Saturday, August 11, 2012

Bread Garden Bakery… Berkeley’s Loss Paso’s gain

 

When I heard the Bread Garden Bakery was relocating to Paso I asked myself why?  It is one of the busiest most successful brick and mortar bakeries in the East Bay. It has been an institution in Berkeley for over 38 years. Anyone that has grabbed a cup of coffee at Peet’s , waited in line for one of their fabulous morning buns, and grabbed a loaf or two of the artisan breads to take home is probably wondering why as well. 

“The Bread Garden is a true artisan bakery that makes all kinds of excellent loaves of bread and pastries and, best of all, a crisp-topped morning bun that is one of the best coffee companions anywhere in the Bay area.”

Is it any mystery what has brought so many shop keepers and artisans  from both the Bay Area and the Los Angeles basin?.  The town square is still the center of town.  People gather on Friday nights for concerts on the park , share a glass of wine, and stroll through the downtown. People still patronize the brick and mortar stores that surround the town square.  Their is a lively arts community. The weather is delightful, and the wine industry has drawn an ever growing group of first class restaurants.

The Bread Garden’s menu will feature freshly baked goods, including 10 types of bread, 30 different pastries, 20 types of cookies and eight desserts.

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/08/02/2168906/bread-garden-bakery-berkeley.html#storylink

 

 

 

A Full Pastry Case At the Bread Garden Bakery

 

Owner David Morris, says construction will begin next month with an opening date set for late September. The location will be 1229 Park Street, that serendipitously, according to the Historical Society was once a bakery. 

 

Retail, restaurant, office, gallery........

 

 

I think David Morris is going to be greeted with open arms in Paso.  I personally will be the first one in line when Bread Garden opens in September.  Well my mother might beat me!

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Friday, July 13, 2012

Project Update

My last “design related” post describing our vision for the lower patio area was here http://villacantinas.blogspot.com/2012/03/lower-patio-construction-and.html  My husband and son have been working on it off and on the past six months or so but lately rather diligently as we have a family reunion coming up and we need the extra space, not to mention a reprieve from the heat!! They do all the hard work…I just come up with the ideas that complicate things! Actually they come up with probably more ideas than I…but theirs are always more practical. 

These are the kinds of things I do that drive THEM crazy….I have already purchased the chairs, the clock, the shutters, and probably many things they think are unimportant!

Here is the clock waiting to be hung.  I love the fact that it is the same green as the trim.

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I don’t have a picture of the shutters after I cleaned and oiled them so I won’t post until they are hung.

Here is what the “boys” have accomplished in just a few weeks.  They laid base rock (several truckloads) and laid this concrete wall. The base rock will be covered with “california gold” this weekend.

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They designed and built this unique fence.  Here at the lake a fence has to be see through.  Well you know what that means…chain link, etc….ugly! They built this with redwood posts and rebar!

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Next our good friend and plasterer extraordinaire John of Favazza Plastering came down and helped us out and wala! It now looks like this

 

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And this…. after we began planting (with what we could find locally).  Notice the table base in the picture.  Our friend and very talented craftsman Jim built the base for us and we are going to add a zinc top.  I will post a better picture upon completion.

 

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This weekend or the next couple we (meaning the boys) will be installing the metal for the fountain ala the fabulous design of katie denham that she posted about on her blog here http://katie-d-i-d.blogspot.com/2011/06/remodeling-its-starting-to-look-like.html.  Then we will finish the tabletop, and hang the shutters and clock. I will have a more interesting follow up post to this in the next couple weeks.