Cowgirl Creamery has been making cheese in West Marin since 1997, and the small shop inside the Ferry Building has been its San Francisco face for nearly as long. The counter is tight, the selection is focused, and on most weekday mornings, there is already a short line of people who know exactly what they came for.
Sue Conley and Peggy Smith founded the creamery in Point Reyes Station with a straightforward conviction: that good California milk, handled carefully, could produce cheese worth seeking out. Mt Tam, their flagship triple-cream, became the proof. It is made from organic whole milk from the Straus Family Creamery, aged just a few weeks, and when it is right — slightly runny under the rind, almost buttery in flavor — it is one of the better cheeses produced on the West Coast. The shop at the Ferry Building usually has it in top form because the supply chain is mercifully short.
The retail case holds a rotating selection of Cowgirl’s own wheels alongside a curated mix from other domestic and European producers. The staff actually knows the inventory, which is not something you can say about every cheese counter in the city. Ask what’s ripe and they will tell you honestly, sometimes steering you away from something they think isn’t ready. That kind of candor is worth something.
Beyond the cheese case, the shop sells accompaniments that make sense: honeycomb, good crackers, the occasional seasonal jam. There is also a small prepared section with grilled cheese sandwiches that come out on the simpler side — straightforward combinations on decent bread, designed to be eaten standing near the Embarcadero rather than sitting down at a table. At around nine to twelve dollars depending on what’s inside, they are not a bargain, but they are made with cheese that actually tastes like something.
The Ferry Building location benefits from the building’s larger ecosystem. After picking up a wedge of Red Hawk — Cowgirl’s washed-rind, pungent and orange-crusted, the kind of cheese that clears a room — it is easy to walk a few steps and grab something to drink, find bread from another vendor, or simply take everything outside to one of the benches facing the bay. On a clear day that combination is hard to beat.
Pricing for cheese runs roughly twenty to thirty-five dollars per pound depending on variety, which is in line with what good farmstead cheese costs anywhere. The Mt Tam and Red Hawk are the anchors; both are worth buying in larger pieces than you think you need. The shop also carries cheeses from other small producers, including some that rotate seasonally, so the case is not exactly the same from one month to the next.
Cowgirl Creamery is open daily, with the Ferry Building’s standard hours. Weekend mornings draw more foot traffic from the adjacent farmers’ market, and the cheese counter gets genuinely busy. Weekday afternoons tend to be quieter. The shop is small enough that it never feels anonymous — most visits involve a brief conversation about what’s good — and that is ultimately why it has lasted as long as it has in a building that has cycled through its share of tenants.
