Free Stuff At The New DiBruno Bros. (Plus Pictures)



Cheese-lovers rejoice! DiBruno Brothers has opened their newest location at 834 Chestnut Street in The Franklin Building. The new shop feels like something of a hybrid of their other two downtown locations. Its pressed tin ceiling, pendant lighting and beveled tile work make the space feel lush (it is in the historic Ben Franklin House, after all)  yet very much in line with the DiBruno aesthetic. The shop at The Franklin feels small, but only because it lacks the sweeping floor plan with case after case of prepared foods and beverages of the 19th Street location–and it’s still massive compared to 9th Street. There’s a comprehensive cheese counter, a coffee bar, a produce case, and an impressive array of olive oils, vinegars, jams, and other accompaniments, and the DiBruno line of prepared foods and beverages is available for take-out. The one thing that people will gripe about in the new space is the lack of indoor seating, but the new shop will heat your sandwich in a hyper-charged microwave oven (developed by the folks at Subway), called the Turbochef, to ensure that your bread is crispy and your cheese gooey when you take it back to your car or your desk or whatever not-as-beautiful-as-the-Franklin place to eat it.

As always, friendly staffers and cheesemongers will be offering samples of the store’s products, and since they’re in opening week you can expect some great ones. Today there will be Sicilian olive oil and bread, Reanimator will be on hand offering sample of their coffee, and at 2:00pm they’re setting a wheel of parmigiano reggiano on fire and making fettuccine alfredo inside it. So, apparently dreams DO come true.

Tomorrow is absolutely stacked with activities. From 10am to 2pm you can watch fresh mozzarella being made. From 11am to 3pm Essex Street Cheese will be sampling Comte, L’Amuse gouda, and manchego. And from 3pm to 6pm Cypress Grove will be sampling their beautiful, bloomy rind goat cheeses: Humboldt Fog, Truffle Tremor, Midnight Moon, and Purple Haze.

DiBruno Brothers [f8b8z]