HISTORY OF OUR BUILDING AT 850 YONGE ST (at Yorkville Ave)

Quite of the blue a package came to the store in 2011 from the great granddaughter of Charles J. Frogley. If you are walking by the store and look way up to the top of our building you will see the name Frogley in the apex. It was explained in the letter that her father had recently died at the age of 94 in Texas and with no relatives other than her brother and herself, who in turn had no children, she wanted to pass on this photo so that it would remain with the building. We are thankful to her for her thoughtfulness.

Charles J. Frogley took possession of the building in 1885 and operated  a confectionery and bakery, where a young 12 year old George Weston was rumoured to have worked for a few years, learning bread making along the way; so lo these centuries later it is only fitting we are here selling cookbooks.

In 2002 a Cookbook Store staff member was doing a research project for her university course and decided to research the building, we use her findings in telling an anecdotal history of our store, there may be some discrepancies and omissions which are unknown to us and for which we apologize.

Of course no one actually knows how old the building is, but Yorkville Ave was originally called William St situated in the Village of Yorkville. Once the village was amalgamation with the City of Toronto in the 1880's, (and you thought amalgamation was a current issue!) numbering of the buildings changed but since 1890 the building has been listed as 850 Yonge St.

Prior to 1860 George Bostwick, a general grocer with a store at 3 King St. is listed as having a house on William St on the corner in the Town of Yorkville. He lived in the house until 1875 and became a Justice of the Peace and served as treasurer for the Town of Yorkville.

In 1875 a young doctor from England moved in and set up his practice on the main floor as well as living in the building until 1884. But it was the next owner Charles J Frogley who would have the biggest influence on the building. The Frogley's wrought iron sign is still at the top of the building. Rooms and apartments were established above the ground floor store and the Frogley family moved in above as did three of his bakers. Charles Frogley continued to occupy the building until 1909.

Over the next few years the building was listed as being a confectioner and also The Eclipse Bakery. In 1923 it was operated as a grocery store for two years. Subsequent business have ranged from antique furniture dealer to book dealer and picture framer. One of the more successful enterprises was a restaurant called The Milk Bar which operated from 1938 to 1948. "Milk bars" were all the rage at this time.

After this period a range of businesses occupied the building from a fur company to a hearing aid services and a fabric store. In 1980 our predecessor was an upstart store called Books for Cooks. Who knew their ground breaking idea for a single genre bookstore would be slightly ahead of their time.

We are grateful for their idea (and the bookshelves) and when the owners decided to close their business in early 1983, well you know what happens next!

Staff Reminisces from Alison Gorman, (Irish Alison)

NOTE: We've been remiss in not posting some of our staff reminisces celebrating our 30th year, so settle in  for a few more as we head towards our 31st year April 2014!!

     I first heard about The Cookbook Store during my first couple of days in Toronto. It was March 2009, I had recently finished university at home in Ireland and I had taken myself to Canada yearning for adventure and a taste of the unknown. At this point the only new taste I had actually experienced was that of the stodgy free pancake breakfast at the colourful hostel I was staying in downtown. A little homesick, and somewhat cold and forlorn, I stumbled across the store one day and all was changed: a whole shop full of cookbooks! I couldn’t think of anything more wonderful to stumble across. I came back the next day armed with a resumé and spoke to Alison. As luck would have it, they had an opening and after a couple of days waiting for the phone to ring, she called to tell me I had a trial at the store. It must have gone well because before I knew it I had been christened “Irish Alison” (to save on confusion) and was a proud Cookbook Store member of staff. 

      In my first week or so at the store we held a bread and cheese evening and I think it was somewhere through a mouthful of tangy sourdough topped with creamy, salty artisanal butter that I thought, “this is it, this is the best job in the world”. I have so many great memories of my time there that it’s almost impossible to narrow them down; meeting bone fide culinary legends like Ruth Reichl, Elizabeth Baird, and Thomas Keller. Taking part in fun Cookbook Store events, from sampling Ontario apples until midnight on Nuit Blanche, to helping out with the liquid nitrogen at a molecular gastronomy showcase. There was so much passion and enthusiasm among both staff and customers, and I learned so much from my colleagues, and from cooking and baking for our events. I remember walking around my stifling apartment with a bowl and a whisk in the humid height of Summer trying to coax egg whites into peaks to make Reine de Saba cakes for Julia Child’s birthday party, and painstakingly applying the almond ‘nails’ to dozens of witches fingers cookies for Halloween.  

