Village Bread Cafe

The Village Bread Cafe appeared out of nowhere just over a year ago, tucked into an industrial park, half a mile north of where US 1 meets University. One wouldn't expect a restaurant located in an area such as this to acquire much of a following but in the relatively short time since opening they've been successful enough to open two more branches; one in Mandarin, the other at downtown Jacksonville's most infamous gathering place: The Landing.

A good loaf of fresh bread is one of the finest, most enjoyable food items in existence. All one needs is to look at the lines outside The French Pantry any weekday lunchtime for evidence to support this claim. However, bread is also one of the easiest things to get wrong and decent bakeries are few and far between, particularly around these parts. I've been burned far too many times by the promise of delicious baked goods only to be met with mediocre or just plain bad results. So in order to prevent myself from being too disappointed, I approach any self-styled bakery with a mixture of hope and trepidation.

Thankfully, the Village Bread Cafe delivers on its promises with some rather good bread. If you order in you'll be treated to some bread and dipping oil which can at times be my favorite part of the meal.

The sandwiches are full of fresh, tasty ingredients and good quality deli meat. They're big too; big enough to eat in two sittings. My only disappointment came when I ended up getting white bread when I was certain that it was supposed to be wheat but it could very well have been my mistake and the bread still tasted great. They have some really great looking salads as well.

This is quite out of character for me, but if there's one recommendation I can make regarding food at the Village Bread Cafe, it's that you should get an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. And when they ask you if you want it warmed up, you should say yes. Then you should take this dinner plate sized cookie back to your table and eat it right away. I can rarely identify when people lustily reminisce about past desserts; most confections don't do anything for me. But if they were all as amazing as this cookie, I wouldn't always be turning my nose up at the dessert menu.

This is a promising place and I'm eager to see how their rapid growth and success is going to play out. I look forward to going back and trying a few more of the enticing menu items. Perhaps I'll pick up a few more cookies while I'm at it.




Village Bread Cafe
5215 Philips Highway
Jacksonville, FL 32207

The Bakery by OPUS 39

Where are all the good bakeries? Sure, there's the French Pantry but that's not open on the weekend so what's a person got to do to get a good loaf of bread on a Saturday morning? Well, one option is to head down to St Augustine's recently opened Opus 39 Bakery. Some of you more distinguished and wealthy readers out there may be familiar with the Opus 39 restaurant, one of St. Augustine's most notoriously posh dining establishments. Well, now some of us not-so-rich folk can head out back for a bite to eat at their fantastic little bakery.

I'm assuming that the bakery out back initially started to exclusively supply the restaurant with fresh bread. Be that the case or not, it still serves such a purpose as you can see the staff carrying basket loads of the fresh baked loaves across the courtyard. And what a courtyard it is. There are a very small number of places to sit inside which may prove difficult on a rainy day but on beautifully clear mornings like the one we encountered, the perfect place to be is out in the courtyard.

Beyond the loaves of bread and confections you would expect from a bakery, there is also a small variety of ready-made sandwiches to choose from. Considering the quality and size, the price is fairly reasonable with a half sandwich costing $3. Great coffee as well.

All in all, the Opus 39 Bakery is an amazing place to spend a peaceful morning. And there's always the option of grabbing a loaf or two of bread for the days you can't make it.






Update: Tragically, The Bakery is now closed and Opus 39 itself will be shutting its doors later this week. The strain of the economic downturn has proven too much for the owners and their investor, who recently backed out. The baker has vowed to stay on and bread will still be available for wholesale while they try to find someone else who might be interested in taking control of the Bakery and re-opening the cafe. So perhaps there is still a chance for this amazing, albeit short-lived, addition to downtown St. Augustine.

The loss of Opus 39 is a real blow to the city of St. Augustine. Here's hoping that the Bakery will find new ownership and that the sad news might stir up some new investors to save the restaurant before it's too late. You can read more about this misfortune at First Coast News, The Jacksonville Business Journal, Historic City News, and The St. Augustine Record.

The Bakery by Opus 39
39 Cordova St

St Augustine, FL 32084
(904) 824-0402