Sur La Table
Category: Kitchen & Bath [Edit]
Neighborhood: Mid-City West6333 W 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 954-9190
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat 9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Sun 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot, Validated
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
6 reviews
Neighborhood: Downtown
"I hesitate to review this place, because I like having it as my secret gift-shopping emporium. Beautiful Japanese tableware at ridiculously…" read more »
14 Reviews for Sur La Table
Right at the edge of the LA Farmer's Market.
This location is much bigger than the Berkeley one, and they have EVERYTHING I've been wanting to add to my kitchen. Dutch ovens, mini bundt pans, lobster claw pot holders, ancho molasses rub, aprons, sauciers, infused oils, and more.
I need more money to go here... and a bigger kitchen.
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I was in here the other day buying pastry bags, tips, couplers, and other assorted cake decorating accessories -- and was pleasantly surprised that they had a very good selection of the Wilton Cake Decorating line.
The sales lady was extremely pleasant, helpful, and all smiles. In fact, whenever I'm in there, their sales people are excellent in customer service and knowledgeable about the products they sell.
This location also offers cooking classes (everything from French cuisine, chocolate, sushi, knife skills...etc), as well as wine tastings. Both of which I fully intend on taking advantage of since I live so close. The schedule of their classes can be found on the website.
Sur La Table is one of my favorite stores EVER! It's my dream to own my first home and be able to come in here and buy any and everything I would need to have a fully stocked kitchen. Oh... One day hopefully.
**Note: As far as validation goes, they are a part of the Farmers Market, NOT The Grove.
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I have issues. Psychological issues. Profoundly disturbing psychological issues.
Let's just say that I would probably benefit from therapy. Unfortunately, I grew up in the Midwest and was raised to believe that psychoanalysis was for neurotic pussies from New York City. Real Americans, who played sports and worked for a living, didn't go to therapy. They dealt with their psychological problems the same way they always did - by bottling up their emotions and letting them simmer until they explode in fantastic carnival of rage, carnage and human suffering.
Or they drink.
The latter method has been working for me pretty well for the last decade, but occasionally I need a little help to get me past those especially dark moments of quiet desperation. Sometimes, a quick dose of retail therapy is just what the doctor ordered. At times like this, I find myself at Sur La Table perusing the endless variety of cool kitchen gadgets (most of which are completely useless, but still I covet them with a passion that defies all reason).
My most recent purchase was an oven safe probe thermometer. I can't explain how much joy this little device has given me. Now, I can ascertain the exact internal temperature of my food without even opening the oven. This Thanksgiving, I cooked an alternative to the traditional turkey, a beautiful roast of New York strip. With the help of my new thermometer, the beef was cooked to absolute perfection. At the end of the evening, while there was heaps of leftover turkey, there's wasn't a scrap of my succulent roast left behind.
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Sur La Table is a wonderful store, I registered here for my wedding. I received many useful kitchen accessories that I have been enjoying on a daily basis.
I recently took a Paella cooking class on a Friday night. I really enjoyed it, the instructor was great and very helpful while we learned how to make the food. One thing I was a little disappointed in was that I was under the impression that I was going to make my own paella. What we ended up doing is separating in to 2 groups. One made the paella Valenciana and the others made a vegetarian one. It was a great learning experience. I will now be able to have the Paella / Tapas /Sangria Party I've always wanted.
I will be returning again to take more classes in the future.
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I used to make fun of this store because I swore real chefs would never step foot inside one, but try their best to make you buy their crap.
Unfortunately, I've been cooking up a storm with my boyfriend for the past couple of months as a way to save money, and so now Sur La Table seems like heaven on earth. You know that episode of the Simpsons when Homer imagines going to Switzerland, where everything is made out of chocolate and he gorges himself on everything? That's like me, except I'm in this yummy store filled with cooking gadgets, fighting for seasonal mini rubber spatulas, mini melon-ballers and gourmet cheeseclothes among snobby Beverly Hills housewives. And still, no real chef in sight.
But Mike D knows what it's about: this place is fun to peruse, drool, daydream and brainstorm while actually spending your money on cheaper items. For example, you see their $14 turkey brine bags (2 in a box!) for Thanksgiving, and you think about how delicious it would be to brine your own turkey...and then you walk to the grocery store and drop $5.99 on a box of XL Ziploc bags (5 in a box!) to use instead. Or you gaze longingly over their $400 KitchenAid mixer, and then buy one for $120 online. That's what I'm talking about.
But yesterday, while standing in line to purchase our special ceramic bowls for homemade french onion soup, I realized... THIS is the place where I'm registering for my upcoming nonexistent wedding. F U, Crate & Barrel and Bed, Bad & Beyond.
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Wow, I wish my experience was more like Brandon C's, "dirty French porno where some Michelin 3 Star Chef bangs his sexy protege on the kitchen table." Oh to the my, B!
Well, French fantasies and kitchen counter shagging aside, I love this place! It's like a culinary wonderland of things to touch, fondle, smell, rub, caress, salivate over and, hmm, maybe it is like a porn?
Anyhoo, the SLT will always have my heart as it was the first culinary chain store I ever visited back in the day when actually boiling pasta was an accomplishment. I've since powered on up the cooking chain, but I still let out a little sigh when I come into one of these places and remember the days when a spatula was a foreign concept :)
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This is one of my favorite food and cooking gadget stores. The only thing better is the other one in Santa Monica. Well, they actually have the same stuff so it's not necessarily better.
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Sur la Table kind of reminds me of some dirty French porno where some Michelin 3 Star Chef bangs his sexy protege on the kitchen table. But innuendo aside, this is my favorite cooking store.
