There are two kinds of people at restaurants: those who politely shun the bread basket, waving it away with a holier-than-thou flick of the wrist; and those who inhale the basket's contents because lord knows there is nothing more satisfying than a good hunk of bread, even if it does ruin your dinner.
If you belong to the latter camp (and even if you don't, there's still time to switch!), mark June 4 and 5 on your calendar. Grand Central Market's Bread Festival is returning for a second year, and we can smell the dough rising already.
The two-day event is a celebration of LA's best bread iterations, with special menu offerings from some of the market's more bread-centric vendors. Try cornbread from Horse Thief BBQ, zucchini bread from Valerie Confections Bakery & Cafe, flatbread specials from Madcapra, "butter flights" from DTLA cheese and more. A pop-up marketplace will bring in additional bakeries to showcase their wares: Grist & Toll, Superba Food + Bread, Lodge Bread Co., Huckleberry, Milo & Olive, Bub and Grandma's Bread, Los Angeles Bread Bakers, Antigua Artisan Bread, Seed Bakery and The SpeakEasy Bakery. A few jam and nut butter vendors—IndieJams, LemonBird and Spread the Love—will also be selling goods.
While the complete schedule for Bread Festival hasn't been released yet, a few activities are already on the books. Feel the Churn Butter Aerobics—yup, that's a thing—is back to teach attendees the mechanics of making butter. There will also be a tortilla making workshop, a class on making sourdough, and workshops on matzo, challah and biscuit making.
Bread Festival is free, though you'll need to pay for your doughy samplings, of course. If you're a bread basket person, that shouldn't be a problem. And if you're not? Uh...we really can't relate.