I was checking out the baked goods at Rose the other day. Bread looks great, as do the donuts.
Tangential aside: the all-day breakfast sandwich at Rose is outstanding. Like an upscale bacon, egg, and cheese you might get at a corner deli in NYC. The bacon is similar to the pastrami bacon Neroni used on the BLT back when he was at Superba Snack Bar.
Thanks for the suggestion but I should have specified SOUTH OC. Costa Mesa to San Clemente. I live in Mission Viejo.
Pandor is technically Newport Beach and borderline Costa Mesa.
I don’t know about their whole or mixed grains, but the breads I’ve had from Homeboy bakery have been awesome. You can get them downtown but I think they are also at Farmers markets.
And I like the breads I’ve had from Breadbar.
You might also try Berolina Bakery. I’ve only had their breads as part of their sandwiches - but they’ve been divine. And the heath bread and seed bread look really interesting…
Thanks. When I Googled them I got a Long Beach location. My son lives very close to the 17th street spot though. Don’t get up that way in the AM much but will give it a try.
I love Seed – they’re just three blocks up my street! – and they make a particularly good baguette. I just wish they’d do them every day, but they don’t, and neither Mrs. O nor I are particularly fond of the more rough-hewn, hard-core breads of the sort some unkind souls call “horse food.” So my happy thoughts of pretending we’re back in Paris and I can just walk up the street every morning for our daily baguette aren’t working out here. They do bring some to the Altadena Farmer’s Market on Wednesday afternoons, and if I were to, say, pick up the damn phone and call them … !
I’ve been checking out alternatives, and both La Brea’s French Baguette and Trader Joe’s new Organic one are pretty good when fresh, especially if they’re brushed very lightly on top with water and laid on the center rack of a 350º oven for a few minutes.
Not detracting from Gjusta at all, but I suspect the reason they can do that is because they are part of an “empire”. They supply bread to Gjelina, and GTA right? They also seem to do a nice wholesale business since it seems the answer to nearly every “where is the bread from?” question at most good restaurants in LA is now “Gjusta”. I imagine their significant name brand helped put that into place.
It’s almost the opposite, it’s surprising for a bread maker of such magnitude to also offer so many other incredible offerings haha =P
I found the crust of the whole wheat from Gjusta too soft and the crumb too airy/light. And for a whole wheat it should have strong, more intense, earthy flavor
Gjelina had one wood-fired oven when they started. As great as this was for their kitchen, it definitely wasn’t enough to do all the things they wished.
Upon opening GTA, the number of wood-fired ovens expanded their abilities to do a whole lot more. Still, they weren’t staffed up to bake enough bread to sell. Now that they are, the bread is a major part of the group.
So I guess if one considers them to either be a bread baking operation that does a lot of great dishes, or a restaurant group that strives to vertically integrate as much as possible, the bottom line is that the end products in general are at a level that usually require specialists in each category to achieve.
No doubt, I agree. I was just saying it’s not necessarily as shocking because of their position in that empire. Imagine if like, Lodge Bread was doing all these things out of nowhere, purely by itself. It would be sort of more shocking I think haha (Not that those guys aren’t half way there with their pizza nights, which beat Gjusta in pizza, their various turkey melts, babkas, and baked egg dishes among other things)
I guess I don’t look at Gjelina as mainly a bread operation since their starting point wasn’t as a bakery. Lodge is and yes, their bread-based dishes are pretty great in general because of the bread of course. And like Gjelina, the ingredients in their dishes are excellent and they aren’t afraid to look at things from a different angle.
Gjelina certainly is not, but Gjusta seems like it might be haha
Yeah, these are all the things I like about Gjusta. Give Lodge a try. Might be more your taste.
There’s a major bread problem up here in the Valley (and really in many parts of LA). You’re on the right track with Jon’s, but the best solution I’ve found is Victory Bread on Victory and Hazeltine.
It’s an Armenian bakery. Tiny storefront that usually has a couple dudes out front with cigarettes and small cups of strong sweet coffee. They make Armenian barbri, puri and matnakash, as well as lavash, and they also do nice loaves of rye and whole wheat bread that they’ll slice for you. Everything I’ve ever bought there has been handed to me still warm. I now swing by several times a week for sandwich bread for my kids’ lunches, but when I want good bread for good cheese or homemade soup I’ll also get the aforementioned barbri, puri or matnakash. I don’t think of myself as a bread person, but to me these are fabulous–on par with the best stuff I’ve gotten from high-quality “White People” bakeries–crispy edges, soft insides, a nice salty tangy flavor that makes them more than just bread. They’re open 7 days and appear to sell their inventory at the many Armenian markets in the area, but there’s nothing like getting it fresh and warm.
Cheap too–$3 for an Armenian loaf worthy of eating on its own, $2.50 for the sliced sandwich loaves.
The second sentence is redundant. 
Bake Shack OC sells their naturally leavened bread at a few farmer’s markets. Not very convenient unless you live in the areas of the farmer’s makets, but I consider it worth a try if your really into bread. Thursday in downtown Anaheim, Saturday at Playa Vista, Sunday at Newport Beach and Anaheim Packing.
They typically have available a rustic country loaf, whole wheat country loaf, baguette, rye, Rosemary, and either sandwich or brioche. Selection rotations include carrot, chocolate, and chili cheese loaves.
naturally, Discover LA did a top 10 artisan bread list
Of course, only one is north of the 101.
Missing from the list is Pitchoun in Downtown. Excellent bread.
–Dommy!
Winsome, the new spot in Echo Park, makes some fantastic bread from their bakery counter. Great monkey bread and pretzel rolls.
