Different Drummer’s Kitchen

I can’t make an unbiased review, unfortunately for Unilocal,but I will say that DDK The Cook’s Resource has ungone some big staffing changes since the last review. Hop on over to Stuyvesant Plaza and check it out for yourself. If you’re lucky, there’ll be some Shortbread cookies fresh out of the oven or a new class brochure out for your perusal. Ask to sample an espresso shot and play with your dream knives. No harm done if you’re not in the market, but it sure is fun to try them out.

This is probably the best residential kitchen store in the Cap Dist. They have all kinds of kitchen gadgets. They also have some more expensive cooking items such as All Clad and le creuset. They also have a pretty good selection of non-​enamel cast iron, most of which is just Lodge. Cool shop, interesting products and good customer service.

Every so often I decided I just have to have some kitchen gadget to make something I want, and it seems Different Drummer always has it.
For example, I decided to make an authentic Egg Cream for a young guest. The spoon used to make an egg cream actually matters (or, at least it does in my head). You want a long handled spoon, like you might use for eating ice cream out of a fancy ice cream bowl. But you want the head of the spoon to be wider so it makes for better frothing. Don’t ask me how or why, I just decided I absolutely had to have such a spoon. The lady who helped me knew exactly what I wanted from my description and made no visible judgement toward my sanity.
Another time I had a recipe for shrimp scampi done on the grill. I needed au gratins to make this happen. I wanted them big enough to hold enough shrimp, but small enough to still justify individual servings. There they were. Enough in stock to buy them individually and still have enough for every guest.
I’ve also purchased a cooking class for the wife for a special occasion (I want to say birthday). It was a gluten free cooking class back when she was first getting started with learning about her Celiac’s. It was expensive, but she had fun and learned plenty, so it was worth it.
Oh, and if you sign up for their news letter you do get plenty of emails. However, they are not annoying about them. Each is unique, and they are spaced well.

I finally found a tiny pot of gold at the end of the rainbow during my search for a decent kitchen store in the region when i waltzed through Different Drummer somewhat accidentally after having come to the Stuyvesant Plaza on a different errand altogether.
Different Drummer has decent mid-​to-​upper end kitchen stuff at only modestly high prices. I always like to price compare on All-​Clad, and their prices were competitive with Macy’s sale prices. You can probably do better ordering on the internet, but not so much that the pleasure of going and trying things out here and comparing across brands won’t be a reason to buy from the bricks and mortar store instead. They also have a lot of the Le Creuset line — again, prices just a tetch higher than you’d pay elsewhere, but you can see almost everything in the product line. The kitchen gadgets were marked up a little over identical brands at the box stores, but they had a deeper roster, as it were, and while they didn’t have a tremendously wide range of choices within categories of things there was enough that it is possible to comparison shop on most gadgets.
Service was pleasant — not lippy at all — and reasonably adept. Some of the items on display I was looking at weren’t marked, and one of the two employees on duty got distracted by a phone call in mid-​assistance, but on the whole I did not walk away unsatisfied with the attention I got. That said, I didn’t really test anybody’s upper limits as far as knowledge of kitchen stuff goes, so I’m not sure I really know their level of expertise just yet.
That said, I also walked into a cooking class going on, and the class was packed, the food smelled delicious, they had a great seating/​learning area that included HD screens mounted around, and I could hear the presenter quite clearly. It was all I could do from rushing over and grabbing a fork and helping myself from the plate. I expect the cooking classes, for those that like these things, are a pleasant experience.
I’m still looking for a place that also has a range of nice serving ware and table linens, and one that has those unique craft-​made items that can elevate a kitchen place into the world-​class five star-​o-​sphere, but for now I’ll be happy to shop at Different Drummer for upper mid-​end items and not feel like I’m getting ripped off.

