Schmendricks Pursues the Brooklyn Bagel

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SusanNYC/Flickr
Brooklyn bagels: Schmendricks' holy grail.
"As a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn, I've always done the NY bagel snob where I complained and complained and complained," says David Kover, one of the cofounders of Schmendricks Bagels, "Until another friend told me to shut up." 

Kover, a psychologist and food writer, took the advice to heart. Working with his neighbors, Deepa Subramanian and her husband, Kover and his wife began baking batches of bagels in his Mission apartment two years ago, chasing after the taste of the bagels his family would pick up every weekend. He didn't have much luck until he tracked down an old high-school classmate on Facebook who had worked in the bagel shop as a kid; his friend offered Kover a couple of baking tips that made all the difference. "We eventually had something really good," he says.

That was when the four neighbors decided to go into the bagel-baking business. Bakers from the two households have been shuttling back and forth, testing batches, for months, and the two couples took an exploratory trip back to Brooklyn, hitting 13 bagel shops in one morning. A few months ago, they signed a lease on a commercial kitchen. Subramanian quit her job as a corporate lawyer to serve as Schmendricks' head baker. Now they're trying to scale up their recipes to work with the larger ovens.

So what are the characteristics of a perfect bagel, according to Kover?

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Stock Your Altar With Pan de Muerto From 24th Street

Categories: Bread, Holidays
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Jonathan Kauffman
Pan de muerto from Panaderia La Mexicana, left, and La Reyna Bakery.
Today and tomorrow, panaderias up and down the Mission's 24th Street strip are selling bones for the eating -- pan de muerto, a lightly sweet bread formed in to the shape of skeletons, skulls, or simply rounds decorated in doughy tibia. They're for placing on altars along with photos, ofrendas, and marigolds or for eating at the grave sites of loved ones.

This weekend, SFoodie picked up golden pan de muerto ($1.60) coated in sesame seeds at Panaderia La Mexicana (2804 24th St.). We peered through the display glass at the giant holiday breads at La Reyna Bakery (3114 24th St.), which are covered in multicolored sugar sprinkles ($20 for a skeleton, $15 for a round), before walking out with a smaller round ($2) coated in a fine layer of frosting and caster sugar so that it takes on a glittering, ghostly cast.

La Victoria (2937 24th St.) also confirmed on the phone that it sells pan de muerto today and tomorrow, as does Royal Bakery (4773 Mission, at Russia) in the Excelsior. And on the west side of town, Arizmendi Inner Sunset makes denser, larger skeleton loaves ($5.50) flavored with aniseed and candied orange rind to sell today and tomorrow. (The Valencia street location will only offer pan de muerto on Nov. 2.)

Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie, and like us on Facebook.
Follow me at @JonKauffman.
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Rose's Café Takes Pastries, Charm to a New Level

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Just as we begin to tire of kitschy boulangeries and lackluster Italian coffee shops, a place like Rose's Café reminds us how cozy a true European-style cafe can be. Absent are the colorblocked Perrier posters and premade paninis, with simple bistro chairs, velvet booths and house-made pastries filling the space instead. 

Primely situated on the corner of Union and Steiner streets, it's no surprise Rose's has become a favorite brunch spot for Marina residents -- but it's worth traveling across the city to experience the charm yourself. Huge windows with gold letters calling out "Wine Bar" and "Trattoria" invite customers inside, and though there's always a wait during brunch hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday), the sunny sidewalk and cheerful vibe make it easier to swallow. 

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Acme Bread's Edible Schoolyard Loaf

Categories: Bread

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Lou Bustamante
Acme Bread's new Edible Schoolyard bread
​Chez Panisse's 40th anniversary celebrations crested last weekend with educational activities, dinners, and celebrations, but the party favor that really caught our eye was the new Edible Schoolyard Levain ($3.55) at Acme Bread.

The bread is named after Alice Waters' program as a means to increase awareness by creating a loaf that embodies the spirit of eating locally produced foods. Steven Sullivan told SFoodie that he had been working with whole grains after some discussions with Alice Waters about creating whole wheat bread for Chez Panisse.

"She really forces you to re-examine things and brings a strong vision and responses," said Sullivan.

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S.F. Rising: Spot Bagel Plays with Seeds, Chiles, and Corn

Categories: Bread
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Jonathan Kauffman
Spot Bagels: double onion, plain, cinnamon raisin, and the Frieda.
Red boxes with clear plastic doors began appearing in local markets like Bi-Rite and Good Life a few weeks ago, labeled with the name of the Bay Area's newest bakery, Spot Bagel. Tantalizingly empty at first, the boxes filled with small, glossy bagels with names like "Yosemite" (aka plain) and "Frida" (aka Frida Kahlo, aka Mexican) last week.

