Thursday, March 19, 2020

Daily bread at C&B Cafe



C&B Cafe, 178 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, is one of the many local businesses who had to dramatically adjust its method of operation in recent days. For now, the cafe, which opened in January 2015, is able to offer sandwiches for takeout.

Chef-owner Ali Sahin has also been busy making 4-pound loaves of sourdough that take three days to prepare.

He discusses it in an Instagram post:

I have been baking bread in the cafe for almost 4 years. Some days bread would come out perfect but for the most part it was inconsistent and I didn’t care as much. Funny enough last 2 weeks my bread is coming out perfect. So I have been baking bread everyday. Bread is holy where I come from. I was thought a wasted crumb is a big sin.

So don’t waste a crumb of it and share it with others. I was told that if my bread rises so would my house. And my house did rise to be a successful cafe. Starting from [March 19], I am shrinking my menu to sandwiches only. I will keep baking bread as long as I have flour so you can keep ordering sourdough if you need bread at home.

C&B will be closed on Friday, so Ali can "go visit city offices to find out what kind of relief they are offering to small business." You can order bread by stopping by or sending a DM via Instagram.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is some beautiful bread!

OlympiasEpiriot said...

That's wonderful! Also, sourdough is delicious (and possibly good for our gut biomes).

Jose Garcia said...

We had a sandwich with their sourdough bread just yesterday and sat in the park with the Wonder Dog. Thank you for baking for us. Best, jg

XTC said...

Bread, beer and pizza. Life's good.

With a name like Ali Sahin my guess is he's from N. Africa. When I lived in Paris many years back my favorite baker was not French but Tunisian. He made a large round loaf like a giant bagel that was absolutely heavenly.

sophocles said...

Fond memories of C&B's lamb sandwich on their superior bread.



Anonymous said...

Man. After this self-isolation and access to carbs without the gym, I am going to gain thirty pounds when this is over. Not a great look for summer. Great bread btw.

Anonymous said...

I love this guy’s breakfast sandwiches, looking forward to trying the sourdough!