Cookbook stores worth the trip

These U.S. shops whip up tasty reads and travel inspiration, from D.C. to California.

Bold Fork Books brings a feast of culinary reads to Washington, D.C.'s Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Photos by Jennifer Barger.

If novels can transport you to the sands of Egypt or the wilds of Yorkshire, then cookbooks land you straight in a destination’s kitchens and restaurants. “People who love cookbooks tend to be curious about the world around them,” says Clementine Thomas, who co-owns Washington, D.C.’s Bold Fork Books, a culinary bookshop, with her husband, Sam Vasfi. “Our customers are adventurous with both their food and their reading.”

There’s such an appetite for books imparting both recipes and culture that it’s fueling a boomlet of cookbook stores across the U.S. Many, like Bold Forks, host frequent author events and their own book clubs. Others—such as Cooks and Books in Merdian, Idaho—even have full kitchens and host cooking classes.

A few booksellers specialize in vintage and antique cookery, as in bins of decades-old Gourmet magazines, Depression-era recipe collections, and titles like a 1904 edition of A Short History of the Banana and a Few Recipes for its Use.

An antique cookbook at Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks, in New York City’s SoHo, shares the recipe for minced pies.

“Old cookbooks can open up so many doors and go down so many rabbit holes,” says Joanne Hendricks, whose eponymous antiquarian cookbook shop occupies the first floor of a snug, brick-walled 1817 townhouse in a quiet corner of New York City’s SoHo.

Here are a few more of the most mouthwatering cookbook stores in America:

Anchovy Book Co., St. Louis, Missouri

In the hip Benton Park West neighborhood, a shop as small and skinny as its namesake fish sells new titles (e.g. Padma’s All American) and mystery book subscriptions. The bright little spot can be rented for “Tiny Bookshop Dates” with drinks and snacks included.

Archestratus, Brooklyn, New York

Named for a 4th-century B.C. poet and gastronomer from Sicily, this Greenpoint bookstore-meets-Italian grocery also hosts frequent events (readings, concerts, cooking demos) and a small dine-in area.

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks New York, New York

Oh, the stories you’ll hear about chefs and authors from Slotnick, who has run this secondhand food-focused bookshop in the East Village since 1997. Her studio apartment–sized basement space hawks everything from handwritten vintage recipe cards from the 1960s to The Settlement Book: A Way to a Man’s Heart circa 1935.

Bonnie Slotnick in New York's East Village has been selling cookbooks since 1997.

Binding Agents, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Snuggled into Philly’s famed Italian Market, this woman-owned culinary bookstore features author readings, cookbook swaps, and a large stock of Mediterranean-focused titles.

Book Larder, Seattle, Washington

Cooking classes and books by Pacific Northwest culinary authors draw readers and eaters to this long-running shop in a vintage storefront in the buzzy Fremont neighborhood.

Coastal Table & Tales, Savannah, Georgia

This newish shop in downtown Savannah has a kitchen for pop-up cooking classes and shelves full of foodie books.

Now Serving, Los Angeles, California

Author events, a large stock of new cookbooks, and a smattering of kitchen tools (tea paraphernalia, aprons) turn up at a groovy space in LA’s Chinatown.

Omnivore Books on Food, San Francisco, California

A mural depicting the jolly chef from Maurice Sendak’s The Night Kitchen decorates the exterior of a Noe Valley shop dedicated to new and vintage cookbooks (e.g. a 1967 Campers’ Cookbook or an 1880s Invalid Cookery heavy on the gruels and potions).

Read It and Eat, Buffalo, New York

Food-themed gifts, spices, and new cookbooks headline at a bay-windowed storefront in North Buffalo.

Vesper Books and Wine, Detroit, Michigan

Located in a restored 19th-century bank, this mashup of a wine bar and a cookbook shop stocks lots of cocktail- and booze-related titles and pours natural vino, amaro, and other tipples. —Jennifer Barger

Travel Book Club cofounder Jennifer Barger also writes her own Substack, The Souvenirist, focused on the intersection of travel, retail, and design.