An assortment of creations from Manresa Bread Project.
Photo credit: ManresaBread on Twitter
Breaking news: Manresa Bread, which had its first appearance at POPUP in Santa Cruz this summer, will be at POPUP every Wednesday through the end of 2014, starting today, Oct. 22. A diverse and delectable selection of breads and pastries will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., or until products sell out.
Highlights may include Manresa levain, polenta sour dough, monkey bread, curry squash streusel muffins, cinnamon raisin loaf, hazelnut brown butter cake, onion gruyere tarts, sesame flax sourdough, and pecan sticky buns.
These POPUP appearances supply bread- and pastry-loving Santa Cruzans with some unique offerings, while simultaneously enabling Manresa Pastry Chef Stephanie Prida and baker Avery Ruzicka (consulting for Manresa Bread) to create an abundance of sweet and savory treats.
Manresa Bread is also currently available at the Campbell and Palo Alto farmers markets on Sundays. The Manresa Bread Project began in 2013, led by Prida and Ruzicka, who was head baker at Manresa Restaurant at that time.
As you may know, back in July there was a major fire at the Michelin-star-winning Los Gatos restaurant Manresa, causing it to close for a few months. So this is actually the only way to get anything “Manresa-related” at the moment. If you’re missing David Kinch, you can see him at Bookshop Santa Cruz next Monday at 7 p.m. at a free event, in conversation with renowned New York pastry chef Brooks Headley (of Del Posto, New York City’s only four-star Italian restaurant) to celebrate Headley’s new cookbook “Fancy Desserts.”
Unfamiliar with POPUP? It’s a small downtown Santa Cruz storefront right next door to restaurant Assembly, on 1108 Pacific Ave. near Cathcart. Chef Kendra Baker and partner Zachary Davis—the team behind Assembly, The Picnic Basket, and The Penny Ice Creamery—host rotating food vendors in this space.
Baker is the former executive pastry chef at Manresa, where she worked for executive chef/owner David Kinch. Now Kinch’s Manresa Bread is being hosted by Baker and POPUP. It all comes full circle!
Baker and Davis launched their pop-up spot in April. Although most vendors appear only on occasion, not on a weekly basis, chef Noah Kopito and his Mortal Dumpling business have proven so popular that they are regulars. On Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can select from steamed buns and honey glazed baked BBQ buns, and they usually offer one entrée with rice.
- For more info on POPUP, see heypopup.com.
- For more info on Mortal Dumpling, see mortaldumpling.com
- To follow Manresa Bread Project on Twitter, see twitter.com/ManresaBread.
- To follow me on Twitter, see twitter.com/santacruzfoodie.
- For more on the Kinch/Headley event, see bookshopsantacruz.com.