Cooks Boulevard

These wonderful people are closing their store and going out of business.
Damn the Bush economy!
And people who don’t shop at small local businesses.
That said, everything is on sale, I believe their last week is the week of the 14^th.
You guys always gave me excellent service either in the store or on the phone. Good luck and happy trails

I was very sad to receive the email newsletter announcement last weekend that Cooks Boulevard will be closing soon. Stopped by the morning after the email went out and picked up a few baking items at 20% and some 40% off. If you’re in the market for an amazing Le Creuset they are at a nice discount but going quickly!

The domestic goddess in me is excited to see what types of cooking classes Cooks offers because the store itself doesn’t really drive me. I have been completely ruined with cooking shops and can be overly critical, especially when I walk into a store that is pretty bare or at least looks bare.
I am crap at baking, well not exactly crap. The word is «improving» and thought it would be «fun» to make cranberry apple mince mini tarts and was in need of 4″ fluted tart tins. Fail, they didn’t have the fluted tins but were able to recommend a place close by that might. I would say that this would be a bakers go to spot, there’s a lot of food dye and flavored extracts all at decent prices.
There’s a nice assortment of Le Creuset pots and pans in the upper part of the store, they even carried a miniature tagine that was super cute. *Closes eyes and wishes for a Moroccan Cuisine class*
The girl at the register was helpful and told me about the cooking classes, unfortunately the schedule wasn’t up for January just yet so empty handed I left. This is the first cooking store that I have walked out of and didn’t purchase anything, which does not ever happen. I’m not hypercritical at this point so I’ll wait to see if I find something next visit.

Small but very well planned and stocked establishment.
Great selection of Le Creusets. And if they don’t have it, they can probably order it for you.
They have gloves for wearing when you use your mandolin slicer. They have little containers in the shape of onion bulbs to hold your left over half for later. They have an array of sizes of ramekins. Non dulling cutting boards.
Those kinds of things.
Handy, functional, wonderful things.
Perfect place to shop for the cook (especially if it’s you) in your life.

No customer service at all!!! My hubby walks in the store to browse around. I walk in minutes later and I first notice all the bake ware. Love it. As I get closer to the sales associate no eye contact no smile no hi. NOTHING! I’ve been in customer service for a long time and the first thing you do when someone walks in the door is greet them. Not sit behind the register and play with the buttons. Even if she was taking inventory or taking orders if doesn’t hurt to say hello to someone.
I asked my husband if she said hello to him and he said «No she didn’t even look at me». We would have walked out with a garlic press cookie cutters bartenders friend cleaning solution and a spoon with a serrated edge if the damn chick behind the counter would have at least acknowledged we were there.
2 stars for the merchandise no stars for the blind sales associate.

This store is absolutely great! Being a passionate, but novice wanna be professional baker, there is still much in the baking world that I need to learn, but I was able to find many of the baking essentials here.
Everything is easy to find and is neatly displayed. Prices aren’t unreasonable, but defintely aren’t cheap, but you pay for what you get right and I want quality stuff. and you can find that here.
The gal that helped me was very helpful and the questions that I had and I walked out a very happy customer, ready for my next baking project!

While it’s not somewhere I would go to buy a boatload of kitchen gadgets for myself, I love this shop for gift giving. It’s not cheap– but that’s sort of excusable given that it’s not the kitchen section at IKEA. If you have someone in your life who loves to eat, cook, or has resolved to start doing so, make a visit.
The quality of the inventory is top-​notch: Everything from the Le Creuset dutch ovens to the locally made dishware to the exotic sea salts. The shop isn’t big, but if you need inspiration or something very specific, the staff are eager and willing to give you a hand.

Cook’s Boulevard may not have the inventory you would find at Williams Sonoma but that’s the point — the selection is well-​edited, tried and tested by the staff and priced well. Sure, you could buy cheaper stuff at Target but the quality is not nearly as good and who wants to make that drive anyway? Shopping here is a civilized experience. It’s quiet, inviting and serene. Every time I bake I go to the store to upgrade on a bowl, pan or cooking tool. The people who work there really know their stuff — they can talk to you about every product in the store in great detail and they treat every question seriously down to — what is the best way to frost the side of a cupcake? I credit this store with my recent love affair with baking.

