Style: Cook's Sanctuary | Le Sanctuaire

An obsession with the industrial-strength Vita-Prep blender led Jing Tio, an accountant and aspiring chef, to open Le Sanctuaire, a culinary boutique in Santa Monica, California. At Le Sanctuaire, an intimate, uncluttered space that looks less like a kitchenware shop than a Prada store, Tio stocks only top-of-the-line products: Iranian caviar, Hermès china, French celebrity chef Marc Meneau's $600 biography, 100-percent-linen chef jackets gorgeous enough to double as haute couture and, of course, the Vita-Prep blender (2710 Main St.; 310-581-8999).
—Brad A. Johnson

Published April 2004