Read ’em and eat!
A Greenpoint poet and cook is whisking her literary and culinary passions together with a new Huron Street bookstore that only sells publications about food.
“I always knew that I wanted a bookstore, then I became obsessed with food,” said Paige Lipari, who opened Archestratus Books and Foods at Manhattan Avenue earlier this month. “I thought, ‘How do I incorporate these two things?’ ”
In addition to a menu of cookbooks, food zines, and edible-related fiction and poetry, Lipari is dishing up a side serving of pastries inspired by her Sicilian heritage at a cafe space in the back of the store and will start serving up full Sicilian dinners on Thursdays nights beginning Oct. 22.
Lipari, who grew up in Carroll Gardens and now lives down the street from her shop, said she gained a new appreciation for the flavors of her homeland on a teenage trip to visit her Sicilian relatives, and has been a passionate home cook ever since.
But until now, her professional life has been entirely dedicated to the written word — she worked at a handful of legendary Manhattan bookstores from a young age, including McNally Jackson and Idlewild Books, and was an editor at literary magazine A Public Space.
In the future, Lipari plans to host book clubs, author talks, and cooking classes — both her own and others’ — at Archestratus. But most of all, she wants to host local foodies, who she hopes will hang around at her store to chew the fat.
“I really do see it as a community space,” she said. “Good food is supposed to elevate the conversation, so I’m hoping there’s a lot of conversation that happens.”
Archestratus Books and Foods (160 Huron St. at Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, (718) 349–7711, www.arche