Expensive? Yes. Snobby? You betcha, but I wouldn't take my chef's knife anywhere else to get sharpened. If you're a novice, go get starter supplies here, they have good moderately priced basics. Definitely get a Le Creuset Spatula.
If you are scared of cooking, or like to cook, they have fabulous classes here. I've heard, never actually participated. I don't need to, I'm THAT good. Just kidding. I'll get around to it one of these days.
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I didn't buy anything here nor did I come here to look at what the latest and greatest kitchen accessory was. Graceo had bought me a cooking class here for Christmas. Which I was very happy about, since it was a french bistro class. I love french food! Apparently Bistro dining is more casual french food. Graceo also bought herself one so we could take the class together. Thank god she came with me, the whole class was filled with couples and maybe 2 guys that came solo. Or maybe they weren't solo? hmmm, even more thankful that graceo came. The majority of the class were male. Which makes me wonder... Is it because todays modern man have become more domesticated? Do the significant others want these males to be more domesticated? Are women just not cooking anymore because they don't want to play into the old stereotypes? maybe men feel that they need to add cooking into their arsenal of "things I can do to get the ladies"? or maybe the whole class was just gay... probably a little of each... the class itself was cool. I didn't like the fact that you were teamed up and you could only make one course. we got put on the chaux de pate, (show-de-paw) which is pretty much like a cream puff. probably will never make it just because you need a heavy duty mixer. The steak and chicken dishes were good, which we made again and came out fairly well. the salads I didn't care for, made of beets, carrots and celery root...yuck! All in all the class was good and I hope to come back and take a knife essentials class.
I've always loved this store, but this particular one just didn't feel as efficient as the others I've been to. I never knew they sharpened your knives for free at Sur La Table. I've always been charged $1 per inch at every Sur La Table I've ever brought my knives to except the one at Santana Row where they've given me some freebies after years of sharpening my knives there.
The staff here are kinda hit and miss. Some are perky while others seem aloof. Maybe it's just the location. I think I'll stick to the one at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
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I'm a bit of an obsessive when it comes to kitchen gear, so a trip to Sur La Table requires an incredible amount of restraint. But lately, I've taken a different approach. I view Sur La Table as a place to let you know what's possible, hold it in your hand, size it up, compare similar products, but not to purchase necessarily. You can take your newfound knowledge and purchase elsewhere if you like, and save a few dollars. Some things cost the same as elsewhere and occasionally you'll find a deal too. I've bought a couple of really good knives here, and I really dig on their sharpening policy.
As a newly minted coffee snob, their espresso department is where my beef lies. They sell all these very expensive espresso machines with the expectation that the yuppies who purchase them won't be using them. Why? Because they offer very little in terms of tampers, grinders and the like. You would expect a place like this to have those kind of things. They also have a lot of gimmicky all-in-one and superautomatic machines that seem to betray their ethos, but it's a minor quibble. I'm a cook first, barista second, afterall.
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I took my bf to take a Seafood cooking class at this place, but it turned out to be a Seafood cooking demo instead. We were okay with this change because basically, we just sat back, watched our cook prepare the food for us while he gives us some inside tips on how to handle and cook food, and ate a sample of whatever he prepared. The slanted ceiling mirror showing how the cook slices on the cutting board was really cool. It was like being on one of those Food Network shows in person!
Our teacher for that lesson was a head chef at McCormick and Schmick's at Beverly Hills and he knew his stuff. He effectively paired the wines with the seafood we ate. (note: but I don't really know my wine pairing rules too well) We finished our meal with this chocolate truffle cake that the chef brought and he paired it with this sparkling wine. I definitely had a good experience and my bf was really inspired to cook more since at that time, he started to take a strong interest in cooking. The servings were small for each dish he served, but we left satisfied since there was a variety of dishes.
It's about $65 per person when I paid for the both of us. It was definitely worth it for inspiring my bf and I had a great time with all that wine I drank.
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Great store, good service. Took a cooking class (knife skills) so much fun. Did you know they will sharpen your knives for you for free? Yes, there is a Santa Claus.
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"sur la table" or sur la tab" ??? i still don't know how to pronounce it, i never learned french. anyways, this is my favorite cooking store because i hear they give discounts to culinary students. can't wait till January. I just recently had a cooking class with my gf this past monday for her birthday gift. i never felt so young. everyone was in their late 30's to mid 40's. we were the only 20 something in the group. however the cooking group was very cordial and it was a very relaxed atmosphere. we learned to cook from the chef at Dominick's on Beverly Blvd. Menu: baked ricotta, ricotta gnocchi with tomato sauce, arugula and parmesan salad, white fish picatta, and biscotti with marscapone, lavendar honey, and fresh strawberries (my favorite). the cooking class was very hands on and i also met and go to know the chef. i have to say the cooking class was a very good way to market a lot of products that sur la table sells. i bought the same micrograter and silpat (non-stick silicone pad for baking) used during the cooking lessons. so did everyone else, however they also bought a fish spatula which set them back 20 dollars!
sur la table is not cheap. but i know that their sales people are pretty knowledgeable and friendly. also, they will order something you need if they do not have it in the store. that's always a plus. i bought my two sexy shun classic knives there (8 and 10 inch chef; i prefer it over the globals anyday). i recently bought a whetstone from slt, so i can't wait to resharpen my blades.
****if you sign up for a class at slt, you get a 15% discount of any purchases in the store that day, and 10% for the rest of the week (man these marketing doods are smart at slt; jacked 60 bucks from me)
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