Gourmet Imports

Gourmet Imports Importers & Distributors of Specialty Foods. Serving Los Angeles Chef's & food professionals since 1

Gourmet Imports is a Los Angeles based importer and distributor of specialty foods serving discerning Chefs and culinary professionals for over 22 years. Our product offering includes over 400 of the best cheeses the world has to offer and over 2,000 other culinary items including specialty meats, Foie Gras & pâté, finishing oils & vinegars, spices, baking & pastry chocolates and much, much more. We work diligently to continue and bring new and exciting culinary products from Europe and around the world to many of the finest Chefs and establishments in the country. We have built our reputation through a commitment to always offer competitive prices and never compromise on the quality of our products or our customer service. Our family of employees is passionate, knowledgeable and understands that we must always work hard to earn the continued trust and business of our clients.

We’ll be closed on Monday, September 7th for Labor Day! No deliveries or shipments will be made on the 7th — please plan...
09/01/2026

We’ll be closed on Monday, September 7th for Labor Day! No deliveries or shipments will be made on the 7th — please plan accordingly. Regular business hours will resume on the 8th.

Essex St Cheese was founded in New York City in 2006 by the late Daphne Zepos. Her original vision was to sell a single ...
08/13/2026

Essex St Cheese was founded in New York City in 2006 by the late Daphne Zepos. Her original vision was to sell a single cheese – Comté – in its best possible condition. Not satisfied to simply accept cheese through standard distribution channels, Daphne insisted on selecting every single batch of the cheese herself, ensuring a consistent, exacting, and exceptional flavor profile for the Essex Comté. Two years later, Daphne added a
second cheese: L’Amuse Signature Gouda. This was a cheese so far superior to all other Dutch aged goudas in the US market that it immediately carved out a permanent spot for itself on cheese counters across the country. From there, Daphne grew her small but mighty line of cheeses, one gorgeous wheel at a time. Still one of the smallest importers around, today Essex brings in several different profiles of Comté, Manchego,
Parmigiano Reggiano, Feta, and the L’Amuse Goudas. Daphne passed away in 2012 but her vision persists: the cheeses Essex selects are unfailingly excellent.

L’Amuse Signature Gouda is an aged gouda from Fromagerie L’Amuse. At roughly 2 years of age, it is creamy
and slightly salty, with plenty of tyrosine crystallization. It shows notes of caramel, butter, and hazelnut, along
with a deep, complex butterscotch finish.

Essex Comté was the cheese that started it all. It’s aged about a year by Marcel Petite at Fort St. Antoine. It’s
creamy and buttery with notes of roasted peanut and hazelnut, as well as cacao and citrus. Exceptional!

Brabander is a goat gouda selected and aged by Betty Koster at Fromagerie L’Amuse. It’s exported to us
when it’s around 6-9 months old. At this age it is still fresh and buttery with a hint of caramelization and just a
touch of goatiness. This is the goat cheese that converts the haters.

For all of August and September, we're thrilled to offer three beautiful vanilla products from our friends eurovanille_o...
08/06/2026

For all of August and September, we're thrilled to offer three beautiful vanilla products from our friends eurovanille_officiel on promotion. Ask your sales person for pricing details!

Eurovanille has been elevating the world of vanilla since 1990. Founded by Laurent Bourgois and later joined by Marie-Christine Chevalier, this storied producer has spent more than 35 years perfecting the art – and ethics – of exceptional vanilla. With an unwavering commitment to quality and sustainable farming, Eurovanille partners directly with growers in Madagascar, Tahiti, Uganda, and beyond to source vanilla that truly expresses its terroir. Each origin tells its own aromatic story. It is carefully cultivated and transformed into exquisite beans, extracts, and pastes using time-honored craftsmanship. The result is single-origin vanilla with remarkable depth, nuance, and personality – absolute showstoppers for our kitchen friends and a secret weapon for anyone serious about flavor.

