Kitchenware Stores in DC

[mikeycook]

My wife and I are heading to DC for a long weeked next weekend and I was wondering if there were any unique kitchenware or tableware stores worth checking out. By unique I don't necessary mean one of a kind, but I am looking for independently owned places in general, not the chains (Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma, Crate and Barrel), which I can go to in NY. If not within DC, Old Town Alexandria is a possibility too, but we may have just a little bit of time there.

If there is already a thread on this, my apologies and please point me to it.

[brioboy]

http://www.homerule.com/

[T.Thrasher]

La Cuisine in Old Town Alexandria (703) 836-4435

[Malawry]

DC is not filled with kitchenware stores like NY is--we don't have tons of Broadway Panhandler independent type places. Home Rule is not really a kitchenware store per se, but they do sell a lot of decor and some cute kitchen gadgets--plus. There are some other stores like that in town: Wake Up Little Susie in the Cleveland Park neighborhood, Now and Then in Takoma Park, MD, etc. La Cuisine hangs on as our one major kitchenware player, down in Old Town Alexandria.

I usually either buy things at Sur La Table (where they are kind enough to offer an industry discount) or order online from places like JB Prince. Also, a number of the department stores and markets have some decent selections; Wegman's-Dulles store and the Dean and DeLuca in Georgetown both sell some tools and tabletop supplies. But these companies are just as accessible to a New Yorker as they are to a Washingtonian.

[mikeycook]

La Cuisine in Old Town Alexandria (703) 836-4435

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Just looked at their web site and I am definitely going to try to make a stop.

[Pontormo]

FYI: Just called to learn the store is closed through January 2 for inventory.

[Busboy]

There is a cluttered and funky little kitchen store just north of Dupont Circle, at 1647 Connecticut Avenue called Coffee, Tea and the Works. They cram a lot into a small space and while I often default to the bigger shops when looking for something, I have bought everything from tart pans to a digital thermometer from them. If the owner is there, tell her that you know the tall liberal (she claims to be a proud member of the vast right wing conspiracy) who used to buy whippets from her and she'll take care of you.

[Pontormo]

I was just trying to fulfill one of my New Year's resolutions which is to visit culinary haunts that I have never been to before. I began this in December by investigating Best Way in Mount Pleasant.

I know that place you mention, however, and walk by fairly regularly, entering sometimes. Long long ago when I had just traded in my earth shoes for high heels and parka for a black wool coat with darts and a fake fur collar, there were only two kitchen stores in D.C. as far as I knew. One was on Upper Connecticut Avenue near Politics and Prose and had an excellent selection of professional ware for home cooks....and then the place you describe, across from the guy who has a fondness for lunchboxes and Tin Tin.

[artisan02]

Long long ago when I had just traded in my earth shoes for high heels and parka for a black wool coat with darts and a fake fur collar, there were only two kitchen stores in D.C. as far as I knew.  One was on Upper Connecticut Avenue near Politics and Prose and had an excellent selection of professional ware for home cooks....and then the place you describe, across from the guy who has a fondness for lunchboxes and Tin Tin.

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I know the one you mentioned that was on Connecticut Ave. It was called Kitchen Bazaar. They had a another store in Seven Corners at the time also.

When I came back to the DC area a bit ago, I was dismayed to find they were no longer in business. It was a fantastic kitchen store, with some products I have never been able to find anywhere else since. And they had a marvelous cookbook collection, which often fed my own growing cookbook collection.

They also published a little cookbook, about food processor cooking. I saw my first food processor demonstration there, with one of the first Cuisinart models.

DC lost a great kitchen store in that store.