Great breads you've had in restaurants

[scooterlibby]

Hi - I'm trying to figure out what restaurants in the Bay Area serve great bread. Any thoughts? Bread and rolls are often just afterthoughts - something to throw on the table to keep folks happy until the main event. But where have you had really good, memorable bread? Thanks for the feedback!

[Cynsa]

Murray Circle offers wonderful breads...seaweed, potato and more. Luce has lovely warm crusty fragrant rolls at the table. The Bay Area is flush with excellent bread bakers - we expect good bread and not as an afterthought/surprise.

[grayelf]

I think about the brioche served at Canteen dinners.

[Cynsa]

I always dream of "more" of those buttery gems... even with "the best is yet to come" with what follows in the course of an evening at Canteen.

[grayelf]

I like them so much I don't even mind that they aren't served warm, which is something I notice happens often at least at the restos I've tried in SF Bay area. Room temp is okay for breads but I've had some downright chilly offerings on various visits...

[saffrongold]

The housemade focaccia at Da Flora is very good.

[Civil Bear]

Second the focaccia at da Flora. Nothing like getting hit with the aroma when the front doors open.

[Robert Lauriston]

Manresa's bread is as good as any in the Bay Area. Just like Tartine's (where the baker formerly worked).

Two (which is closing at the end of the year).

[Robert Lauriston]

Of course Bar Tartine serves bread from Tartine Bakery.

[skwid]

I've liked the breads at Chez Panise (the downstairs). I think you can get really good bread at lots of restaurants as if the restaurant doesn't bake their own fresh bread they will usually get bread from one of the SF Bay Area's many fine bakery's.

[Robert Lauriston]

Chez Panisse serves Acme bread.

[skwid]

When I went they sure looked like they were baking their own. The wood burning oven towards the front has bread coming out of it.

[Robert Lauriston]

They occasionally make bread downstairs as part of the day's menu, but the usual bread on the table is Acme.

[bobpantzer]

We dined at Quince a week ago and they have an assortment of wonderful bread and rolls--I chose a buttery, cheese roll and my wife had a rosemary ciabatta.

[farmersdaughter]

Delfina serves my favorite bread, Tartine (they also put a couple slices of Acme's Italian loaf on the plate).

I love the foccacia at Farina.

As mentioned, the buttery rolls at Canteen are fantastic as is the Acme bread at Chez Panisse. Zuni also serves a good loaf of Acme bread.

Incanto has a nice mix of foccacia, bread and grissini with tapenade instead of butter or oil.

[Robert Lauriston]

Incanto's bread is all made in-house.

[Steve Green]

Sorry to state the obvious, but it's pretty hard to top the crusty round French loaves served at Tadich Grill and Sam's Grill. Those are made from their own sourdough starters kept on file at the bakery, and are noticeably different from what you get at the store.

There may be other old-school SF places who also have their own starters -- I'm not sure. Since leaving the Bay Area, I no longer take SF sourdough for granted.

[Robert Lauriston]

I don't believe they had a special starter, just a special dark bake. Tadich's long, long, long-time supplier Parisian went out of business in 2005. The manager told the Chronicle in 2006 that the same baker moved to Boudain and was still making the bread.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

[Steve Green]

RL:
One of the crusty waiters at Sam's told me years ago that they had their own starter on file at the bakery, and that he believed Tadich had one on file as well. RW refers to Tadich's starter on this thread from December '08: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/397206

I read the sfgate story you quoted. Here's the relevant quote:
".......The same baker - first at Parisian and now at Boudin -- has made our sourdough for years. They even call it the 'Tadich bake' - it's got a slightly darker crust, and it's a little less dense and more airy inside."

Although the starter is not specifically mentioned, to me that description implies a different starter, or at least doesn't rule it out. Unless I'm missing something.

[Robert Lauriston]

Lots of variables can affect the texture.