Spot Bagels' founder, Jay Glass, owned a bagel company in Seattle until 1995, when he left baking for the tech industry. But a "number birthday" had him looking over his old notes, plotting out how he would resuscitate the business in San Francisco. "For a region with a premium version of every type of product," he says, "there was no premium bagel here." It took him a year to raise funds, build a bakery in Burlingame, and reach out to grocery stores and restaurants (there's a full list of locations on Spot's website). He's applying to farmers' markets instead of seeking building permits on a retail space.

Glass is attempting an odd feat: to get both the traditionalists and the heretics nonpurists behind his bagels. He's re-engineered a classic like the onion bagel so that it now has flecks of roasted red and yellow onion scattered through the dough as well as baked on top, avoiding that sharp, charred flavor too many have. But he's also heading into the lunatic fringe with flavors like orange poppy and that Mexican bagel, which has chipotle and guajillo powder, roasted poblanos, roasted pumpkin seeds, and a little cornmeal.

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La Boulange's Walnut Peasant Bread

Categories: Bread
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Jonathan Kauffman
A quarter-loaf of La Boulange's walnut peasant bread.
A weekly survey of bread in San Francisco ― the baked and the fried, the artisan and the novelty.

Walnut-Peasant Bread
Source: La Boulange, numerous locations -- this was purchased at 500 Hayes (at Octavia), 863-3376
Price: $8.75 for a whole loaf, $4.50 for a half, $2.25 for a quarter.
Toast-appropriateness: 6/10

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S.F. Rising: Apple-Raisin Bread from Andersen Bakery

Categories: Bread
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Jonathan Kauffman
Apple-raisin bread from Andersen Bakery: Makes good French toast.
A weekly survey of bread in San Francisco ― the baked and the fried, the artisan and the novelty.

Apple-Raisin Bread
Source: Andersen Bakery, Kintetsu Mall (1737 Post, Suite 304), 345-1046; or Crocker Galleria (50 Post #1), 262-0079
Price: $4.50 for a loaf, $2.25 for a half-loaf
Toast-appropriateness: 9/10

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Josey Baker's Bread Comes to Bi-Rite

Categories: Bread
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Jonathan Kauffman
This is Josey Baker's bread.
Josey Baker, the itinerant baker whose "community supported bread" SFoodie wrote about in February, has made a lot of changes since this winter. His weekly baking session in the wood-fired ovens at Pizzaiolo has moved from Tuesdays to Fridays, and on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, he's been selling bread out of Mission Pie (2901 Mission at 25th St.).

Since we last spoke, Baker's production has tripled, his retail sales have grown from 100 loaves a week to 300, and he's brought the CSB to Adobe employees. "I've been thinking a lot over the past week about how [baking bread] has definitely happened for me," he says. "I'm selling a lot of bread, and it's my main source of income. I'm so pumped on it! I can't believe it's happening so quickly."

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Josey Baker
This is Josey Baker.
Last week, Baker announced a new outlet: Starting tomorrow, every Wednesday and Thursday at 5 p.m., he will deliver -- by bicycle -- around 20 warm loaves to Bi-Rite Market (3639 18th St. at Guerrero). He's posted the weekly schedule of breads he'll be selling there on his website; all of them will cost $5.25.

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S.F. Rising: Sunday Cornbread from Sweet Adeline Bakeshop

Categories: Bread
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Jonathan Kauffman
Cornbread from Sweet Adeline's.
A weekly survey of bread in San Francisco ― the baked and the fried, the artisan and the novelty.

Name
Source: Sweet Adeline Bakeshop, 3350 Adeline (at 63rd St.), Berkeley, 510-985-7381.
Price: $3
Toast-appropriateness: Not really a toasting bread, but warmed up in the oven? 9/10
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S.F. Rising: Olive Ciabatta from Bakers of Paris

Categories: Bread
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Jonathan Kauffman
Bakers of Paris's olive ciabatta.
A weekly survey of bread in San Francisco ― the baked and the fried, the artisan and the novelty.

Olive Ciabatta
Source: Bakers of Paris stand, Inner Sunset Sunday farmers' market (also at Upper Haight, Divisadero, and Fort Mason markets)
Price: $4 (also available as dinner rolls)
Toast-appropriateness: 3/10

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