In the early aughts, Fork Etc. cafe functioned as much more than a gourmet market and offshoot of next-door Philly institution Fork. Ellen Yin and her High Street Hospitality team hosted a book event there with Mark Bittman during his How to Cook Everything series craze, along with Easter egg painting get-togethers, and communal four-course dinners every week when you never knew who you’d sit next to.
Twenty years later, the 2023 James Beard winner for Outstanding Restaurateur brings that same community ethos to the Bread Room, which opens today right around the corner from its sit-down Center City sibling High Street (834 Chestnut Street). By day, the Bread Room is a bakery with a vast pastry selection and in the evening, a spot for baking classes, events with purveyors, and private parties. Like Fork Etc., Yin also wants it to be a community space. “Right now, people are really seeking some sort of connection. And bakeries have become a place where people meet and connect,” she tells Eater. The city is also undeniably in its golden baking era.
A figgy cake at the Bread Room. Stu Goldenberg/Bread Room
The walk-up case is stacked with 20 options made daily by pastry chef Kate Hughes and her team. The opening lineup includes smoked vanilla bay leaf kouign amann, almond yuzu bostock, and a “daily pop tart” (currently, last summer’s blueberry preserve and blue basil). There’s also a daily cruller, and out of the gate, there’s two: a tahini-honeycomb with fennel pollen and a coconut variety. “In our total vocabulary, there are probably way more than 20 pastries,” says Yin. Along with its longtime Philly flagship Fork, High Street Hospitality is also behind expansion-minded a.kitchen and the Wonton Project.
Luscious loaves by the Bread Room. Stu Goldenberg/Bread Room
Head baker Kyle Wood’s bread offerings consist of daily loaves like a seeded pullman and a cheddar black pepper bread. There are also rotating specialty loaves like one with olives and rosemary that reminds Yin of a delicious bread she devoured in Milan. And sticking with the group’s longtime commitment to local ingredients, there’s a Keystone loaf made exclusively with local flour that primarily comes from Lost Bread, which is run by High Street’s former head baker Alex Bois, and rye and spelt flour from Small Valley Milling. Like large loaves in France, this one is sold by the weight. To start, weekday hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Bread also shows up in other corners of the lengthy menu like a hoagie muffuletta on sesame focaccia and a black lime chicken salad on ciabatta. Meanwhile, a simple seeded roll with Pennsylvania cheddar and house-made cultured butter pays respect to a memorable meal the Bread Room’s head chef Christina McKeough had in Copenhagen.
The Bread Room is giving rustic-chic vibes. Stu Goldenberg/Bread Room
The airy space, which is partially open to the kitchen, feels a bit like a country-chic general store with a wooden breakfront full of goods like Castle Valley Mill’s flour and pasta, and jams from producers the team adores. Yin hopes guests will come and spend time in the space for meetings or just to hang out, including around an eight-person communal table that once sat in the art collector and chemist Albert Barnes’s laboratory.
In the evening, expect small baking courses that include “sourdough 101” for the novice, lamination techniques, baking for kids, and a continuation of their signature pizza classes, which started during the pandemic. A visiting bakers’ series is in the works, and the team is in talks with pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz from New York, gluten-free baker Monica Glass, and Provenance’s executive pastry chef Abby Dahan.
To make way for the Bread Room, the team shuttered High Street Bakery, which operated in a tiny space on the opposite side of the block until earlier this month. A handful of fan favorites like the chocolate hazelnut croissant have made their way around the corner. As for the old space, Yin has more than a few ideas proofing, including pop-ups and potential programs with Sisterly Love Collective, which supports women in food, and The Wonton Project, which Yin founded to help fight AAPI discrimination.