Acme Bread Company ~ Est. 1983

Another Berkeley, CA gem is the Acme Bread Co - a nationally acclaimed artisan bread bakery. Steve Sullivan, the founder and owner, says that after all these years, the number one goal is to bake outstanding bread. Acme uses only organic flour as well as working closely with farmers - evaluating and selecting grain varieties for its flour every year. They work around the clock - 3 shifts of bakers a day - seven days a week at the Berkeley bakery to meet the high demands. At its newer and only other location, in the bakery in {San Francisco Ferry Building}, breads are baked fresh throughout the day in the hearth oven. It was 25 years ago, as a busboy at Berkeley's famous {Chez Panisse} restaurant where he worked while attending UC Berkeley, that he became interested in baking bread. Eventually after bread baking became a serious hobby, Alice Waters requested that he bake bread in the Chez Panisse kitchen. In 1983 he and his wife opened their first - now legendary - bakery.

On Monday, before heading back to San Luis Obispo from the Bay Area, I stopped at the Berkeley location to snap a few photos and pick up some fresh breads: Herb Slab for panini-making, a sourdough baguette, and a loaf of olive bread!