Holiday GIFTS to Delight Friends and Family

Be ready with the perfect gift when you meet up with family, friends, co-workers, and all the special people in your life this holiday season.  We have a selection with food and wine gifts that will please all the lucky recipients on your list.  We have included links for your convenience so happy shopping!

Cheese Grotto offers a gift that is as beautiful as it is functional.  The Cheese Grotto is a mini cheese cave for optimal at-home cheese storage designed to preserve cheese better than plastic or paper which it does up to 3x longer.  The Grotto provides a micro-climate just like a cheese aging cave when placed in the fridge. Bonus: The shelf can act as a cheese board, so serving cheese during the holidays is easy! 

The Lula Cafe Cookbook is the much-anticipated first cookbook from this Chicago institution and its admired chef/owner Jason Hammel, The Lula Cafe Cookbook shares the restaurant’s journey over the last 20 years  from a scrappy artist-run cafe of mismatched chairs and plateware, to one of the city’s most legendary establishments. With 90 all-day recipes, stamped with a date of when they got on the Lula Cafe menu and spread out through chapters like Brunch, Soups, Snacks, Salads, Vegetables, Pasta, Meat/Fish, and Dessert, the cookbook makes the restaurant’s beloved dishes accessible to home cooks for the first time, while also telling the story of love, community and friendship that has made Lula Cafe what it is today. 

Brooklyn Delhi is the maker of cult-favorite Indian condiments and sauces developed by chef and cookbook author Chitra Agrawal. This holiday season, Brooklyn Delhi is launching two new gift boxes Designed by New Delhi-based artist, Anjali Mehta, these gift boxes are inspired by hand-painted South Asian truck art. They each include an insert, also designed by Anjali, which can be removed and used as an art piece on its own. The Best Of Brooklyn Delhi Gift Box ($95) - featuring seven of Brooklyn Delhi’s best-selling sauces, that includes Tomato Achaar , Roasted Garlic Achaar, Sweet Mango Chutney, Tikka Masala, Golden Coconut Curry, Coconut Cashew Korma, and Cashew Butter Masala. 

taste56, the recently opened wine shop in Dumbo, just steps from Brooklyn Bridge Park, is a great destination for New Yorkers and guests of the city.  The shop’s attractive modern interior is welcoming for you to browse their collection or have a tasting. taste56 selects the world’s best wines for their customers and gives them the tools to curate the perfect choices. They make it easy for you to drink wine that you really love.  taste56 has a sophisticated recommendation system that will please and impress. Once you visit, you’ll definitely be one of their regular customers. In addition to the wines that are available for tasting, there are many exquisite bottles in their collection. It’s nice to know that they have an e-commerce platform that allows you to ship and gift wines.  It’s ideal for the holidays.

My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora has been released by Yewande Komolafe and is available through Ten Speed Press for $35. The Berlin-born, Lagos-raised and Brooklyn-based chef and cooking columnist for The New York Times, blends the formative years of her upbringing in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos, with her personal journey of self-discovery in New York, to offer an exploration of and beginner’s guide to understanding and cooking Nigerian food in her stunning first cookbook. With 75 recipes, informative essays and personal stories, My Everyday Lagos, celebrates the many cuisines found in Lagos, and continues her work to introduce Nigerian cuisine to kitchens around the world.

JUSTIN  branded glassware and decanters from JUSTIN Vineyards and Winery are crafted of elegant glass and they are an essential for any wine lover. Each of their beautiful carafes aerates the wine, allowing it to reach its fullest potential. Use your decanter as an eye-catching centerpiece or as a sophisticated gift for any wine lover. JUSTIN Wine Glasses are $35 and the JUSTIN Decanter is $75.  JUSTIN also has their Upcycled Candle for $40 that will illuminate your holidays. Each candle is soy-based and scented, creating a delightful aroma. Four scents are available that include Mulled Wine, Pomegranate, Laurel/Cyprus/Fir and Crackling Firewood. These unique gifts are handmade by local artisans using recycled ISOSCELES bottles.

Eli's Market, the iconic NYC market founded in 1998 by beloved New Yorker Eli Zabar, whose family has been in the grocery industry for over 85 years, has a wide range of holiday offerings this year from classic, Christmas baked goods to gift baskets for everyone on your list. Some of the traditional offerings include Eli's Stollen, studded with raisins and a schmear of almond paste, Panettone, a rich and yeasty cross between a bread and a cake, and covered with raisins and candied citrus, and the classic Fruit Cake, a fragrant mass of dried fruit and nuts with just the tiniest bit of cake holding this 2-pound loaf together. Other offerings include the Christmas Classic Gift Basket, the Chanukah Gift Basket, and the New York Deli Experience Gift Basket.

Rubirosa at Home has launched items for the holiday season. The deliciously iconic pantry line is from NYC’s Rubirosa, inspired by the signature ingredients used in the restaurant’s most famed dishes. The new Rubirosa holiday offerings are perfect for the foodie in your life and are available for nationwide shipping to be delivered just in time for Christmas. The Pasta Sampler is $42.99. Rubirosa’s new Pasta Sampler Tin, an Italian twist on the nostalgic, decorative popcorn tin, features three unique pasta shapes  that include Trottole, Casarecce and Lumache to cook a variety of Rubirosa recipes at home.  The  Pasta Sampler,Sauce, and Olive Oil Gift Set  is $84.99. This bundle includes the new Pasta Sampler Tin, as well as the restaurant’s signature Vodka Sauce, Marinara Sauce and Olive Oil. Check out their website for other delicious items available.  Rubirosa at Home products are available on Amazon, at select national retailers, and specialty stores, direct-to-consumer online at rubirosanyc.shop, and for pickup at the restaurant in Nolita. 

Photo Credit: Marina P. Kennedy

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