      But I think it was the day-to-day stuff that was the most fun; getting to know our wonderful

regular customers and neighbours around Yonge and Yorkville, who would regularly pop in to tell us of the success of a new recipe or, even better, bring us samples. ‘Testing’ a whole batch of Alice Medrich’s cocoa brownies (for research purposes, obviously) with a colleague who would also become a great friend.  Having a customer pop in looking for something new, but not sure what exactly, and helping them to find the perfect book. Chatting about recipes for hours on end with fellow food obsessives, and sometimes even helping to troubleshoot cooking in real time; it was only after several lengthy phone conversations about jam setting that I realised that the Certo helpline is only a digit different to The Cookbook Store phone number, thus explaining the high volume of jam-related calls. What a lucky twist of fate that the unfortunate preservers would still get through to one of the only numbers in Toronto that would be able to offer real empathy and advice.

     Even after nearly 30 years in business a new shipment of books would still cause excitement among the whole staff, all other work would be temporarily put on hold while new publications were pored over. Saturday afternoons were one of my favourite times of the week; listening to classical music with Jennifer as we helped customers select books for themselves, for friends, for family. Books that would be taken to bed for leisurely perusal, books that would later have their pages spattered with sauces, and stuck together with dough. Books that would inspire the city’s chefs to new creative heights. Books that would help to feed and nourish loved ones, and would become the cracked-spined, dog-eared suppertime bibles of families. 

      Although I now live across the Atlantic in London, England, Toronto is always still on my mind, and The Cookbook Store especially. What Alison and Jennifer have built isn’t just a business, it’s a community, filled with customers and staff members who have become friends, across years and miles. For me, working at The Cookbook Store wasn’t just a job, it was my home away from home, and it is still one of my favourite places in the world. So happy 30^th birthday Cookbook Store, and here’s to many happy returns!!  

(Irish) Alison 

Cookbook Store employee 

Tony Aspler "The Wine Guy" wishes us a happy 30th Anniversary!

Wine writer, Tony Aspler "The Wine Guy" wishes us a happy 30th Anniversary!

Yotam and Sami wish us a happy 30th anniversary!

Yotam Ottolenghi (author of Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, Plenty, and Jerusalem) and Sami Tamimi (co-author of Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Jerusalem) wish us a happy 30th Anniversary!

Michael Smith wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Chef Michael Smith sings "Happy Birthday" for our 30th anniversary! Love the cake!

Anna Olson wishes us a happy 30th Anniversary!

Chef, author, and Food Network Canada host, Anna Olson wishes us a happy 30th Anniversary!

The Three Greek Sisters of Around the Greek Table and the new Back to the Beginning, wish us a happy 30th anniversary!

Staff Reminisces from Deborah Reid

In the late ‘80’s I began to supplement my income as an apprentice cook at Le Bistingo, with part-time work at the Cookbook Store.  I chuckle now at that idea because what income I did garner mainly went back into the store coffers toward book purchases. Beyond expanding my own culinary library, I loved the work for the bright minds of both Alison and Jennifer (Canadian culinary treasures) and the joy of connecting a fellow food lover with a great book or recipe. I also met many celebrated chefs.

     One of the most memorable meetings was in September 1989 (I have an inscribed cookbook pinpointing the date) when I shook hands with one of my culinary heroes.

      It was a quiet and unremarkable day. I was cleaning and sorting shelves when I heard the store door open and Alison enthusiastically greet a visitor. When I looked up I saw Jacques Pépin, a man I professionally adored. At that time, he was the formidable force behind two books that shaped my French training - La Methode and La Technique.  I was introduced to his work by the first chef I apprenticed with who gifted me a copy of La Technique.  Those books stripped the mystery from complex French recipes, through visual decoding, and marked Jacques Pépin as an innovator.  He was also young, handsome, and very French.

      In retrospect I’m happy he arrived with no advance notice. Still I was star struck and could hardly garble out anything of real intelligence other than my complete respect and admiration for his work. He signed books including one personalized for me.

     I’ve met him subsequently, again at a book launch for his charming memoir, The Apprentice.  Like his most famous professional partner, Julia Child, he remains practical, under-stated, and enthusiastically committed to sharing his knowledge and love for good food and cooking.  Above all Jacques Pépin remains a great teacher and an influence of importance in my own professional development.


Deborah Reid  

Cookbook Store employee  from 1988 -1990 when she went off to complete formal professional training at the Stratford Chefs School. 

Today she is a professional chef living a delicious life and has spent 25 years working within striking distance of a gas range.  Her enthusiasm is as large as her appetite.  Deoborah currently works as a chef, writer and culinary consultant - www.chefdeborahreid.com.