It’s not a huge store and not nearly the same amount of inventory that you would find at a Williams-​Sonoma. Something about the way they have their things arranged at the store which makes it look like a discount store. My friend found an OXO battery-​operated digital electronic scale for ½ off. I received one as a gift for full price and have found it to be an essential kitchen tool right up there with my food processor. They have these cool silicone brushes that you use for basting. Their cookie cutters are on sale, including copper ones which are selling for $ 2 or less.

They have DOLPHIN MOLDS! Even though I frequent Williams-​Sonoma, Sur La Table, Crate and Barrel and the Macy’s Cellar for high-​quality tools and some good deals, Cooks Boulevard is in my regular rotation. For a while I was treating myself to a tool a week from Cooks Boulevard. I live in the neighborhood, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion with their customer service AND inventory! (They carry Scharffenberger baking chocolate) I also love the set-​up of the store (it reminds me of Peppercorn in Boulder), their cute window displays and they’re located right next to a book store – my two passions side by side. Worth a visit if you’re in the area, are a food-​maniac or know one that needs a cool gift. I can’t wait to try their cooking classes.

I’m happy to say the «Fresh Pasta» making class offered through Cooks Boulevard was FANTASTIC! It was a b-​day gift given to me and I had few, if any, expectations about how the class was going to go. I’d be hard pressed to find anything negative about this class. It was informative, proffesional, fun, challenging and lets not forget filling. I found the instructor Maya Scales to be very knowledgable, patient and helpful. I had a wonderful time and I think anyone who takes this class will as well.

Cooks Boulevard has been raved about by my friends, but being a recent buyer for Williams-​Sonoma, I didn’t really «need» anything more for my kitchen. But then today, on the way to the book store, I dropped in. And I liked it. It seems to have the largest breadth of materials in the baking department, but is well rounded given the size of the store. The best part — the perfect hostess gift for Thanksgiving was right there and I bought it and there’s no more left. So, maybe she’s getting a kind of, sort of — one-​of-​a-​kind?

This store offers a lot for both the novice and seasoned baker or chef. Prices are pretty reasonable, which surprised me given the store’s location. Certain items are offered at competitive prices, others are a little more expensive than what you might find elsewhere. It seems almost arbitrary.
That said, paying a couple bucks for instant gratification is okay by me on occasion… say the time I came here and suddenly decided that I NEEDED a rotating cake decorating stand. (Totally worth it, by the way.)
The staff is helpful and nice — one person offered to help find me the piping tip that I wanted, but too bad for him, I was only looking through every single one they had for my own childish glee. Oooh, shinies!
Browse their website for upcoming classes! I went to a cake decorating class a while back which was a good refresher for me and I even managed to pick up a couple new tricks. Bonus: a 15% off coupon valid for a week after you’ve taken a class.

I’ll throw in another 5-​star review for this place. Here are some pros:
–For its size (small) it still has a great depth of inventory and anything you might need. I’ve never not found anything there, including a nice selection of mandoline/​slicers. The place is well merchandised, and everything you see you think you might need, so be careful! It’s addictive for those of us into cooking stores.
–The prices are the same as Williams-​Sonoma, so why not support the local store that has a lot more expenses than the chain?! It’s a great addition to the neighborhood too.
–The staff has always been friendly and helpful, no matter who is there when I go in.
–They are very service oriented. I bought some crummy egg poachers there, and I’d used them maybe three times in a two– or three-​month period, each time equally frustrated that the little buggers sucked. Realizing there was no way to get them to work, I thought I’d try to see if the store would let me exchange them. And yep! Because they said they only want to sell things that work and they rely on feedback of us customers to determine what that it. NICE! In a world where service is all but extinct, this is a nice boon.
–They offer reasonably priced cooking classes.
The only con I can think of is the somewhat high prices on lots of things made in China. I’d rather see fewer products made in China and lower prices, but as I mentioned, they are the same as Wiliams-​Sonoma, but with the non-​chain element.

