Craving for cookbooks: Foodies flock to used bookstore

Myrna Donato cooks from scratch nearly every night, but even if she were to try a new recipe three times a day, she wouldn't stand a chance of tapping all the dish ideas at her disposal, not with more than 16,000 cookbooks in her inventory.

"I've always liked cookbooks. It's been a passion of mine," she said.

She and her husband, Lou, share that passion through their used bookstore, Amber Unicorn Books, 2101 S. Decatur Blvd., Suite 14.

The couple ran a store by the same name on Charleston Boulevard from 1981 to 1997 with more than 150,000 books of all genres, not just cookbooks.

When they decided to retire and sell the store but not the name, Myrna took about half the cookbooks with her. They kept active with online sales and local and regional book fairs. But it wasn't enough; they missed the day-to-day interaction with customers, and their house was packed with thousands of books. So they opened the new store in 2008.

Even from the beginning, they attracted a following with foodies.

"I guess we were open about a year, and a chef came in. He was in heaven," Lou said. "I don't know how many books he got — a half-dozen, 10 of them — and I'm getting ready to hand him some cards, and said, 'Here, pass them out to your other chef friends,' and he said, 'Hell, no. This is my gold mine. Let them find their own.' "

Plenty have found the Donatos' hidden treasure tucked into a strip mall near Trader Joe's. In 2012, Bon Appetit magazine named Amber Unicorn one of the seven top culinary bookstores in the country. A writer from the Saveur cooking magazine discovered them next.

"Then American Express Travel & Leisure picked us as one of the top 10 in the world," Myrna said.

Even though the articles ran years ago, she said people still hold on to them and visit when they come to town.

"We have a huge customer base made up of tourists," Myrna said. "They come back year after year, every time they come to town. It's fun. They become friends."'

Over the years, the Donatos have sold books to home cooks, professionals and chefs-in-training with the culinary programs at the College of Southern Nevada and Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Las Vegas.

Among the store's admirers is the team at Andre's at the Monte Carlo, 3770 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Earlier this year, chef Andre Rochat launched a culinary library inside the cigar lounge on the second floor of his Strip restaurant. Nearly 700 books are on display for guests to peruse on subjects from pastry, wine and celebrity chefs to restaurant architecture. Additional books from Rochat's 1,000-plus title collection are set to rotate in regularly.

Joseph Marsco, director of operations and managing partner at Andre's, said they decided to team with Amber Unicorn for cross promotion. Through the end of the year, Andre's guests who present a card can get a 20 percent discount at the bookstore, while Amber Unicorn customers will be treated to a free cocktail at the cigar lounge.

"We know our own chefs love spending their days off at Amber Unicorn Books, reading and researching new recipes," Marsco said in a press release. "We're pleased our new library provides another excellent source of chef-quality inspiration. We believe this partnership is a great way for the culinary community and foodies to experience two of the city's great gems."

"When we went down to see Andre's collection, I was kind of impressed that we had quite a few of the same books," Myrna said. "It's a nice collection."

Myrna is quick to point out that, despite the attention, Amber Unicorn isn't just for foodies.

"Besides cookbooks, we do have a lot of other books — metaphysics and occult are one of our heavy sections, as is science fiction and fantasy. Military is very, very big. We've got something for everybody. A lot of people think 'Oh, we just have cookbooks.' No, we don't. We have other books, too. We're just a little bit better known right now for the cookbooks."

Lou's genre of choice is military books.

"It does not rival her collection," he said. " I've got about 3,000 titles. She's got a couple more."

With such a craving for culinary books, it's easy to think Myrna might be ready to write one. She wrote an article on cookbook collecting for a magazine but has never considered penning a book of her own.

"I just don't have the time," she said. "I'm too busy trying to get them all out on the shelf."

It's hard because she can't just price them, she has to peruse them.

"I sit down and read a cookbook the way everybody else reads a novel, and most collectors do the same thing," she said.

If a dish sounds tantalizing, she'll take the book home for a spin.

"The book may come back; the book may not come back," she said.

If you don't see what you're looking for on the shelves, just ask, Myrna said.

"We're not computerized, so I have to carry it all here," she said, pointing to her head.

"We're talking old-school," Lou added.

"Yeah, really old-school — we're old," Myrna said.

The books she loves best aren't the newest releases, either.

"I like cookbooks from the '60s going backward because those were all tested. A lot of the new cookbooks coming out are not tested, and you're reading the recipe, and you're going, 'No, no, this is not right.' Even if there's a picture, don't trust it. You could make it, and it may turn out pretty, but it may not be the right thing."

Amber Unicorn is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Visit amberunicornbooks.com or call 702-648-9303.

— Contact View contributing reporter Ginger Meurer at gmeurer@viewnews.com. Find her on Twitter: @gingermmm.