Before I left to New York, I made a list of places I wanted to visit. I knew we wouldn't have too much time, so I limited my list to two places: Carlo's Bakery and Kitchen Arts and Letters, the bookstore that sells cookbooks. Not a cookbook section, not a small shelf, but a whole store, floor to ceiling of cookbooks.
A heaven for any cook, from a professional chef to a kitchen rookie.
How could I miss that? From their webpage I've learned that they offer more that 13,000 titles: all about food, cooking, food history, wine. Who needs a candy store when there is a cookbook store, which actually sells books on how to make candies too?!
We came to the store during the odd hours (in a big city slang meaning before or after the rush time), so the store was all to us. A friendly sales person was helpful in navigating us through the shelves, while we were just gasping for air when we saw books we wanted to have. The same sales person assured us, that if we can't find it in the store, to ask: they most definitely have it in is another area, as there's not enough room on the floor to keep all titles.
For a bookworm as I am, I want to have such a collection of cookbooks in my office, which would be conveniently located next to my big dream kitchen.
We spent quite some time in the store, lingering over colorful pages and interesting facts on food anthropology. And we both found some books that we couldn't live without any longer. One of them is The Georgian Feast by Darra Goldstein, book on history, traditions and food of Republic of Georgia with over one hundred recipes, some of which I am eager to share with you in the coming months.
I can't wait to come back to the store one day soon!
Do you have a favorite bookstore?
What books do you prefer to buy?
Kitchen Arts and Letters accepts special orders and would conduct a search for out-of-print books without charge.
Kitchen Arts and Letters
1435 Lexington Avenue,
New York, NY 10128
Hours:
Monday 1-6:00
Tuesday - Friday 10-6:30
Saturday 11-6:00
Phone: 212-876-5550
e-mail: letters@kitchenartsandletters.com
* I have no affiliation with Kitchen Arts and Letters, and I was not compensated in any way for this post.
All thoughts and opinions stated in this post are 100% mine.
See you,
Marina