Myra Sable, president of Sable & Rosenfeld wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

30th Anniversary Staff Reminisces from Kevin Jeung

                In a perfect instance of how The Cookbook Store became a huge part of my life and career, and continues to do so; a month after I had been hired, I found myself in face-to-face conversation with Anthony Bourdain. To be a part of the bricks and mortar building at the south-west corner of Yonge and Bloor is to be presented with unbelievable experiences and personalities. Whether I was walking Gordon Ramsay down Jarvis St. to St. Lawrence Market, sharing a Fernet Branca with Fergus Henderson, or running over from Splendido mid-mise-en-place on a Friday to beg Andoni Aduriz of Mugaritz for a stagiaire position (He said yes, and I am writing this piece from the stagiaire residence in Spain right now!), every day held the potential for something new, exciting and usually, delicious.   

      When I took a job in the kitchen at Splendido, I maintained employment at The Cookbook Store by working Sundays; my only day off. It goes to say a lot about the kind of environment I was lucky enough to call a workplace for my two year tenure under the big red awning that after working 80+ hours in 6 days, I would happily step behind the cash register and help eager amateur cooks and experienced professionals find what they needed. It goes without saying that working in kitchens sacrifices the majority of opportunities you have to meet people outside your own restaurant. 

     Working at The Cookbook Store provided me countless acquaintances and friendships, whether it was Alison introducing me to some of the biggest chefs in the city (to which many, I am now on a first name basis), or meeting cooks whom I watched grow from working electric stoves to running entire kitchens in my time at the store. Some of the people I met while shelving books and unpacking orders have gone on to become some of my best friends. This is not to say that the only great people at the store were on the clients’ side of the counter; it has been an utmost pleasure to have worked beside so many bright, friendly and like-minded people. 

       It takes a special kind of folk to convince me to cheat the transit system to bring back a workplace porchetta sandwich lunch from Dundas West, or brave sleet and snow to retrieve a bounty of griddle-smashed Americana from this super-popular burger place with a secret menu on Queen Street East. 

       To Alison, Josh, Jennifer, Young Jen, John, Amit, Kim, Jessica E., Jessica B, Justine, Adrian and Lisa (and all the other wonderful people I met along the way; there are too many to list!) it truly was a memorable and special 2 years. 

Thank You.

Kevin Jeung  - Cookbook Store employee 2010-2012

Currently a stagiaire at Mugaritz (3rd on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list)

PS (I was there when a 50lb cookbook was published, listed at $599.99 and sold out instantly. Books are not dead, people!)

Staff Reminisces from Julie Wood in New Zealand

    Chatting to two friendly women behind the counter in the red painted Toronto bookshop in the summer 2005, on a day when I felt very alone in my new city thousands of  kilometer's from my home in New Zealand, was a happy way to while away time I suddenly had on my Hands. I’d never been in  store dedicated solely to cooking and loved the idea. Alison cheekily asked me if I’d thought of working in Toronto. I planned to continue my painting practice but this was proving catatonically lonely in our apartment where I knew no one. I left her with my number not expecting to hear from her.

     Long story short my Westie dog McGregor and I worked at The Cookbook store until Feb 2007 when we moved to New York, my forte found in window displays and talking up the beauty of New Zealand. The fact that I loved food and cooking helped in spades. It was a pleasure to be spending my days with convivial company and meeting new people daily. On my return to TO in 2010 I helped out at some fab celebrity events.

     Highlights were meeting culinary stars and local cooking heroes! Cheeky Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson were stars, Ricardo was infectiously charming,  Giada de Laurentis a lovely girl who chewed gum while she blissed out in the store and Julia Child’s nephew Alex Prud’homme a true gentle man.

     Alison and Jennifer inspired me to cook, introducing me to wonderful recipes like Nigella’s luscious Guinness chocolate cake, new foods, ingredients, techniques and best of all directing me to all the wonderful foodie spots that abound in Toronto.

     But it was the customers who made my day! Visits from tiny Dina were always fun, I still make her Prune Plum Kuchen, a never fail Jewish cake that has become a standard in my repertoire.  Others visited to pat Mcgregor on his cushion by the door. Chatting to customers needing to introduce a son to cooking or buy a gift for a bride. Directing culinary students to the serious cheffy books and the Mum’s on a day out in the big city to the latest releases. Each day was an adventure and we never knew quite what would unfold. Book delivery days were hectic, making spaces for new arrivals, leafing through books, salivating over images, recipes and the lovely words that weave the spell of food magic.

     The Cookbook Store IS Alison and Jennifer. The A Team that has been together forever. The rest of us have been lucky to keep company with them for a time in our lives. I miss these ladies and I congratulate them on keeping such a wonderful iconic store relevant and real. Fabulous in this day of online recipes and TV chefs. 

Happy 30^th to all at The Cookbook Store.

XO Julie Wood

Cookbook Store employee 2005-2007

Currently living in  Auckland, New Zealand

Chef Matt Kantor wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Chef Matt Kantor of Secret Pickle, Little Kitchen and Ghost Chef wishes us a happy 30th anniversary...in his own way!