The "special starter" story's been repeated a lot, but there's nothing about it in John Briscoe's book, and I can't find a mention of it in any other authoritative source.

Most stories about starters are hogwash. Bakeries often claim that they've had the same "mother" going since the dawn of time, but in reality every baker has to re-create it every once in a while, and nobody's the wiser.

[sugartoof]

I think the mythology is Boudin inherited starters from some of the defunct Sourdough bakers, which they supposedly still use special for the Tadich orders.

I've bought darker bakes from Boudin recently and it wasn't even close, which leads me to believe that as logistically far fetched as it sounds, they really could be using a special starter to provide Tadich with the last real sourdough in the bay area.

[Robert Lauriston]

What were the differences?

Extra sourness depends less on the starter than on letting the dough rise longer at a cooler temperature.

[sugartoof]

Wouldn't you agree, Tadich bread is night and day from what you can buy from Boudin?

Thicker, less flakey, bubble-y crust with a different texture.
Airier, softer bread
Sourness.

i'd love to think if bakers just let their dough rise properly, they could sell us a consistently sour sourdough, but I doubt that's it.

[Robert Lauriston]

I haven't bought a loaf of Boudin in years, that's why I asked. Tadich's bread seems the same as ever to me, like the SF sourdough that was ubiquitous before Acme et al. came along.

[sugartoof]

Oh, in that case... what Boudin sells retail is now similar to Acme, etc.

[Steve Green]

I bought Boudin at a store recently, and I thought it was a shadow of its former self -- nothing like Acme at all, and not at all like at Tadich. That said (and I know I'm in the minority here), for bakery sourdough, I like Semifreddi the best.

[sugartoof]

Acme was one of the most influential bakers to sell that type of "not exactly right" sourdough that's become the standard. That's what I meant. Boudin is about as off as Acme now.

I like Semifreddi, but none of their breads are anything close to an old sourdough. I prefer the Wedemeyer sourdough bastone for a store bought.

[Robert Lauriston]

I guess Acme's Italian is roughly as sour as contemporary supermarket sourdough, but it's not very similar in any other respect.

[sugartoof]

Well, the point is none of the new breed sourdoughs are close to the classic sourdoughs, and aside from that one restaurant's supply, nobody makes one.

I wish Acme's sours weren't so dry.

[vulber]

While neither the breadsticks nor the focaccia blew me away at Perbacco, it's still fun when a restaurant (at that level) gives you multiple courses of bread

[Lindarita]

I love the Portugese rolls at La Salette in Sonoma. They're warm, tender, dense and slightly sweet.

[Cynsa]

I ♥ La Salette's rolls, also - a wonderful family recipe!

[nicedragonboy]

I really liked the jalepeno biscuits served at Five in Berkeley. They typically serve it with a wonderful spread.

[sarahlefton]

The flatbread at Coco500 is pretty much like crack. I know it's not rolls or bread, but I just had to say.

[katielp]

Garcon has a great, endlessly refilled bread basket of classic French bread with excellent unsalted butter.
The cornbread fingers at Front Porch served with warm spicy butter (butter theme here!) have a lovely texture, but you sometimes have to beg.
I haven't been for about a year, but remember Absinthe having a distinctly superior bread basket with many different types including a raisin bread that was yummy with cheese.

[rworange]

I would really have to do a back to back tasting, but Etoile might just beat Tadich, which I previously considered the best sourdough in the Bay Area.

I'm glad someone mentionted La Salette. Those rolls are great.

For all its faults, Tony's Pizza makes a really swell foccacia.

It has been put down on the board, but IMO Town's End has always had a memorable bread basket. There is lots of variety and is very good. One of my favorite things in the Bay Area, are the yeasty rolls Town's End serves for breakfast/brunch.

[Shane Greenwood]

Outerlands Cafe makes great bread that they slice and serve with soup and turn into sandwiches. It's housemade and very good. Check the board for more info, this place is covered pretty well on CH.