Bourbon Madagascar Vanilla Beans have a powerful, woody, rum-like flavor with a lovely long barrel aged balsamic note. Each bean is between 16 and 20 cm long and is supple and shiny. They are prepared using the traditional Bourbon method for a rich and balanced aromatic profile. Perfect for creams, ice cream, yogurt, ganache, and pastries.

Bourbon Madagascar Vanilla Paste is a concentrated paste made from the same exceptional Bourbon Madagascar vanilla beans, only it’s ready to use without the fuss. Blended with sugar and alcohol, and showcasing the seeds, the paste has a thicker homogenous texture that allows for precise dosing.

Bourbon Madagascar U.S. Vanilla Extract is an agave-based syrup that’s blended with alcohol along with Bourbon Madagascar vanilla. It’s made using rigorously selected high quality beans that give it warm, rounded, and slightly floral notes. The inclusion of the vanilla seeds makes this extract stand out.

All photos are copyright Eurovanille

The Big Cheese is headed to theaters near you!! We're so proud of our friend Adam and the incredible work he has done fo...
08/04/2026

The Big Cheese is headed to theaters near you!! We're so proud of our friend Adam and the incredible work he has done for the cheesemonger community. This moooovie documents his quest to help an American cheesemonger bring home the top prize at France's Mondial du Fromage competition.

Spoiler alert - he did just that a year later!

If you're in LA or SB, head to The Big Cheese Film's bio to get tickets!!

Truffle Shuffle is a bloomy rind goat milk cheese made by Veronica Pedraza at Blakesville Creamery in a 3.5 to 4 lb whee...
07/20/2026

Truffle Shuffle is a bloomy rind goat milk cheese made by Veronica Pedraza at Blakesville Creamery in a 3.5 to 4 lb wheel. The rind is brie-like (Penicillium candidum), and the paste is cakey but still light. Through the center of the wheel runs a horizontal line of “truffle sauce.” This tapenade-textured truffle blend is made by Regalis and features black summer truffles and champignon mushrooms. The cheese is bright, citrusy, and lactic, while the line of truffle imparts a deep and unmistakable umami. This cheese feels indulgent and special because it absolutely is.

Due to an unexpected menu change from one of our customers, we’re now overstocked on this exceptional cheese. The photo below is from a wheel we just cut into yesterday – as you can see it’s in excellent shape. We’re currently offering BY ONE GET ONE FREE on these incredible wheels! Pounce on this deal now because it’s unlikely to ever happen again.

07/06/2026

Our new quarterly news booklet is out! In this issue you can read all about our Purchasing Director, Brandon, as he celebrates 15 years with Gourmet Imports. There’s also a Q&A with our CEO, Steve, about recent creamery closures and the future of the industry. And our Maker Spotlight section is focused entirely on California makers, featuring Stepladder Ranch & Creamery OakdaleCheese Fabrique Délices Dave and Casey Schoch Gioia Cheese Omer Seltzer Rustic Bakery and Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese. Look for a printed copy with your next delivery, or check it out online at the link in our bio!

We’ve lost a lot of our favorite cheeses in the last couple of years to cheesemakers retiring, selling the business, or ...
07/01/2026

We’ve lost a lot of our favorite cheeses in the last couple of years to cheesemakers retiring, selling the business, or just plain shifting gears. And each of those losses have felt like a blow toour industry. But when a cheesemaker dies, especially one like Willi Lehner of Bleu Mont Dairy, the loss is extraordinary. Not only have we lost some of the best, most sought after cheeses made in this country, not only have we lost the expertise and craftmanship and care that this
man brought to our community, we have also lost a wonderful, kind spirit, and a human being that we deeply respected and admired.

We found out about Willi’s condition not too long ago, and though he told us he didn’t have long, we were still surprised by how quickly it happened. Are we ever really ready for someone to pass? Probably not. But especially not Willi. This man was special.