Marion Kane wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Former Toronto Star food editor, author and Food Sleuth, Marion Kane wishes us a happy 30th Anniversary!

Chef David Lee of Nota Bene wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Chef David Lee of Toronto's Nota Bene restaurant wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Bonnie Stern wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Bonnie Stern, author of Heartsmart, Home Essentials, and Friday Night Dinners, wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Marilyn Smith channels the "other" Marilyn for our birthday!

Marilyn Smith, author of The Vegetarian's Complete Quinoa Cookbook and Healthy Starts Here!, wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Elizabeth Baird wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Elizabeth Baird, co-author of Canada's Favourite Recipes and long-time friend of The Cookbook Store wishes us a happy 30th anniversary!

Janet and Greta Podleski wish us a happy 30th anniversary!

Authors of the Looney Spoons collection of cookbooks, Janet and Greta Podleski wish us a happy 30th anniversary!

Chefs, authors and friends have sent us video greetings for our 30th Anniversary. Take a look...

Author of In the Sweet Kitchen and former staff member, Regan Daley wishes The Cookbook Store a Happy 30th Anniversary!

Staff Reminisces from Jennifer Grange

     The evening of June 30, 1983, was beautiful, not too hot, not too humid, so lovely that after a movie at Yonge and St. Clair, my then boyfriend and I decided to walk all the way back downtown to catch the Queen streetcar to the Beach where we lived. That decision changed my life.

      We had moved to Toronto so that my partner could take an editing job at The Canadian Press.  I had done some “stringing” for the Toronto Star, had baked and cooked in restaurants in London, Ontario, had a degree in political science.  After almost a year and a half in Toronto, I was still without a job. That night as we sauntered down Yonge Street, I spied a little notice in the window of 850 where The Cookbook Store had recently opened. The store was looking for another staff member.  I was elated.  It would be the perfect job for me, who loved to cook, who loved cookbooks, indeed, books in general. The next day, a Friday was Canada Day so I had to way until Saturday to deliver my resume.  I thought my interview with the manager, Alison Fryer, and employee #2, Deborah Wightman who was also from London, went well.  I was sure that by Monday morning the job would be mine. Monday came and went, and so did Tuesday. On Tuesday night, I had a total meltdown, thinking that if I could not get a job at The Cookbook Store, I would never get a job in Toronto. Fortunately the phone rang early Wednesday morning: I was invited for a tryout on Thursday afternoon. In the meantime, I had a dinner to go to.  I got food poisoning but by Thursday afternoon I could keep water down so off I went.

     To this day, the first task anyone hoping to work at the store must perform is the ceremonial tidying of the shelves. I was no different.  The first thing I noticed was not on the shelf was Marcella Hazan’s Classic Italian Cooking, one of the first books I had ever bought for myself.  The first customer I advised was looking for a good Italian book.  I knew just the one and after asking if the store did special orders, took the person’s name and number. I was invited to come back on Saturday.  That day I fixed someone’s glasses with a staple—I was hired.

     I guess I began my time at The Cookbook Store thinking that I would work retail until a real job came along—certainly my future husband thought that. Instead working at The Cookbook Store became my career, my life’s work, in many ways my community. In the three decades I have worked here I co-wrote a book, have seen my words published both in-store and in national publications, have been on radio and television.  

     I have been lucky to meet almost all of my culinary heroes, many of them multiple times.  The first was Elizabeth Baird whose Classic Canadian Cookbook gave validity to the food on which I grew up.  Martha Stewart, Julia Child, Patricia Wells, Richard Sax, Nick Malgieri, Paula Wolfert, Anton Mosimann, Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi , Feran Adria, Magnus Nilsson, and countless others have passed through our doors. 

     The pleasure has not just been about meeting international culinary bright lights. It has been as much about watching 17 year old children enter culinary programmes such as the one at George Brown College and seeing them evolve into mature chefs both in Canada and abroad.

     We have had an extraordinary group of customers: anonymous home cooks, music stars both classical and pop, actors from both stage and screen, academics, they have all come together for the joy of cooking. 

     We have also had an unusual group of coworkers.  If there is any recurring theme it is that lawyers and musicians really love food—and alcohol.  Many have become close friends rather than just coworkers even as they have turned into food editors, lawyers, bakers, the assistant director of international human protection at the United Nations, university professors, a medical student in Dublin.

     Our customers and co-workers have celebrated with us as we built families and been there as those families changed in ways we might never have imagined, as we have lost family and friends—as we are there for them.  The Cookbook Store as a community hub really signifies for me the power of food to unite.

Jennifer Grange
Cookbook Store employee from July 1983 to present