Paige Lipari is the founder of Archestratus Books and Foods, a specialty shop in Brooklyn, New York, that sells vintage and new cookbooks alongside curated, Italian-influenced grocery and ready-to-eat offerings.
The location also carries a selection of specialty perishables, like cheeses, greens, milk, and eggs, along with a variety of center-store imported and domestic products such as chocolate, pastas, and sauces. Lipari is particularly proud of its extensive tinned fish collection, a trending item that has garnered much attention this past year. She added that a local favorite is its Marco Colzani Pistacchi Spread. Other popular items include Martelli pasta and a host of delights from Gustiamo, an iconic New York City-based distributor.
Lipari, a chef, also cooks and bakes a selection of grab-and-go savory and sweet offerings daily and sources fresh bread from local bakeries.
The shop seeks to create “an extremely harmonious food experience,” shared Lipari. “When looking through the cookbooks, you may get hungry and explore the [grocery], and if you’re eating the food, you can … [satisfy your interest in] how the food is made.”
Right now, she’s focused on investing in striking the perfect balance between vintage and new cookbooks, including scouring the country for out-of-print and rare offerings. She shared that the pandemic acutely hit this side of the business, which she hopes to revivify.
Lipari has also made the location an educational space, frequently hosting cooking classes, sessions about Italian food and food culture, as with Sicily: Through the Seasons, and author events. Often these classes take on a global landscape, incorporating flavors of the Middle East, Africa, East Asia, and more into the recipes.
To further engage her community, the store hosts book and cookbook clubs featuring diverse voices in food and culture and facilitates a community cookbook with customer-submitted recipes.
“Archestratus seeks to make people’s lives better on a daily basis,” said Lipari. “We also want to be a community space where people can share their gifts and showcase their talents.”
Lipari loves how something as seemingly limited as food can fit into many niche interests and provide community to such an eclectic group of people.
“The store is focused on food, but I feel like there is so much we can do to bring in so many different types of people,” she said.
Despite the hard work to create the unique Greenpoint staple, she revels in the store’s success.
“My dream for the store is here. I just want to keep improving what we are already doing,” she shared. “I want every corner of Archestratus to be an opportunity for someone to discover.”
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Image: Caroline Tompkins