![\"Bread](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Bread-Cie-exterior.jpg\")
Founder and New York native Charles Kaufman shared that sentiment. He came to San Diego via a 15-year stint making B-grade horror films in Los Angeles. His radical career move into baking has since resulted in the wholesale production of 5 million loaves of bread a year from a facility on Pacific Highway (according to its website), plus a cafe in Hillcrest that is perpetually teaming with customers.<\/p>\n
I recently crashed a breakfast that my spouse and a friend pay to the cafe every Sunday, eager to sneak my fork into their favorite dishes \u2014 avocado toast with poached eggs, and something called the \u201csalmon Benedict basket\u201d featuring the fish and two poached eggs nestled inside cup-shaped brioche. Both dishes were fresh and delicious.<\/p>\n
For my meal, however, I was interested in the lunch offerings, which are available from the time Bread & Cie opens its doors every morning (7 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7:30 a.m. on Sundays). They include soups, salads, specialty sandwiches and grilled panini.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until after receiving my food that I discovered the possibility of a zucchini-chive muffin filled with a soft-boiled egg and three cheeses.<\/p>\n Named \u201cIn The Closet,\u201d the muffin is pictured deliciously on a small laminated card clipped to a short metal stand that sat on a counter completely out of sight to customers. When I later discovered it, an employee quipped, \u201cEverybody always sees it after placing their orders.\u201d Too bad that such a crafty option is so under-promoted and that it didn\u2019t dawn on anyone to make the card more visible.<\/p>\n My lunch-for-breakfast consisted of a mistake order of turkey chili that was as rich and spicy as Texas-style chili con carne. (The server kindly let me keep it.) It was followed by a bowl of hearty chicken stew brimming with carrots, potatoes and big chunks of tender breast meat, and then a roasted turkey sandwich of which the high point was its rosemary-olive oil bread.<\/p>\n When I inquired whether the turkey was roasted in-house, nobody behind the counter knew until an employee checked with the kitchen and reported back that it\u2019s from a cold-cut style loaf by Metro Deli. Another worker chimed in saying the other sandwich meats \u2014 ham and roast beef \u2014 are sourced from the reputable Dietz & Watson.<\/p>\n I wished the turkey had originated from Bread & Cie. This contained too much water, a far cry from the texture of non-processed turkey. Stacked with crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes and hot pepper cheese, I was secondly disappointed by the Russian dressing smeared inside, which looked and tasted like tomato soup. My spouse agreed but didn\u2019t mind while wolfing down the sandwich\u2019s other half.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also been impressed by Bread & Cie\u2019s cookies, muffins and decadent espresso-dusted opera cake, which offers layers of fluffy chocolate mousse between sheets of chocolate. Those treats and others are prominently displayed in the dessert cases along the order counter, where you can potentially discover off-menu specials and desserts if you look hard enough.<\/p>\n![\"Bread](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Bread-Cie-avocado-toast-with-eggs.jpg\")
![\"Bread](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Bread-Cie-salmon-Benedict.jpg\")
![\"Bread](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Bread-Cie-turkey-sandwich.jpg\")
![\"Bread](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Untitled-1-4.jpg\")
But it\u2019s the bread that calls me \u2014 the brioche, challah, batards and baguettes \u2014 all made in classic French technique that Kaufman has mastered well. (He used to sneak away to little bread shops when attending the Cannes Film Festival to learn tips from the local bakers.)<\/p>\n