I recently had some La Brea bread, the artisan ones from the shop/cafe on La Brea. I had heard many good things for years about how good they are. I was truly disappointed. I compare all bread to Acme on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley.
I didn’t even think much of Poilane bread right out of the oven early in the morning in Paris. And that was before I knew that old man Poilane was one of the first shopkeepers in Paris to put a “No Jews” sign in his window when the Nazis invaded.
And I am absolutely convinced that Los Angeles corn rye with caraway is the best around. Mimi Sheraton agrees. The corn rye in NYC is like a wonder bread version.
So my question is: Is there a bread baker in LA that makes anything anywhere near as good as Acme’s Pain au Levain?
When I lived in the Bay Area I was fortunate to work right near semifreddis in emeryville, who made a great sourdough and the BEST biscotti. It was usually a toss up between that and labrea in the grocery stores. And certainly, la brea was almost always more readily available.
It was a stretch finding sourdough in LA. You werent guaranteed to find it all over. Special trips were occasionally required.
Vancouver grocery store bread is severely lacking. I think some of the space has been given over to a greater variety of naan’s and other flAtbreads. To be expected given the demographics.
A good sourdough baguette requires a a stop at a bakery. Truly we do not miss what we have until it’s gone.
That sounds like amazing bread. But once again, a destination bread (Silver Lake or Eagle Rock on Saturday). And the web site says the bakery is in Carmel?