SLO County catering company to open gourmet cheese shop: ‘This is the ultimate happiness’
A new shop in downtown Atascadero will serve up gourmet cheese, wine and more.
Maliysa Lou, founder of catering company LouLou Cheese Girl, will open a store this fall at La Plaza, a two-building development under construction on El Camino Real across from Sunken Gardens.
Lou plans to open the store, also called LouLou Cheese Girl, in October or November, depending on when construction ends.
Lou said she hopes her shop, which will offer everything from grilled cheese sandwiches to carefully arranged charcuterie boards, will serve as a place where the community can come together.
“I want it to be dog friendly, family friendly,” Lou said. “We just have this amazing space at La Plaza that has so much opportunity.”
Company founder comes from family of foodies
During her childhood, Lou could be found in her grandmother’s kitchen most mornings.
“I’d wake up and my grandma would have her coffee,” Lou said. “I’d lay on the kitchen floor and just watch her bake.”
Her grandmother Mary, who grew up in Nebraska, had a “down-home cooking vibe,” Lou said, and was an expert at cooking fried chicken, biscuits and gravy.
In December, Lou’s grandma filled their home with Christmas cookies and decorations until the place resembled Santa’s Workshop, she said, and they’d bake apple pie together.
“I basically just adored her,” Lou said. “She wasn’t perfect, but she was definitely my best friend.”
Lou credited her grandma and her mother Rhonda, also a master cook and hostess, with giving her a love for food and decorating — and inspiring her business.
Maliysa Lou and her grandmother shared a middle name — Lou — which the younger woman combined to come up with the company name LouLou Cheese Girl.
Business caters to wineries, weddings
In 2018, after attending the Cheese School of San Francisco and traveling Europe, Maliysa Lou drove to Ohio to pick up a commercial trailer. She named the trailer Midge.
Lou started her business by catering cheese boxes and specialty grilled cheese sandwiches out of the trailer at wineries. Over the past few years, she’s also added weddings, gatherings at The Trailer Pond at Alta Colina Vineyard & Winery in Paso Robles and other events to her catering list.
“I would love to just mix and match the most random ingredients and make fun grilled cheese sandwiches,” Lou said.
Lou said she loves all kinds of cheese.
She’s a fan of Époisses, a stinky cheese from France, and also likes aged Gouda, which she said pairs well with caramel and vanilla. Lou added that she enjoys blue cheese — from Gorgonzola to Roquefort.
“I think I’m the ultimate cheese person because I dig all blue cheeses,” Lou said.
LouLou Cheese Girl’s tagline is “Happiness is cheese,” she said, because sharing cheese with others in beautiful locations brings her joy.
“This is the ultimate happiness, and cheese led me to that,” she said.
After about three years in business, LouLou Cheese Girl will move into her first brick-and-mortar spot at La Plaza. Lou hopes to park Midge in front of her shop and serve wine and beer to passers-by.
“That was always the end game with my trailer, to have it in front of wherever my shop was,” Lou said.
Shop will serve sandwiches, salads and cheese platters
The LouLou Cheese Girl shop will serve both sweet and savory options, including grilled cheese sandwiches, salads, cheese platters and cheesecake. Wine, beer, cider and champagne will also be on the menu.
Lou said prices will range from about $14 to $60.
“I really want it to be approachable for the kids that are going through the tunnel to school,” Lou said. “If they want a grilled cheese, it’s not going to be an insane amount of money.”
Those who want to splurge on a high-end cheese platter can do so, too.
“I really am looking to cater to all different types of people,” Lou said.
On Sundays, Lou plans to host so-called “brunch takeovers,” inviting local food trucks to serve brunch in her shop while she pours drinks. The goal, she said, is to expose “people I love to the chefs that I love.”
She’ll also offer charcuterie classes, winemaker meet-ups and live music in the plaza outside her store’s door.
Lou said she wants to start more than a cheese shop; she wants to create a place for community to gather.
“It’s not just about food for me. It’s about an experience,” Lou said. “We all are just so excited to bring people in and be connected and support each other.”
To learn more about LouLou Cheese Girl, go to louloucheesegirl.com.
