Recipes for Success

You can find a lot of great reads in Ink Fish Books, the new corner book shop in downtown Warren. The shelves are lined with modern classics, like George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The shop is clean and bright, and a bibliophile could easily sink into one of the chairs and flip pages all afternoon.

But you’ll also find tables laden with cookbooks – as well as jarred ingredients to putter with, from Mesa Fresca’s chimichurri to pepper shakers from Ocean State Pepper Co.

“I call them ‘book pairings,’” says Lisa Valentino, proprietor of Ink Fish. “It made sense to me that you could pair a book with a food product. And people get it. It’s a lot of fun.” She uses, as an example, cocktail syrups by RI-based Bootblack Brand, which she displays with mixology books. Ink Fish will also host a series of pop-ups and demonstrations.

Valentino worked in the newspaper publishing industry for more than 30 years, but she’s been happy with the switch in careers. She’s partnered heavily with Hope & Main, the kitchen incubator located only a few blocks away.

“Culture cookbooks are really big,” adds Valentino. “For the holidays, I’m getting another table, and I want to do all food culture – Irish, German, Vietnamese. All this fusion stuff, too. I think people will love it.” 488 Main Street, Warren.