Back to Features

2016 Best of Olympia: The Bread Peddler

Best Bakery, Best Soup

Olympia loves The Bread Peddler as a bakery and a place for soups. File photo

Email Article Print Article Share on Facebook Share on Reddit Share on StumbleUpon

If baguettes and levain are The Bread Peddler's bread and butter, the bakery also subscribes at times to the motto, "Let them eat cake."

Those hoping for a fresh loaf would be smart to call ahead if they plan to arrive much after noon. But there are plenty of other items to be found at the downtown bakery, winner of both Best Bakery and Best Soup.

Asked about his bakery's most popular item, owner Andre Le Rest responded, "The gateau basque," an orange rum cake filled with vanilla custard.

The croissants, pain au chocolat and other puff-pastry delights sell rapidly, too.

The flavor of those pastries comes from fermentation rather than sugar, he said.

Breakfast and lunch are also a big part of the bakery's business, and that's where the soup comes in. Each day, there's one vegetarian soup and another with meat or fish - and those rotating selections are in addition to the classic French onion.

The preponderance of French items on the menu (croque monsieur and quiche are among the lunch staples) is no mistake. Le Rest hails from Brittany, France, where he developed a passion for baking.

"I'm totally self taught," he said.

These days, he has a staff of bakers to handle production, but the French tradition continues.

"We make everything from scratch," he said. "Everything is made in-house here. We even make our own bacon and everything."

Near the end of the year, Le Rest tried closing the cafe two days a week, and customers were upset. "There was such an outcry that we had to open again on Mondays and Tuesdays," he said.

The bakery also has a bistro, currently open only for Wine Wednesdays, serving wine and small plates from 6 to 8 p.m. "It's a different menu from what we have at lunchtime," Le Rest said.

Le Rest hopes to re-open the bistro at some point and is also planning to open a creperie and a general store, including a deli, in the same building with the bakery.

"The whole building is going to be transformed," he said. "It's going to be devoted to food."

THE BREAD PEDDLER, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, 222 Capitol Way N., Olympia, 360.352.1175, breadpeddler.com

Read next close

Features

2016 Best of Olympia: King Solomon's Reef

comments powered by Disqus