SOS Chefs in the East Village: Where Restaurants Go For Spices, Oils, and Vinegars | Eater NY
"Tucked into a low-key storefront at 104 Avenue B, near East Seventh Street, I discovered SOS Chefs — a nearly 30-year East Village secret weapon for New York chefs. Owner Atef Boulaabi, originally from Tunisia, launched the business in 1996 strictly for chefs and wholesalers and opened it to the public four years later; she now sources roughly 1,200 products from around the world and repackages many herself, offering items from plum-coated sesame seeds, banana vinegar, saffron, or agave worm salt to pretzel salt, along with tea mixtures and ferments. The operation is intimate and hospitality-forward: Boulaabi breaks out samples for customers, collaborates on co-branded specialty products (she’s working on a seasoning with a top NYC pizzeria), and has become a trusted ingredient whisperer to chefs like Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges (most recently for the Tin Building), and teams at Il Buco, Atla, Estela, and Oxomoco. She runs the shop with her husband, former chef Adam Berkowitz, who built the wood-and-metal shelving that holds a dizzying array of powders, oils, sauces, and more than 30 vinegars (yuzu and pumpkin-chai among them); the couple live above the store, a worn-in table and hanging dried goods make it feel like a second living room, and their cat Mabrouk keeps watch while they experiment in the back. The pandemic forced a shift from a business that used to be about 90 percent restaurant-driven to one with many home cooks, pushed them to expand online and to repurpose a Bushwick space into an events atelier, and highlighted sourcing challenges from climate change and geopolitical turmoil (she notes difficulty getting Tasmanian pepper berries); still, Boulaabi is forecasting ingredients like salep, has adjusted hours for better work–life balance, and continues to draw devoted, curious food people who travel to hear her stories." - Emma Orlow
