Dean & DeLuca

SoHo Store

SoHo
560 Broadway
at Prince St.

P: 212.226.6800

Upper East Side
1150 Madison Ave.
at E. 85th St.

P: 212.717.0800

The city's fanciest market, Dean & DeLuca is treated by tourists like a museum of luxury food products, impressed by the selection and shocked by the prices. We New Yorkers are lucky to have access to foods of this quality and with this range of selection. For most of us, the high prices make shopping here a rare experience but for certain items, the selection is the best in the city, starting with the cheese department.

What's great:

The cheese department is the best in New York City. Here's why: First, the selection is remarkably large and diverse. They have the best of the cheeses you'd know plus many more you will never have had before. The buyers clearly have good relationships with very small producers because you'll see cheeses here and nowhere else. Second, the staff knows what they're doing and they want you to get a cheese that you'll love. And third -- and this is very important -- this store is excellent at keeping cheese. Cheese is extremely perishable and how it is handled and stored will directly affect the product you end up buying.

Also great: bakery and bread departments, charcuterie, imported grocery items like olive oils and vinegars. Small housewares and cookware department sells distinctive and beautiful items you won't easily find elsewhere.

What to avoid:

The store on weekends. It can be so crowded you'll be convinced it's on the tour. If you want help in something important, like putting a cheese course together, try to go to the store on a weekday or at the very least, early morning on a weekend, so that you can get decent attention.

What to know:

Dean & DeLuca started as a small cheese shop on Prince Street in SoHo in 1973. It has gradually grown to have an outpost on Madison Avenue, plus a handful of cafes around the city. But the store in SoHo, on the corner of Prince and Broadway, remains the mother ship. To get the best out of shopping there, here are some tips:

The store's produce is of outstanding quality but the prices are numbingly high
The fish department is of good quality but the selection is small and usually not exceptional. This is not the place I'd go to buy a whole red snapper and have it fileted
The same goes for the butcher, although you can usually find great items like Karl Ehmer hot dogs and sausages. They also carry organic poultry and can do almost anything if you order ahead
The grocery selection is outstanding. The store offers an impressive selection of oils, vinegars, spices, grains, dried (Latini) and fresh (Rafetto's) pasta, jams, candies, coffee, tea, and cookies
The bakery in the SoHo store is in two parts: in the front of the store are the sweets and toward the center is the bread counter. They have a selection of the best the city has to offer such as breads from the Sullivan Street Bakery and Amy's, cupcakes from Crumb's, cakes from Cupcake Cafe, and many others
The deli and charcuterie have a deep and wide selection of cured meats and hams, smoked fish, caviars, olives and pickles and other brined foods, fois gras, truffles, and other foods you'll never have had before
At the rear of the SoHo store is a housewares and cookware department. Beautiful things, chosen for their quality and distinctiveness. A great place for gifts, maybe one for yourself.