Whey cool! Binghamton alumna runs The Curd Nerd in Syracuse

This story is pure cheese.

It’s fancy artisanal cheese, with names like Manchego El Trigal Reserva, Adiron-Jack Nettle Meadow and Tête de Moine.

But it’s also the grocery-store cheese aisle that lured a would-be medical student to an entirely different sort of future. The kind of cheese where two Binghamton University juniors end up renting the same apartment and spending their lives together, opening a corner fromagerie along the way.

Known as The Curd Nerd, their shop is a popular draw in Syracuse’s Eastwood neighborhood. Driven in part by social-media smarts, the business has grown considerably since the shop opened in 2022, and it’s well on the way to becoming a household name, locally speaking.

It’s an ideal pairing: fromagerie and upstate city, and Sarah and Matthew Simiele, both ’20 alumni. When the couple married last fall, they didn’t opt for a traditional wedding cake.

“Our cake was made out of a wheel of cheese,” Sarah recounts with a laugh. “We cut pieces and fed each other a piece of cheese. We also had cupcakes for the guests.”

From pre-med to Cheese Club

Every piece of cheese has a story, interwoven with many strands: the slip of land upon which animals graze, the work of farmers and artisans, the intricate process that uses microbiology to turn milk into something solid and tasty.

Sarah’s own cheese story began in her sophomore year at Binghamton University. The Queens native was on a pre-medical track, focusing on cellular and molecular biology, and feeling a bit burned out. She perked up when she saw a message from fellow students trying to get a Cheese Club off the ground.

“I was like, ‘I am all over this!’” she remembers.

She offered her aid and helped the Cheese Club attain official status, becoming its first official president. During the club’s first two years, she helped organize popular events, including a tour of the local Wegmans.

“They brought us in and I realized, ‘Oh, people do this as a career! I don’t have to go to medical school,’” she says. “Sitting there on the bus back to campus, I knew: This is all I want to do.”

Back home in the Big Apple, she landed a job as a Brooklyn cheesemonger. As it happens, her biological sciences degree proved a boon to her career choice: The creation of cheese, after all, relies on bacteria, mold and fungus. During her first shift, she was hooked — a feeling she never experienced during hospital tours and internships in the medical field. What’s the appeal?

“The interpersonal connection, being able to tell the stories of the cheesemakers and the farmers, and the people that really build America. It’s why I do this,” Sarah explains. “I also do it for that moment when you give someone a piece of cheese and it becomes their favorite.”

After Matthew received a job offer as a systems engineer, the couple relocated to Syracuse. Unfortunately, their move happened during the coronavirus pandemic, making it difficult to establish friendships. Sarah took jobs here and there, but didn’t get the same feeling she had at her Brooklyn gig.

Matthew, then, had a proposal: Take the money that they were saving for a home renovation and open the cheese shop of Sarah’s dreams instead.

“We still don’t have a dishwasher and our house is 100 years old. But we do have a fully functional corner cheese shop,” Sarah quips.

During the first six months, The Curd Nerd focused on explaining the concept of a fromagerie to those unfamiliar and getting the word out about their products. Social media provided a needed boost, with frequent posts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter (back when the social media service used that name). Six months in, they rolled out an event program that took them all over Syracuse, offering classes on cheeses, cheeseboards and pairings.

Today, they have a consistent customer base and hired staff, including a Binghamton alum as shop supervisor. While Matthew still works full-time as a systems engineer, he also functions as the shop’s chief financial officer and helps at the counter on weekends.

The Curd Nerd can also add another adjective to its description: award-winning. This summer, Sarah was named the best cheesemonger in the country after defeating 37 competitors during the annual Cheesemonger Invitational in Brooklyn. The intense competition included a written exam, a blind taste test and demonstrations of cutting, wrapping, sales and pairing skills.

Cheese for everyone

Most of the shop’s cheeses are American, sourced directly from farms or distributors.

“Artisans in America are doing some of the coolest, most unique stuff. They’re not held back by the traditional standards of Europe,” Sarah explains. “Our whole goal is to fill the case with stuff you can’t find elsewhere.”

So don’t go looking for provolone: The Curd Nerd offers more rarefied fare, such as Afterglow and Shabby Shoes from Blakesville Creamery in Wisconsin, and Rockflower and Hornbacher from Switzerland. They’re the only shop within a 100-mile radius to carry Gouda from the importer Essex St. Cheese, as well as products from Stony Pond Farm, a small family-owned outfit in northern Vermont. To fill out your charcuterie board, The Curd Nerd also carries meats from heritage breeds.

There’s also something for every price point: The business strives to make specialty food products accessible to everyone, Sarah points out.

“Everybody likes cheese and cheese should be affordable for everyone, especially in a cut-to-order program,” she says. “You can come in and tell me that your budget is $5, and we will make sure you leave with a nice piece of cheese and something to go with it.”

Picking the right cheese typically involves a conversation with the monger and nibbling on a sample. Sarah typically asks about the customer’s likes and dislikes. If you love pizza but hate nachos, for example, she would recommend sweeter cheeses rather than salty or spicy ones, she explains.

And as your dedicated monger, she will watch for that special moment when you have a taste, and a slow smile spreads across your face like Brie on a cracker.

“There is something really magical about doing something that makes people’s day every day,” she says.

So, what’s the house favorite?

“My favorite cheese is the last cheese I ate,” Sarah says. “I love them all for different reasons.”