Amy's Bread -- Man Cannot Live by Bread Alone, but he sure can try!!
Jun 20 '01 (Updated Jun 15 '02)
The Bottom Line Amy’s Bread specializes in loaves of delicious, crustybread, and all manner of decadent bakedgoods. All made with organic ingredients and commitment toquality. Some of the best offered in the city.
Amy’s Bread is a quaint little bakery founded by Amy Scherber. She won acclaim for her unique loaves, and her dedication in providing a quality loaf of bread. She has three locations in the city, including the original Hell’s Kitchen location.
Her breads are all wonderful and delicious. Each has a crispy, crackly crust with a nice chew, and a moist and flavorful crumb. The secret of it all is quality. Use the finest organic ingredients, don’t cut corners, monitor and control your baking environment, and don’t depend entirely on commercial yeast. Most of her breads are leaven using a natural starter (note 1) for fuller, tastier flavor.
Now you might be wondering, ho-hum, bread. Well, I’m not just talking about whole wheat, and baguettes, but specialty loaves that you might not otherwise find in the city; stuff like fennel semolina with golden raisins, or even the 4-5 varieties of whole wheat.
Food
Amy’s signature bread happens to be Fennel Semolina with Golden Raisins, $4.25. This enticing semolina loaf is encrusted all yellow and fuzzy with cornmeal and filled with aromatic fennel seeds, and plump, sweet, golden raisins. It’s an odd combination, but somehow it all works beautifully. This bread goes nicely with meats like turkey.
Another specialty bread, and one of my favorites is their Potato and Onion Dill bread, $3.00. This is a 6” round loaf that smells and tastes wonderful. It has an onion and fresh dill aroma, small chunks of roasted red skinned potatoes inside, and the spicy bite of black pepper in the flavor. This bread can turn any humdrum sandwich into something more exciting.
Their decadent baked goods selection was expansive. They have brownies, muffins, cookies, that sort of thing. Among the selection, I tried the Applesauce Donuts. These were billed as low fat, only 4 grams, but you wouldn’t know it just by reading the ingredients; buttermilk (soured milk), butter, eggs, maple syrup, applesauce, apple juice, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon, and vanilla. Each of these yeast leaven delights is oven baked, not fried; and topped with maple syrup and a bit of brown sugar. They were definitely moist, spongy and dense with a slight chew to each bite. It is a cinnamon and apple conscience pleaser for the waistline-worried gourmand -- NOT ME, but maybe someone you know.
I found the twists nice too, although nothing spectacular. Twists are short 6inch “twists” of bread dough that cost $1.00 apiece, and can be eaten and enjoyed like pretzels at a baseball game. They are cheaper than pretzels one may be tempted to buy from a hot dog cart, and definitely more nutritious and tasty. They come in various flavors like Proscuitto and Black Pepper; Parmesan; Chocolate Chip; just to name a few. I tried a Proscuitto twist, but the brown pieces in the twist tasted like olives.
Recently, Amy’s Bread introduced cakes to their retail line. If you read my review on the Magnolia Bakery, you’ll notice that old-fashioned desserts have gotten more attention lately. Maybe that has something to do with yuppies of Generation X, and Y yearning to buy back their childhood, or something along those lines.
Anyway, I tried their cakes, and I must say, they are pretty good. Cakes that are not too sweet -- the frosting won’t dissolve your teeth -- but calorie busting all the same. Why I just mentioned calories is beyond me, and if you wish to have me eat cake just for mentioning the “C” word, go ahead! Yum.
Ok, I admit, I only had one slice of cake, the Lemon Mousselina, and it was good. This cake is moist, and delicious tasting with a few layers of yellow cake separated with (slightly overcooked) lemon custard. It was frosted with a buttery smooth lemon cream that looks disconcertingly like softened butter -- I wonder if that is what they did here. Except for a bit of sugar, and a subtle, barely noticeable lemon flavor, the frosting was nearly flavorless like whipped butter. I would not say disappointing, but the frosting could use a bit more lemon to it.
There are other cakes available, but I did not have time to try them -- maybe later; cakes are $3.50-$4.00 a slice, $28.00 whole, available only at Hell’s Kitchen and Upper East Side locations. By the way, they call their Hummingbird cake “Monkey Cake”.
Lastly, I should mention that gourmet sandwiches, and old-time sodas are available for lunch, but these sell out fast. Sandwiches are $3.75 - $4.75. I have not tried these, but look tempting all the same.
Décor
Each location has its own charming qualities plus seating for a light meal. At the Hell’s Kitchen location, one would find a quaint country style shop with light blue trim on the doors, exposed brick inside, and a cupboard filled with homespun Americana. There is seating in the back, but it is a tight squeeze. The only real criticism I have of this place is their antiquated food storage techniques. All their baked goods are displayed out in the open with only a cursory partition separating them from the customers. When I visited recently, I saw flies buzzing around. Not nice.
Amy’s Bread recently (June 18) opened a new branch in the Upper East Side in the space formerly occupied by Patisserie Les Friandises. It is a tiny sparsely furnished shop with tiny marble tables and wicker seating; and golden trimmed mirrors on the walls. The space is nice and airy with big plate glass windows to let in the sunlight. There is a pastry case protecting the baked goods and sandwiches.
For a big theatrical production, one can head over to the large production space at the Chelsea Market, the former National Biscuit Co. (Nabisco) factory turned gourmet theme park. Amy’s large wholesale and retail operation all operate out of two large bays at the market. Shoppers can watch workers make bread from start to finish from behind a glass wall. All manner of breads and baked goods are sold here, except for cakes. Amy’s bread specials are available only at this location on select days.
Tip: And be sure to check out Ronnybrook Farm for ice cream, read Epicure’s “NYC Ice Cream Guide” for more info.
Locations and Hours
Amy's Bread
Chelsea Market
75 Ninth Avenue (bet. 15th and 16th St.)
New York, NY. 10011
212 462 4338
Hell's Kitchen
672 Ninth Avenue (bet. 46th and 47th St.)
New York, NY. 10036
212 977 2670
Upper East Side
972 Lexington Avenue (bet. 70th and 71st St.)
New York, NY. 10021
212 537 0270
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Payment: Cash, and credit cards (min $20.00)
Notes
1) Natural starter relies on wild yeast (from the air) instead of the cultivated pre-packaged variety. Bread made using natural starter takes a little longer to rise, but can result in better flavor and texture.
For further information, visit their website at www.amysbread.com
-- soothsayer
lucky_dog89@yahoo.com
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