuinely interested in what I'm doing with the foods/ingredients I'm buying. "What's that?" they'll ask when I talk about a dish they've never had, and "oh, you're having THAT? how delicious! enjoy!" when they're caught in the same food reverie that I'm caught in.
The Wellesley shopping vibe can be really eye-rolling, but not at Wasik's. The workers are all rockstars. The customers are really neat foodie regulars, who all seem to either know each other or know the cheesemongers, and everyone talks and shares news and there's often a short line and that leaves just enough time to sniff, gawk, and ponder further tasty acquisitions before it's your turn. I think a full 50% of my Wasik's hauls have been the result of waiting in line and accidentally seeing something delicious that I must have.
I have to be totally honest: walking down Center Street in Wellesley, you can really tell when you're passing Wasik's because the cheese cave must vent to the outdoors - and it is *such* a cheese cave smell that spills out onto the sidewalk! You don't smell THAT every day!