French epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, “A dinner which ends without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye”—a musing taken to heart at the sophisticated M Restaurant. General manager and resident madame de fromage Hannah Howard displays her wedges (plus Champagne-peach jam, Kirsch-pickled cherries and chef Michael Caspi’s other creative house-made condiments) in a gorgeous glass-and-wood cabinet at the near end of the dining room like precious artifacts. “All of our cheese is artisanal,” Howard says. “Food made in smaller batches has more soul.” The selection changes frequently, but count on a mix of offbeat European and American varieties. Rubbed with coffee and lavender, Barely Buzzed from Utah’s Beehive Cheese Co. is a personal favorite. 231 S. Eighth St.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON VARNEY