Kamei Restaurant Supply: San Francisco

Like a well-stocked bakery entices the passing sweets addict, the doublewide storefront of Kamei Restaurant Supply beckons kitchen junkies inside.

With its unparalleled selection, this is one of the best kitchen supply stores in the city. It’s really two stores in one. There are rows of commercial goods like hotel pans, industrial stockpots and plain white, deep soup bowls. They also have vinegar cruets, salt and pepper shakers, syrup pitchers and anything you need to open your own restaurant.

Then there’s the stuff for your house at prices that rival any other store in the city. From teapots to sushi accoutrement to rice cookers and stainless and bamboo steamers, there’s something in every price and quality range. Much of it is pretty good quality stuff, but not everything is absolute top quality. That just means that a wide range of people can shop there. The price-quality relationship always seems more than fair. There are a couple aisles of very nice Asian ceramic tabletop items that are quite giftable.

Kamei is a wonderful place to stock up on wooden spoons, tongs, spatulas and baking tins. They have stacks of little tart pans in different shapes and sizes and baby decorative bundts and molds. There’s an entire wall of interesting sundries like vegetable peelers that make decorative patterns, training chopsticks, cherry pitters, scrapers, sink strainers and unusual wine openers. It’s also the perfect place to buy a variety of sizes of glass food storage containers. Whether you’re outfitting a first kitchen from cupboard to counter or just picking up a few things, you’re sure to find a wealth of goodies at Kamei.