Like many people in the Pawling community, I’ve been awaiting the opening of Pawling Bread Company’s new bakery café.
For all of us, it’s been a tough winter, made worse by the lack of Cynthia Kinahan’s great sourdough breads.
Happily, that and the worst of the winter (we hope) is behind us.
At a run-through Saturday, we got to see what the café looks like and try some of the offerings.
It’s a clean open space with the café taking up two levels. Upstairs is a bright seating area with a balcony that will be open in the warmer weather. A large wooden communal table is centered in the room, with smaller tables around the periphery. In anticipation of holding local events, it’s set up with a projector and screen.
Before you head upstairs, place your order at the counter from the menu posted on the wall. Another wall is filled with the various breads, all looking Insta-worthy and available to go home with you, sliced or whole. There are a couple of tables downstairs and a bar to sit and watch the action from.
Because bread is the star here, almost everything on the menu is bread-based.
There are toasts, which you can get either savory or sweet. My husband went for the tuna toast with nice chunks of Italian tuna in olive oil with capers, carrots and celery on toasted sourdough. Delicious and far from your standard deli tuna salad!
I went classic and treated myself to a grilled cheese panini. Grilled to a perfect golden brown, the surprise was the bread it was on—one of my favorites, raisin carraway. The occasional sweetness of the raisins worked well with the 3 cheese combo.
Frank thought we should work our way through more of the menu, so he went back down to see what else we should taste. Shortly, his picks, both croissant-based were delivered to our table.
There was a plain croissant made into a breakfast sandwich with the addition of a fried egg. Simple goodness, highlighting the quality of ingredients.
A pain au chocolate was his other choice. While I’m generally not a big fan, always preferring a plain croissant and a mug of hot chocolate, this was a prime example. Perfect pastry and a nice big chunk of dark chocolate.
There will be a daily soup and there’s a salad option of baby spinach, goat cheese, roasted beets,
blood orange, spiced nuts and seeds with currant vinaigrette which looked delicious.
For your caffeine fix, they offer Forty Weight Coffee in most of the usual ways and as a tribute to Cynthia’s background, kopi, a Malaysian-style coffee as well as a nice assortment of teas from Octavia Teas.
Besides the great breads, there is an assortment of cheeses to take home with you as well as some other well-chosen local items.
Pawling Bread Company will be open Saturdays 8-3 and Sundays 8-2.
Follow them on Facebook for updates and specials.
Pawling Bread Company
10 East Main Street
Pawling NY
