Once upon a time in a quiet block of residential Echo Park, Cookbook began as a friendly neighborhood bookshop-meets-farmstand. Long before the lines at Canyon Coffee began to form, Cookbook anchored the scene. In 2020, Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo and Helen Johannesen (yes, of Jon & Vinny’s and Helen’s Wines fame) took it over and made it what it has become today: every insufferable east side millennial hipster’s favorite shoppy shop.

Today, there are three outposts. The original one in Echo Park, a larger one in Highland Park, and an annoyingly cute one in Larchmont that took over a 1920s home and has a sit down café. All three deliver on the promise of a well-curated slightly crunchy general store filled with the latest trendy pantry goods, fresh produce and a bottle of wine for every occasion. I doubt many people actually do their functional shopping here, but it’s the kind of place you have to walk in whenever you’re in the neighborhood, and the perfect place to stop by ahead of a dinner party.