Petal-er of Tasty Treats: Flowers and Bread

An insurance commercial I remember from a couple years ago (all my attempts to verify the actual company behind it have gone for nought) focused on some rather dubious-sounding business combinations ("Kevin's Plumbing and Hot Dogs, may I help you?"), with the ultimate lesson being that you should trust the focused specialist.

Clintonville's Flowers & Bread, created by Sarah Lagrotteria and Tricia Wheeler roughly one year ago, seems to go against that train of thought, offering up the charms of both flours and, well, flowers underneath the same roof.  It sounded like an intriguing combo (not that I would be interested in the floral aspect all that much) but I did wonder on another level whether this would come off as gimmicky in any way.

Thankfully, my spouse and I have found this not to be the case at all.

Tomales Bay and Tasty Ways: Pt. Reyes National Seashore/M.H. Bread and Butter

One thing I will always love about California is the weather, in that it generally is much less an impediment to exploring Mother Nature's wonders than elsewhere.  With solidly fair weather in place throughout our California stay, we figured a couple of day trips to do some exploring were in order.

Tomales Bay in Point Reyes National Seashore, underneath which the San Andres
Fault runs (photo credit to Brewbooks under Wikimedia Commons license)

Geographically, the casual observer might think at first glance that the Point Reyes peninsula looks as if it were being cut in half by the Pacific Ocean. That notion is more correct than they might suspect, as the San Andreas Fault runs right along where Tomales Bay lies. Essentially, anything east of the bay is going south toward Los Angeles, while anything west is creeping north toward Alaska. What this unique clash of land masses creates is a bevy of interesting sights for the visitor.

Bakery 'Round The Corner: Laughlin's Bakery

I've learned that traveling down High Street in the Short North area often gives me a bit of tunnel vision. When I'm in a car, the traffic during the most traveled times slows down to a trudge, caused by a combination of COTA city buses and bicyclists being squeezed along car-lined sidewalks, keeping my focus mainly on the road around me.

When I ride the bus or walk through the area, other distractions predominate. The streams of people traversing this once sketchy neighborhood are natural attention grabbers, not to mention the surrounding buildings, which like a chameleon change over time due either to constant construction or the latest business venture hoping to strike success in one of the metro's most attractive neighborhoods.

These aspects make it easy to lose track of what might lie in the areas block or two over on either side of High, and is certainly a big factor for me personally as to why it took me so long to get over to the very compact space that is Laughlin's Bakery, just a couple dozen steps off the main strip on East 2nd Avenue.

Footloose and Gluten-Free: Eban's Bakehouse

Adrienne Novak, co-founder and creator of Eban's Bakehouse
and its line of appealing gluten-free goods

While taste may be the dominant consideration behind a particular food's appeal, general mouthfeel is not that far behind. In some instances, that can be the largest consideration. For example, the taste of durian fruit on a personal basis for me isn't nearly as unappealing as its uniquely stringy, cottony and chewy texture.

For gluten-intolerant and Celiac disease sufferers, finding gluten-free bread that not only tastes decent but also has that generally pleasing texture that only bread delivers is something of a challenge. However, this was an issue that we generally had no worries about ourselves since we (thankfully) do not suffer from these issues.

This changed recently when we learned that relatives of ours discovered they had some gluten-consumption health issues; this news has put us on the watch for both gluten-free recipes and food products that they might enjoy. One thing they did echo was the bread conundrum: the few gluten-free options they found at their local grocery store were  not terribly good, especially in light of the cost, and they basically had conceded that bread would probably be just something to go without from here on out.

With some time to kill a couple weeks ago before headed up to a family gathering, we decided to drop by a place that we had not been to in quite awhile in the Worthington Indoor Farmers Market. At this and other farmers markets, Dan The Baker has been our regular go-to for bread at farmers markets, and sure enough they were doing their usual bang-up business (we stopped by and walked away with their intricately designed and very tasty springerle cookies.)

We had known about and seen Eban's Bakehouse's stand at this and other local farmers markets, but since we took care of bread needs elsewhere, we simply never had thought about dropping by to look at their goods. Old habits almost took over and we were ready to just stroll by when we remembered that their products were in fact gluten-free. On this day, the booth was staffed by the very charming Adrienne Novak, co-founder of Eban's Bakehouse, who invited us to try the bread samples. On this morning, we were more than happy to oblige.

We admittedly didn't have terribly high expectations, based on our own prior experiences with other gluten-free breads and the tales of such by our relatives and others we know. I popped a sample into my mouth and, well, surprise, it had the feel of regular bread. I then focused on the taste, which turned out to be equally quite nice. We tried other samples and reached the same conclusion: these breads were all pretty darn good. As we were sampling the bread, Adrienne gave us a brief primer on Eban's business and mentioned that it had taken her and her business partner/boyfriend (both of whom are trained chefs) about nine months to get the bread recipes just right.

Eban's offers a selection of gluten-free breads and other sweet treats

This is where our first encounter with Eban's gets a little footloose and a lot coincidental. Coming from California, I've become acutely aware of connections between there and the Buckeye State. Not only did we learn that Adrienne lived for a time in California in an area I loved to visit as a kid (Santa Cruz), but she also grew up in the very same town my spouse did as a child (in fact, she knew of and graduated in the same class as one of my spouse's sisters.) Another fun fact we learned about is the name itself, which is a combination of the initials of Adrienne and her business partner/boyfriend.

