A temple to cheese, Terence Brennan's cave stocks scores of French, Italian, Spanish and American varieties, served with full explanations by master cheese guy Max McCalman.

For more information: Picholine

A superb classic French restaurant worth a drive from NYC or nearby Connecticut, La Panetiere is a paragon of cheese service, overseen by the genteel and very knowledgeable owner Jacques Loupiac.

For more information: La Panetiere

A very beautiful and bucolic restaurant adjacent to the Les Mars Hotel in California's Sonoma Valley, with a hospitality that balances Old and New World elegance. There's both a caviar and an artisanal farmhouse cheese service.

For more information: Cyrus

An even larger Brennan collection-about 250 cheeses-at this buoyant bistro and retail cheese shop in midtown, Artisanal pretty much dwarfs every restaurant in the world when it comes to variety-many of which find their way into the food here.

For more information: Artisanal

Extravagance knows no bounds at this pastoral restaurant where dinners are all themed to seasons and holidays, and the cheese course is too.

For more information: The Herbfarm

An enchanting inn with nonpareil service, exquisite cuisine and a cheese cart in the shape of a cow named Faira who moos while being wheeled to your table.

For more information: The Inn at Little Washington

A very, very fine dining room where service is paramount and cheese service is done with flair, both in the Kitchen Table (you may book it for several people) and in the sedate dining room where you may get a dozen cheeses as a "spontaneous course."

For more information: Charlie Trotter's

Set in a 19th century mansion, this is one of Cleveland's finest, and owner-chef Paul Minillo is fanatical about the 40 cheeses he keeps perfectly in a cooler for service as "Artisanal Cheese Boards."

For more information: Baricelli Inn

This very beautiful, well-named dining room is one of the South's best, not least for its selection of local Kentucky and Southern cheeses that show just how wonderful they can be.

For more information: Seelbach Hotel

As splendiferous as any over-the-top dining salon in Vegas (next door Robuchon's L'Atelier is more casual), this namesake restaurant serves prix fixe meals and then wheels out the great cart of cheeses for your further temptation.

For more information: Joël Robuchon