This review is for both the store itself as well as for a cooking class I took here.
First I’ll discuss the store. I love it. No, you won’t find bargain prices, but they sell all the quality kitchen stuff you came looking for, plus a ton of stuff you never knew you needed. A lot of ‘smart’ solutions. And some things that are hard to find elsewhere. We recently purchased ravioli and pierogi molds here after checking a few other places. And let’s be honest, these things aren’t really in high demand, because who the hell has the time or motivation to make their own pierogi and ravioli? But Different Drummer sells them. The staff I’ve encountered were all incredibly friendly and helpful. Their passion for all things culinary is obvious, but they aren’t at all pretentious.
And now for the cooking class.
If you look off to the right when you walk in the store, you’ll see a kitchen set up with three rows of tables and a few flat screens hanging from the ceiling. This is where the classes happen.
I’ve been wanting to take a cooking class for a while, just as something fun and different to do. Different Drummer is one of the few local places I could find that actually posts their class information online and allows you to register through the website. And they have a LOT of different classes to choose from. Everything from hands-​on classes for kids, to ‘Vegetarian Comfort Foods’, to learning knife skills, or ‘Northern France Game Dinner’. Husband and I read through the list and found one we could agree on: ‘Moroccan Cooking’, taught by Shaw Rabadi. So we signed up.
Shaw Rabadi, as it turns out, is the chef/​owner at BFS Restaurant in Albany. I had dinner there once years ago, but I don’t have much memory of it. Anyway, Shaw was a great instructor. Very warm, engaging, entertaining, full of information and willing to answer any and all questions. The menu consisted of lamb meatballs, spinach korma, glazed carrots, basmati rice pilaf and kataifi for dessert. When we arrived, we were presented with packets of the recipes, a pamphlet about Mediterranean cooking and info on BFS cooking classes, along with pencils to take notes.
Some classes here are demonstration based, while others are hands-​on. This was a little of both. Shaw took volunteers to come up and help him cook each dish, which made sense due to time constraints and the number of things we were scheduled to make. Over the 2.5 hour class, approximately 8 people of the 25ish in the group volunteered to help chop, mix, stir, plate, etc. I opted out since I didn’t want to risk missing anything while occupied with a task.
The flat screen TVs suspended from the ceiling give you a birds-​eye view of the stove and surrounding counter. They are a nice idea and useful in some regard, since my direct view was blocked by someone’s large head. However, I felt the screens could be better executed. I’m not sure if the problem is with the quality of the feed or if the camera /​screen needed some adjustments, but the picture was fairly washed out and lacked a lot of detail. For example, the pots of food tended to look more like blobs of color or all white. Fortunately there are only three rows, so you aren’t too far away to begin with. But it’s probably worth getting there early to score a seat up front and have an unobstructed view.
Class participants do get to eat the food after it’s cooked, which was something I sort of assumed, but it wasn’t explicitly stated in the class description. Don’t expect a restaurant-​sized portion, though. Altogether, including dessert, I’d guess that the meal we had was about 450 – 500 calories. But keep in mind that you are paying more for the experience than the meal when you sign up for a cooking class.
Added bonus: there was a nice woman from Standing Stone Vineyards giving us small samples of wine to drink while we cooked/​observed/​ate, which was an unexpected perk.
So, I’ll probably take another class in the near future. It’s not exactly cheap at $ 65/​$ 69 a head, but it was a lot of fun.
Even if we did need a second dinner.

Lots of really nice kitchen stuff to browse. I am finally getting to the point where I have everything I need for my kitchen, but I rounded out my collection of kitchen stuff with the purchase of some beautiful ice tongs here recently. As Jess said, the prices are a bit more for most things than what you would pay at a chain store but they have a great selection of things (like beautiful Provencal placemats) that you would not find at your local Bed Bath & Beyond or Linens & Things. I also found the staff to be very friendly and down to earth. I may be heading back over the holidays to splurge on some beautiful cheese knives. Great store!

Screw clothes and jewelry– this is the type of store that gives this woman a total hard-​on.
Oh those knifes! And the Le Creuset pots in their rainbow of colors, and the mortar & pestles! Who knew that I was missing the right stirrer for my home cocktail collection?
I could spend hours in this store gazing the array of kitchen gear. There are so many things here that I never knew I needed (or wanted!)
Despite it’s location in snooty-​central (Sorry Stuyvesant Plaza, but it’s time to ‘fess up — you’re chockful of snoot,) the clerks here are incredibly nice. Once I was there with my teenage brother to help him pick out a gift for my mother and the clerk treated him with far more respect than sales clerks usually give 17-​year-​old boys. I was impressed. And they’re never too in-​your-​face or annoying.
The store is clean, well-​lit and nicely arranged. I prefer it to Williams and Sonoma, even if the selection is smaller. I think that’s primarily because they don’t have all the food items and kitchen linens that W&S has. Plus, I prefer supporting local stores when I can. DDK has a sister store in Massachusetts, but it’s certainly not a chain.
The downside is that like many non-​conglomerate stores, the prices are higher than you’d pay at many places.