According to Adrienne, news is good on the business front for Eban's, as word has slowly but surely gotten out about their gluten-free products. These products are mainly focused on their bread varieties (including but not exclusive to Oat, Cinnamon Raisin and Cranberry Walnut), but they also sport a select inventory of cookies and other baked goods. Distribution has expanded into several surrounding states, and she has even been receiving online orders from the western part of this country, where she had always figured they had comparable, well-thought-of products readily available.

On this day, we left with a loaf of Eban's bread as well as a bag of gluten-free dinner rolls to take up to our family event. The dinner rolls were all consumed eagerly at dinner, and the loaf of bread has been quite well-received by our relatives. Based on our and our relatives' experience, we would not be surprised at all to see the upswing continue for this unique local bakery.

Eban's Bakehouse
4086 Broadway
Grove City, OH 43123
(513) 409-EBAN (3226)
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Toast of the Town: Dan The Baker/Toast Bar

Dan The Baker breads are a familiar (and eye-pleasing) sight
at many local area farmers markets

My recent re-visit of the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco (my post on this popular and unique attraction can be found here) brought back many tasty memories as I passed from one vendor space to another. Some of the most fond memories were brought on by the baked goods of the Acme Bread Company - their basic bread loaves and baguettes are yeasted glory, sporting that sublime combination of exterior crunch, big bubbles in the crumb, and interior chew that only the best breads get. Their Cinnamon Currant Bread, a pull-apart, just sweet and sticky enough creation that sported a divine combination of zante currants and cinnamon. remains in the top ten of items I miss the most from the San Francisco area.

I simply figured the Columbus metro wouldn't have anything within shouting distance of their bread or any other Bay Area artisan baker's products. That is until I and my spouse came across the creations of one Dan Riesenberger, aka Dan The Baker. Starting off in 2008 via modest means (baking his breads from his backyard with a brick oven fashioned with help from his father), Riesenberger and his breads were well-established in both select Columbus restaurants and farmers market booths by the time we came across them. As we sampled his different breads and pastries, I found his creations more than held their own with the renowned Bay Area-based artisinal bread purveyors.

He eventually opened up a combination small retail cafe/production facility in the Grandview area of town in late 2013. While we still bought most of his breads from local farmers markets, we would occasionally drop by the cafe to hangout or grab a quick bite if our business took us into that part of town or we were headed into Western Ohio for the day. His branching out was not restricted to his cafe: we got a gander of his pizza-making prowess at a pop-up restaurant within Cafe Brioso during the monthly Moonlight Market on Gay Street in June 2014.

And when you think it couldn't get any better, Riesenberger announced that Columbus now has a shrine to toast to call their own, with the opening of Toast Bar two months ago.

Wait, what? Toast? Really, you can't be serious...toast?

Toast? Why, heck yeah, toast! Malaysia showed me the way

Yes, sometimes toast is what you want. During a work stint in Malaysia, I came across the Toast Box, an chain of Asian establishments started initially in Singapore. These restaurants are, to borrow their words, their "reflection of the coffee shops from the 60s and 70s, where the common practice for breakfast was a fragrant cup of Nanyang Coffee accompanied by freshly toasted bread." This quickly became a favorite place for me for either a light breakfast or an afternoon snack: the coffee (or tea) was a must along with two slices of toast, typically one with butter and kaya (coconut jam) and one with peanut butter.

As far as the States, artisinal toast is something of a new fad. starting off in San Francisco with The Trouble Coffee and Coconut Club (and in a tangential way, Ohio; the restaurant's owner grew up in the Cleveland area, as detailed in this story by Pacific Standard Magazine.) The fad eventually spread to neighboring restaurants and then to other parts of the country, as detailed in this Eater.com article.

The newly created Toast Bar adds some twists to the formerly existing space

The Toast Bar's offers a slightly re-designed space from the original cafe within their Ridge Street location, allowing for slightly more seating and a little better traffic flow. On this visit, we were both looking for a light breakfast, and all the new items offered that opportunity. Of course, you wouldn't call yourself Toast Bar without having that on the menu, and the flight of toast is pretty straightforward - three slices from the breads on hand along with three toppings. Another related new item is their Smørrebrød open-faced sandwiches, a blend of avocado, cucumber and dill on Danish Rye bread (their current offerings now offer one version that substitutes salmon for the avocado as well as a bacon, blue cheese and apple option.)

Left: the Avocado Smørrebrød; Right: the Toast Flight

Both these Toast Bar offerings hit the spot. The Smørrebrød was a nicely tangy, creamy and crisp combo which went nicely with the rye bread; my spouse loved how the dill made the flavors pop. As for me and my toast flight, the toppings were a nice way to figure out what went well with the various toasted breads I ordered without having to whip up my own homemade hazelnut spread or lemon curd, as well as experimenting how the toppings themselves blended in tandem or as a threesome. All three of the toppings I chose were quite good, with the cloverton and lemon curd being edging out the others as my fave.

The Smørrebrød (at the time of our visit, it was $4 for a single/$7 for two; the current menu states $6) and the flight (was and still is $5.50) could be considered by many to be on the spendy side; indeed, the Eater article referred to earlier in this post states this as a common criticism of these toast-centric establishments. However, based on that same article, Toast Bar's prices seem to be on the lower end of the expense scale compared with its brethren across the country.

Visitors who aren't all that into the toast concept need not fret; Dan The Baker still has its myriad of pastries, along with a selection of cookies, soup, and of course, the bread in whole-loaf form. Toast Bar also keeps the coffee drinks from its previous iteration on the menu, using beans from two excellent roasters (Intelligentsia and locally-based Cafe Brioso) as well as hot chocolate and tea.

Dan The Baker/Toast Bar
1028 Ridge Street (Grandview Heights)
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 928-9035
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