“Imagine for one moment that you dream of a cookbook that tells you how to butcher fish, use all parts and waste nothing,” said Eric Ripert, chef and co-owner of celebrated seafood-centric restaurant, Le Bernardin, in Manhattan. “So, what do you do? You call Kitchen Arts & Letters, and they say, of course we have it, it’s Josh Niland’s! Bingo!”
Ripert, whose latest cookbook, Seafood Simple, came out this month, recently signed 600 copies at the small food and drink bookstore on Lexington Avenue between 93rd and 94th Streets. Don’t be fooled though, Kitchen Arts & Letters, set in a former butcher shop, may seem small, but it stocks about 12,000 titles and now celebrates 40 years on the same block!
What is it that allows a shop to thrive, survive a pandemic, and thrive again while our reading, cooking and even drinking habits have utterly changed? Sadly, founding partner Nahum Joel Waxman, known by all as Nach, passed away in 2021, but we spoke to managing partner Matt Sartwell, who started working with him in 1991.
“When Nach founded the store in 1983, there were several independent bookstores in the neighborhood,” he said. “So, he thought a specialty one would do better.” For a while though, he hesitated between two of his passions: Should he go for food or sports? Waxman, who studied anthropology at Cornell, the University of Chicago and Harvard, and then worked in publishing for twenty years, chose food which “informed the way he looked at the world.”
Sartwell met the founder and his wife, Maron, at a party where he’d volunteered to handle the food. Waxman immediately recognized the dishes Sartwell had made (and carried from his apartment) as coming from Cucina Fresca, a 1985 Italian cookbook written by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman, one of Waxman’s favorite cookbooks.
Kitchen Arts & Letters has a strong, devoted group of regulars, many of whom work in the food business, but Sartwell and his team take the time to speak to every new customer, whether by phone or in person.
“Someone called last week from California looking for the very first Noma cookbook, which is out of print,” he said, referring to Chef René Redzepi’s iconic restaurant in Copenhagen. Even though the store also specializes in out-of-print titles, Mr. Sartwell was curious to understand the motivation behind this request.
“I thought if he’s starting a collection, this might not be the best book for him,” he said. “So we spent a long time on the phone because I wanted to make sure I understood what he needed.” At the end of the conversation, the caller decided to come to New York, meet Mr. Sartwell and browse the out-of-print jewels. “We are a full-price bookstore,” he said, “but you can call and speak to a human being.”
Not just a human being, it turns out but one with an opinion, a point of view and an extensive knowledge of the field of food and drink. A stroll through the web site starts like a simple search, but with each book comes a keen, almost passionate description, and by the time you’ve read a few you’re either really hungry or have already ordered more books than you have space for on your shelf.
About First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home by Frankie Gaw, one reads: “In headnotes and chapter openings, Gaw vividly illuminates the contrasts between his family’s past and their dreams, between traditions and discoveries.”
Then about Franklin Smoke: Wood, Fire, Food by Aaron Franklin and Jordan Mackay, it’s “One great, long recipe for smoked brisket, refined and evolved from any that Franklin has published before. It still requires good fire management, though. This is not a matter of just leaving it alone. You will have to pay regular attention. For 12 hours. It’s just what must be done for brisket that draws worldwide attention.”
And commenting on a very rare, out-of-print copy of ABC of Mixing Cocktails written by Harry McElhone (“one of the godfathers of his craft”) in 1922 (and offered at $1,100), “Even after nearly 40 years in business, there are still certain out-of-print books that give us a thrill when we come across them. This is one of those scarce titles that we had yet to handle. Acquiring such a prize gets our blood pumping, and we are elated to be able to offer it here.”
If someone buys a book and ends up not liking it, Mr. Sartwell will take it back. “Someone called and said they just bought this book but ‘I hate cilantro and every recipe has cilantro in it!’” Sometimes Mr. Sartwell sees a new book and sends it to a specific customer. “If they like it, they tell us to charge their card. If not, they send it back.”
When Covid-19 hit, Kitchen Arts & Letters tanked and almost sank. Mr. Sartwell started a Go Fund Me campaign and suddenly the neighborhood and food and drink afficionados around the country rallied. Hoping to raise $75,000, the store was able to raise $120,000, allowing it to ride the pandemic.
“It was as if hundreds of people remembered we existed,” said Mr. Sartwell.
We’re not about to forget!
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