Best New U.S. Shops for Obsessive Foodies

A perfect match for the obsessive foodie, each of these terrific new stores specializes in just one thing, like clay pots or beer.

Courtesy of JLMPhotography.net

Sonoma: Clay Pots

Paula Wolfert, author of Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking, thanked her lucky stars when Bram opened near her house. The store sells clay cookware in every shape, from chubby pots for stews to long oval dishes for whole fish.

Plus: Paula Wolfert's Clay Pot Guide

Courtesy of Cultured Pickle Shop

Berkeley: Wild-Fermented Foods

Believers in the health powers of active cultures (probiotics) come to Alex Hozven's Cultured for seaweed sauerkraut and lemon-cucumber kombucha, naturally fermented to boost the immune benefits.

© Lisa Young

Los Angeles's New Spice Source

Peter Bahlawanian and Bronwen Tawse stock Spice Station with an amazing array of 170 herbs and spices, including sassafras leaves for anyone who wants to make root beer.

Seattle: Ultrafresh Beer

Customers leave the Seattle Beer Authority store lugging bottles and growlers (half-gallon jugs) of beer fresh from the tap. The shop has a wide selection of Pacific Northwest brews, such as Oregon's malty Full Sail Amber.

 Beer Pairings

New York: Farmstead Cheese

Oh My Heart, a stellar cow's-milk double-cream from Lazy Lady Farm in Vermont, is one of the incredible artisanal American cheeses sold at Manhattan's Lucy's Whey, a new outpost of Lucy Kazickas's East Hampton shop.

 Cooking with Cheese

Portland, Oregon's Best New Meat Market

Butcher shop by day, steak house by night, Laurelhurst Market focuses on all-natural meat. In addition to house-made charcuterie, it sells less-common cuts like bavette and flatiron, both excellent values.

Published May 2010