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“Breads, by guest reviewer Tracy Weiss”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Lunch/Takeout	New American	Gramercy	Moderate	Great

I’d really love to make some silly reference about Breads Bakery making beautiful music in the space formally occupied by Sound by Singer, a high-end audio joint. But I won’t. Simply because (despite the easy comparison), the baked goods coming out of this new offshoot of a beloved Israeli institution are so delicious, it deserves better than my attempts to create a word play on a symphony of texture and passion and flakey pastry.

Steps from the Greenmarket on East 16th Street, there are plenty of places to grab a bite. Danny Meyer’s Union Square Café, carnivore standby Steak Frites, NYU favorite Chat & Chew.  But now, inside the deep and narrow storefront nestled between the three, you will find your destination for almost anything that can be made from flour. Anything.  Breads Bakery.

Uri Scheft is charismatic, charming and oozes pure passion when talking about his craft.  Raised in Israel by Danes, he has been creating his version of traditional Northern European breads at the famous Lehamim Bakery in Tel Aviv. Lehamim (one of the three words I know in Hebrew) translates to Breads, but this new NYC location is so much more than that.  A project 6 years in the making. A neighborhood center for good eats and strong coffee. A manifestation of an ideology committed to fresh product using pristine ingredients. Ovens fired 24 hours a day: a refreshing undertaking in the ‘bake at night, sell in the AM’ world we live in.

Breads Bakery, at first glance, is what you’d expect from a new café.  A clean, utilitarian space with traditional kitchen pendant lights hanging from a cavernous ceiling creating a blank, but calming atmosphere.  Standard set up: Registers to the front, bag your own pastries to the side, coffee in the back. But the business end of the place only takes up a small amount of the real estate. Take a minute and peak beyond the latte station at the real magic happening in the back of the house. 

Bringing many of his principals from the Israeli bakery, Uri oversees and participates the creation of some of his favorites. French Sour Dough that needs 16-18 hours to ferment to the capture the right flavors. The product is a mix of classic French with a hint of namesake sourness straight out of San Francisco. Loaves are available in medium or large. Trust me, if you don’t live alone, you must super size.

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Posted: February 15, 2013

Other restaurants in Gramercy :
+ Casa Mono/Bar Jamon   + Pure Food & Wine   + Parea   + Gramercy Tavern (Lunch)   + 15 East   + Tocqueville   + Irving Mill   + Bar Milano   + Irving Mill   + Maialino   + Asellina   + Corkbuzz Wine Studio   + Breads, by guest reviewer Tracy Weiss   

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