Salt of the city
October 21, 2014 9:23 AM Subscribe
At what brick-and-mortar shop in New York (downtown) or Brooklyn can I shop for high-end gourmet salts?
My boss mentioned she's into fancy food salt, so I was thinking about getting her some nice unique salts for Christmas. She is a very wealthy, trend-following, New York/jet-setting kind of woman, so just some salt from Williams-Sonoma or Dean and Deluca or whatever isn't going to do it. I want to impress!
But I also want to make this purchase from an actual shop so that I can look closer at the aesthetics of the packaging (this is important to her, not me) and also so that she can go there herself and purchase more if she likes to. The hipper/more "artisanal"/more unique, the better. I'm not looking for the rarest or most expensive, just the most interesting.
I've looked at the products at The Meadow on Hudson, but I'm looking for other options.
Thanks for your help!
My boss mentioned she's into fancy food salt, so I was thinking about getting her some nice unique salts for Christmas. She is a very wealthy, trend-following, New York/jet-setting kind of woman, so just some salt from Williams-Sonoma or Dean and Deluca or whatever isn't going to do it. I want to impress!
But I also want to make this purchase from an actual shop so that I can look closer at the aesthetics of the packaging (this is important to her, not me) and also so that she can go there herself and purchase more if she likes to. The hipper/more "artisanal"/more unique, the better. I'm not looking for the rarest or most expensive, just the most interesting.
I've looked at the products at The Meadow on Hudson, but I'm looking for other options.
Thanks for your help!
Seconding Chelsea Market. Go to The Filling Station. Don't know if it will meet your desired packaging aesthetics, but they have a ton of really nice, unique salts. You could also try Spices and Tease -- also in Chelsea Market. Their packaging is quite nice but they might have less variety in salts than The Filling Station; their specialty is more along the lines of spice blends and teas.
posted by matcha action at 9:45 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by matcha action at 9:45 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
I like Sullivan Street Tea & Spice Company for this kind of thing, although I usually get stuff other than salt from them.
posted by and they trembled before her fury at 9:48 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by and they trembled before her fury at 9:48 AM on October 21, 2014
If you can find it, I recommend getting her a Himalayan salt block. It's a neat item, plus seems a bit more "gifty" than a bottle of salt. I know Sur La Table and the big box chains carry it. But you could look at the places in Chelsea Market for a local vendor. Also check Kalustyans - they have a variety of salts, and you could probably make a sampler pack (plus the place is awesome).
This Mind of a Chef (PBS) episode visited Jacobsen Salt a gourmet salt maker in Oregon (sold through W-S) which, I know it's not local, but it seemed really cool.
Maybe pair it with the book Salt by Mark Kurlansky; an excellent read.
posted by melissasaurus at 9:50 AM on October 21, 2014
This Mind of a Chef (PBS) episode visited Jacobsen Salt a gourmet salt maker in Oregon (sold through W-S) which, I know it's not local, but it seemed really cool.
Maybe pair it with the book Salt by Mark Kurlansky; an excellent read.
posted by melissasaurus at 9:50 AM on October 21, 2014
La Boite is a Hells Kitchen spice shop run by blending savant Lior Lev Sercarz. This is pretty much as artisanal as you can get -- and actually, the stuff is amazing (though pricey). They have a smoked salt and an orange-fennel fleur de sel. If you want to venture beyond salt, all the spice blends are worth sampling -- the Isphahan and Tangier are my favorites.
posted by neroli at 10:24 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by neroli at 10:24 AM on October 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
OMG Kalustyans is where you want to go. They have a wall of salt. (And a wall of beans, and a wall of rice, and many walls of spices...) Some of their stuff is packaged in their ugly house packaging, but IIRC many salts were attractively packaged.
posted by Liesl at 11:13 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by Liesl at 11:13 AM on October 21, 2014
Bedford Cheese Shop could work. It has a location on Bedford just off the L and one by Union Square, and I have seen some nice-looking fancy salts there. I have a hard time imagining anyplace with more variety than The Meadow, though.
posted by ferret branca at 11:16 AM on October 21, 2014
posted by ferret branca at 11:16 AM on October 21, 2014
Seconding Filling Station. They have sampler packs, which you can buy preassembled or put together your own.
posted by sweetkid at 3:22 PM on October 21, 2014
posted by sweetkid at 3:22 PM on October 21, 2014
I've seen specialty salts in the food section of HomeGoods. They tend to sell at a discount relative to the high-end stores. There's one on the Upper West Side and another near Brooklyn College.
posted by icemill at 9:04 PM on October 21, 2014
posted by icemill at 9:04 PM on October 21, 2014
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Chelsea Market.
Gourmet Garage (one location in Soho, one in the West Village by 7th Avenue and 4th).
Fairway Market (in Various locations).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:27 AM on October 21, 2014 [2 favorites]