Meet Vanessa Tilaka Kalb | Co-Owner & Head Cheese of Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vanessa Tilaka Kalb and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vanessa, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Thomas and I have been working in restaurants for a long time. When I switched to cheese, I told him that I wanted to open a cheese shop one day, and Thomas asked if he could have a little restaurant behind my cheese shop. This is a dream that literally came true! We’re so lucky to live this dream everyday.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Agnes Restaurant and Cheesery is a full service restaurant and cheese shop under one roof. We offer different experiences from our cut-to-order cheese shop, a quick cheese plate and glass of wine, dinner, brunch, private dining, and cheese classes. We’re excited to offer all these things to the city of Pasadena and the greater LA community. As for how I got to where I am today, learning about cheese took a lot of eating and reading about it (really hard work). I’ve also worked in restaurants and foodservice for 16 years and have learned from some wonderful people about having a good work ethic and how to operate restaurants and cheese shops. It was definitely not easy, but it was well worth it. Restaurants are notoriously misogynistic and ruthless, and I was constantly proving myself worthy. Cheese is an even smaller niche industry that is less understood than restaurants but very welcoming and open to teaching. One challenge we’re overcoming right now is the balance between rising costs and minimum wages and trying to keep prices reasonable. If we want to change the industry and make sure our staff are taken care of, then we have to charge what we have to in order to do that. We’re a small mom & pop business providing artisanal and homemade products, cheese and this is our passion.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Hopefully it’s sunny and the weather is nice… we’d go to Disneyland and spend a day there, spend some time at the pool, and then have dinner at Agnes. Next, I’d take them to The Huntington Library & Garden followed by dinner at Found Oyster. We definitely need to have lunch at In-n-Out followed by a hike in the San Gabriel mountains and dinner at Bistro Na’s. Another day could be spent driving up the coast to pick up snacks and lunch at Canyon Grocers and picnicking at Leo Carrillo State Beach with the dogs. Then, dinner at Jasmine Market. We’ll get in a workout doing a lap or two at Rose Bowl stadium then have a juice at Kreation followed by a late lunch/early dinner at Mama Lu’s. And to wrap it all up, we’ll finish the week with brunch at Agnes.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
That person would be Kiri Fisher. She owned The Cheese School of San Francisco when I lived there and really allowed me to learn and participate in cheese classes so that I could gain a better understanding of the cheese world. Her staff took me in, and gave me the tools and guidance I needed to open my own cheese shop.

Website: https://www.agnesla.com

Instagram: agnes_pasadena & agnes_cheesery

Image Credits
Jakob Layman, Joseph Duarte