Spotlight on Bookstores: *Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks* in New York, NY

When we were in New York for BEA last month, Candace from Beth Fish Reads and I visited a few bookstores … far too few bookstores!  Sometime I’d like to take a bookstore vacation, touring cities far and near, seeking out bookstores large and small.  In the meantime, I’ll remain content to discover them one at a time and savor what each has to offer.

Savor is a great word to connect with this store, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in the West Village!   On the evening we visited, Candace and I met Swapna in the Village and walked to the shop.  Despite my reputation for getting lost in NYC, the store is very easy to find!  It’s on the first floor of a brownstone (163 West 10th Street), easy to spot with a nice display in the front window.

Walk up the steps and into the building, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks is the first door on the right.  The owner (yes, Bonnie Slotnick herself!) has a Dutch door into the shop – I imagine it’s convenient to close the bottom if she’s working late, while still allowing the top open for ease of conversation if anyone comes to the door.  Of course, since her specialty is cookbooks, the Dutch door also reminds me of a place to set a pie to cool!

Step in to the store (what may have been a living room and dining room in the original brownstone?) and you’re greeted by floor-to-ceiling bookcases filled with cookbooks – out-of-print, previously loved, and new editions.  Bonnie also stocks memorabilia such as vintage ads, postcards, restaurant and ship menus, etc.  And in the bits of wall and bookcase ends that are peeking out, she has strategically-placed crockery, cooking gadgets, and beautiful vintage linens.  I felt like I had stepped into my grandmother’s kitchen!

Speaking of Gram, remember I was trying to track down her recipe for hermits?  Well, I had emailed Bonnie before our visit, checking her hours for the week of BEA (she’s open 1-6pm 6 days a week; the day off varies, but is posted in the window and on the shop’s answering machine).  In her email reply, Bonnie encouraged me to stop in, saying “I’m sure I can find you 10 recipes for hermits in 5 minutes, and we can go from there (and find another 50).”

And she did!  She pulled one volume down from the shelf and we looked at the hermits recipe.  No, that one included nuts, which Gram didn’t use.  “I think I remember a red leather book,” I said.  Bonnie slipped Ruth Wakefield’s Tried and True Recipes out of a bookcase and flipped to the index, then then to the page with a recipe for hermits.  This one didn’t have nuts, but it called for some cold coffee.  I didn’t remember Gram saving the dregs of the percolator for hermits, but I suppose it was possible. 

I was getting cold feet.  I didn’t want to buy a book that had the wrong recipe, then claim it as Gram’s as I foisted false hermits on my friends and family!  I temporarily abondoned the quest for hermits and turned back to the shelves.

There was a book I connected with! Betty Crocker’s New Boys and Girls Cook Book!  Check out the retro (um, “new”) boys and girls on the cover art, the boy who’s not afraid to show his feminine side in the kitchen, and the girl who seems awed by his culinary prowess.  The groovy yellow and white striped background add to the sense that all good things happened in 1965, the book’s copyright date.

This was a walk down Memory Lane!  My first experiments in the kitchen were inspired by the New Boys and Girls Cook Book; dishes like Polka-Dotted Macaroni and Cheese (ingredients include a can of cheese soup and “two frankfurters” which are cut into coins and placed on top of the casserole), “Ham” Loaf Hawaiian (the “ham” is Spam!), and Bunny Salad (canned pear halves masquerade as bunnies with the help of some raisins, cinnamon Red Hots, almonds, and cottage cheese).

The recipe that had me on the phone with my sister (cuz, who wants to walk down Memory Lane alone??!) was Silhouette Sandwiches.  Nothing says loving from the kitchen like a heart-shaped piece of processed American cheese on top of “cold luncheon meat” (we used to make these with ”olive loaf,” a bologna with pimento-stuffed green olives in it.  I’m not sure if this wonder of the deli counter still exists!). 

The New Boys and Girls Cook Book is such a fun find!  I’m grateful to Bonnie Slotnick and her bookstore for bringing it back to me; do see what memories you can stir up and visit her shop when you’re in the city!  We’ve volunteered to bring Strawberry Shortcake to a friend’s house this weekend, and my kids and I will make the recipe on page 107.  And Gram’s hermits?  The quest continues …