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"Opening Saturday, November 3 with a weekend celebration, this bread-focused storefront from Iliana Berkowitz grew out of a 2016 pop-up and bread club (she used to bring crusty loaves to San Leandro brewery Cleophus Quealy) and expanded into wholesale from a San Mateo kitchen with stock at shops like Bianchini’s Market, Piazza’s Fine Foods and farmers markets in San Mateo and Kensington. I see Berkowitz aiming to fill a local “bread desert” between Oakland and San Jose with an East Coast–styled, grab-and-go bakery where customers are greeted by a big wall of distinct loaves — miche (a rustic, tangy mixed-grain sourdough), classic pointy-ended baguettes with caramelized crusts, honey rye porridge (a naturally leavened, custardy rye-flake loaf), and extra-eggy braided challah — and where the doughs are different from the onset rather than all starting from a single Tartine-style base. Seating will be minimal (some benches outside), but there will be bread-based noshes like bialys, future sweet and savory toasts (think whitefish salad reflecting Berkowitz’s Jewish roots) and interest in babka; she won’t be making croissants, brownies, pies or other non-bread pastries because everything is baked directly on the hearth in a huge gas-fired deck oven that arrived from Italy in 200 pieces. The bakery will sell large, one-kilo loaves meant for home toasting, coffee will be supplied by San Leandro’s Wheelys Cafe, and the shop is located at 585 Victoria Court in San Leandro (opening weekend: Saturday, November 3 and Sunday, November 4, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.)." - Janelle Bitker