He was warm and zen. He was a peaceful hippie and a renegade cheesemaker through and through. He sent hand written bills of lading on college ruled 3 ring binder paper. Years ago, the first time Sarah ever visited his home, Willi wasn’t even there, but she was greeted by a sign that said something along the lines of, “If you voted for George Bush please leave” – a bold statement in south western Wisconsin, but quintessentially Willi. On that trip, Willi’s partner Quitas welcomed Sarah into their home and shared cheese and stories with her over their kitchen table. A few years later, Sarah took this photo of him on another trip through Wisconsin. It’s one of the few we have, since he never had a website or any social media for his business, and lived his life somewhat off the grid.

We join the cheese world in mourning the loss of this exceptional cheesemaker and beautiful human. We will miss him dearly.

For the months of May and June, we're thrilled to partner with to offer Stichelton on promotion. This evolution of this...
05/12/2026

For the months of May and June, we're thrilled to partner with to offer Stichelton on promotion. This evolution of this cheese is just another example of the commitment Neal's Yard has to supporting traditional British cheesemaking and keeping those centuries-old practices alive.

Stichelton is essentially a raw milk version of Stilton. By the time Stilton got its Protected Designation of Origin
status in 1996, all the Stilton in England was already being pasteurized. As a result, pasteurization was written
into the PDO as a requirement for making the classic English blue. So when American cheesemaker Joe
Schneider and Neal’s Yard Dairy founder Randolph Hodgson decided they wanted to make a more
traditional raw milk version of the cheese, they knew from the start it would have to be called something else.

Stichelton is made in Nottinghamshire, from raw morning milk, with very little starter. The make itself takes a full
24 hours. The curds are hand ladled and milled, then the wheels are rubbed up and pierced. The result is an
exceptionally unique and complex cheese that shows a great deal of variation from batch to batch.

Cutting into a wheel of Stichelton, the first thing you’ll notice is the beautiful open texture. The paste is soft and
creamy, and the aroma gives graham cracker and brownie notes. It has excellent salinity and no bitterness to
speak of. The paste is buttery, and the blue flavor is round, balanced, and warm. In the fudgy paste just under
the rind, we get notes of peanut butter and honey sandwich. It is an exceptional example of the style.

Kicking off American Cheese Month right with our promotion!! For the entire month of May (and June!!), we're offering M...
05/01/2026

Kicking off American Cheese Month right with our promotion!! For the entire month of May (and June!!), we're offering Mariana, Pecuri in I Vigni and Lake Breeze at a lovely discount.

Veronica - V to her friends - first launched the Blakesville cheese line in the summer of 2020 – a rather difficult time to be introducing new cheese to the market – but her exceptional cheesemaking skills cut through the pandemic noise, and she built the line into something really special.

Mariana is a sheep’s milk tomme with a natural rind. It’s the cheese Veronica is most stoked about, and it won a gold medal at ACS last year! It’s comforting and deep, with a flinty texture off the knife that is melting and rich on the palate. Beautiful and wholly unique from everything else out there.

Pecuri in i Vigni is a little puck of fresh sheep’s milk cheese wrapped in wine-soaked grape leaves. The texture of the paste is fluffy and silky but still dense. We taste sheep’s milk ice cream with deep red fruit notes. There’s a clean acidity and grassiness on the finish. It is sweet, milky, fruity heaven.

Lake Breeze is a gorgeous 7oz round of goat cheese with a delicate geotrichum candidum rind. This is a classic Loire Valey style, with bright, lactic flavors and a soft but dense wet-clay-like texture. The aroma is mushroomy and musky, and the flavor has notes of honey, heather, and clean oyster shels.

04/03/2026

Our latest quarterly news booklet is out! Look for one with your next order, or check it out online at the link in our bio.

In this issue you’ll find our new mission statement and guiding principles! In our Maker Spotlight we’ve got and Mid Coast Creamery. And we have a piece about the difficulty Minnesota makers and businesses are still facing with the lovely and . Give it a read!

Address

961 S Meridian Avenue
Alhambra, CA
91803

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 3pm
Tuesday 9am - 3pm
Wednesday 9am - 3pm
Thursday 9am - 3pm
Friday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

+16265706900

Website

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