Yeah, so I bought a seat in this class for Eugy cause well… His knife skills suck. He’s a wonderful cook, but the veggies and all that just come out cut so wrong, so I thought it would be a nice skill for him to learn. And since he didn’t want to go alone, he bought me a seat to come with him. Sweet!
The professional chef, Maya, is indeed HOT! So paying attention to her was no problem. She was very patient and explanatory and came around to each person to make sure they were doing ok and answer any questions they might have. This worked out really well since we had a small class.
Over all for a 2 ½ hour class that shows you skill and feeds you, all for $ 75. That is awesome! I can’t wait to take the other classes that Cooks Blvd offers.

I’m claiming Cooks Boulevard as my neighborhood kitchenwares supply store, even though it’s technically* not in my neighborhood.
Some cupcake-​baking temptress told me about it one day, in hushed tones, and don’t you know I went right over there and promptly spent $ 40? OK, not exactly budgeted for, but I have loved and used everything that I bought, and I will do it again in when ever I have the chance.
Here’s the big difference for me between shopping at an independent store vs. a chain store: No degrees of separation. Or maybe one, at most. You know that the items selected have been sought out and used by the person who is selling them to you, not negotiated in a deal behind closed doors in an attempt to leverage the most that they can out each company. The average salesperson at a chain store usually has very little connection to the products, but they are well-​trained on how to upsell you and always manage to slip a shiny new catalog in your bag.
The staff at Cooks Blvd is great — helpful and accommodating, and just plain nice.
They have a little bit of everything, including cookbooks, utensils, cutting boards, bowls, cake decorating supplies, and Stonehouse food products («House» olive oil is my extra-​virgin of choice!), pans, knives, aprons. Great for gift-​giving. It’s not a huge, overwhelming amount of stuff, but there is plenty there, and it’s very well-​chosen, and neatly arranged to make shopping a breeze.
An extra-​cool service that they provide is knife-​sharpening. Drop of by Saturday, pick up Tuesday. Try getting that at the mall!
So, if you are into cooking or looking to buy for someone who is, take a stroll over to my friendly, neighborhood* cookware store.
*3 miles from my house

I had such a great time shopping here!
They have a perfectly selected selection, it was well-​organized and the staff persons were so helpful and sweet.
A darn pleasure!

I am the ultimate bachelor. I cannot cook at all beyond toast, scrambled eggs and spaghetti,(not all at the same time), but even I could get into some serious trouble, financially, at this place, because upon stepping inside I was overcome by the feeling that I, too, could be a brilliant cook if only I had some of this cool shiny stuff to help me do it!
It’s all nonsense, of course — I’d still be a bad cook even if I was outfitted with all this nifty gear, but think of the dramatic increase in the *quality* of the spaghetti I could make with that beautiful pot and that neat-​o collandar.. . They also had all this high-​quality bakeware, a variety of knives, cutting boards, all the kitchen gadgets one could ever dream of, and so many more that I don’t even know the purpose of. Sigh.
Fortunately the first time I came in I was in a huge rush to get a tube of icing to decorate the cat’s birthday cake (it’s a long story; don’t ask) so I couldn’t stay to browse. But not only did they have icing tubes in all the colors of the rainbow, they also had sugar sprinkles in a variety of shapes including little moons and stars and dolphins and cows and pigs! Sugar sprinkles, I can operate with confidence, so I’m still in serious trouble.

Cooks Boulevard is one of my favorite neighborhood shops in the city.
When I decided a few months ago to plunk down some serious money for some serious All-​Clad cookware, I initially called Macy’s, Sur la Table, etc. No one had all the pieces I wanted. I went to the All-​Clad web site to look up SF dealers, and Cooks Boulevard came up. When I called them, they not only had everything I wanted, but their prices were the same as Macy’s (even Macy’s sale prices).
Cooks Boulevard is definitely smaller than the big chains like Sur La Table, but the variety of products they have is pretty amazing. Also, their staff is very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful.
Why go to a chain when you can support a neighborhood business?

This is the sweetest little place in the world. The guys that own it are charming, the folks who work there are real dolls and the selection of useful kitchen tools is suprising for its size. They skip most of the goofy useless stuff that the big guys carry and stick to what combines form, function, and high quality. The second time I went in they greeted me familiarly, remembered the conversation we’d had a month earlier and we’re really excited about the ideas I had for dinner. (And like proud pappas they display photos of their customer’s culinary achivements.)
Watch out for their chocolate selection. The black pepper and lavender dark chocolate truffles are dangerous.