Kitchen Arts & Letters has wowed cookbook lovers for 35 years

We love hearing positive stories about our favorite cookbook stores from around the world, which is why we were delighted to read a story by Julia Moskin about New York City’s Kitchen Arts & Letters. The store, located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has been provided professional chefs and home cooks alike with the best cookbooks for 35 years. 

The store, helmed by Nach Waxman, its founder, and Matt Sartwell, the managing partner, doesn’t try to be the ‘everyman’ cookbook store. You won’t find books for the latest gadget, or tiny volumes dedicated to toast. “People come to us to cut through the noise,” says Sartwell. He and Waxman identify the books that will best fulfill the needs of their customers by asking them questions about how they cook.

It was interesting to learn that Julia Moskin helped to set up the store back in 1983. She was surprised to see the focus on books for professional chefs, but the owners knew what they were doing. Sales to chefs account for over half of the store’s business.  Back in 2014, we interviewed Waxman and Sartwell, who discussed the challenges of running a store dedicated to cookbooks. We’re glad to see that Kitchen Arts & Letters is still going strong.