Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cookbooks & Kitchenware
43
Kitchen Arts & Letters
Well-Connected Cookbooks
New York, New York
There's very little happening in the world
of culinary publishing that the guys at
Kitchen Arts & Letters don't know about.
In this laid-back, book-crammed shop in a
relaxed part of the Upper East Side, you
can browse for hours, discovering all sorts
of imports, finds from small regional pub-
lishers, and out-of-print titles on its tightly
packed shelves. Best of all, just ask owner
Nach Waxman or manager Matt Sartwell
for recommendations—they're incredibly
knowledgeable, and they certainly aren't
shy with their opinions. With nearly 12,000
titles in stock at any given time, it's amaz-
ing how they seem to know every book on
their shelves. The usual glossy cookbooks
by celebrity chefs are available, but they're
overshadowed by the generous piles of
reference books, scholarly compendiums,
food histories, biographies, memoirs,
food-themed travel books, and culinary
essays displayed invitingly on the store's
tables. An important new book that hasn't
been released yet? Nach or Matt has prob-
ably already reviewed it in galley proof,
sent straight from the publisher. (They
even publish a newsletter, bringing their
customers up to date on all the new arriv-
als.) The store is closed Sundays.
For long-out-of-print editions, you may
have to travel down to Greenwich Village
to
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks,
at 163
W. 10th St. (
&
212/989-8962
), a tiny shop
in a century-old brownstone that holds a
treasure trove of vintage cookbooks,
mostly American and English, as well as
recipe pamphlets, kitchen gadgets, and
other charming bits of culinary nostalgia.
Phone ahead for hours, as they vary from
week to week.
From there it's only a couple of blocks
to one of New York's prime sources for
knives, pans, and bake ware, the
Broad-
way Panhandler,
at 65 E. 8th St. (
&
212/
966-3434
). To outfit a kitchen in profes-
sional style, you may also want to travel up
to Chelsea, where the large
Bowery
Kitchen Supplies
store, at 460 W. 16th
St. (
&
212/376-4982
), moved uptown
from its original Bowery location. It's now
located in the
Chelsea Market,
a sleek
indoor arcade of specialty food shops in a
New York chefs and foodies often seek advice
from Kitchen Arts & Letters owner Nach Waxman.
