Late last year Bonnie Slotnick discovered that she would be losing her West 10th Street commercial space, which had housed her beloved cookbook store for 15 years. But this story had a happier ending than most that start off that way... and this week her next chapter started.
Her new landlords are the Johnston family, New York natives who have a commercial space in the basement of their East 2nd Street home. Margo Johnston told us, "I first saw the story about Bonnie losing her lease on Gothamist, and sent it straight to my brother saying, 'I'd love a bookstore...' He called me back instantly agreeing and, since we had a vacancy in our building, we called her at the shop. She came by the next day and it was a great fit."
Slotnick has fully moved in to her new space, which opened yesterday. Margo tells us, "The Yiddish word I keep going to back to is 'bashert'—that this just seems destined, meant to be. Our parents were great lovers of books and food and supporting local businesses. Bonnie and her wonderful shop fit perfectly with the sensibilities our parents instilled in us and in our home."
Slotnick's shop is worth checking out even if you aren't much of a cook—as The New Yorker once wrote, she has an "impressive collection of volumes about Manhattan restaurants," and as you'll see in this slideshow, there are a lot of strange and unique treasures to dig through.
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks is located at 28 East 2nd Street. Hours are 1 to 7 p.m. or by appointment (212-989-8962).
