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Caity Weaver, staff writer at the Atlantic, visited Parc<\/a> a few weeks after her father\u2019s death. It was her first time back in his hometown since his passing. <\/p>\n She traveled to investigate the three varieties of bread tucked into wicker baskets at the Stephen Starr<\/a> restaurant. Sampling the bread was part of her larger investigation: to determine the best free restaurant bread in America<\/a>. <\/p>\n After 555 poll responses, 13,000 miles of travel, and months of \u201cmonomaniacal research,\u201d Weaver determined Parc\u2019s cranberry-walnut loaf to be the winner.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you were going to design a restaurant bread specifically intended to appeal to 21st-century Americans, you might well create this exact foodstuff: It is a very chewy sourdough, with a thick, crispy crust that is chocolate brown in color,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIn fact, the bread has an Everlasting Gobstopper\u2013ish ability to harmoniously convey the sensation of eating an entire meal, with dessert, in every bite.”<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Parc\u2019s menu swap proves martinis in Philly are getting dirtier<\/a><\/p>\n Weaver\u2019s quest, fueled by poll responses and interviews with experts, led her to eat free restaurant bread everywhere from national chains like Red Lobster and The Cheesecake Factory<\/a> to restaurants in Foley, Al., Townsend, Tn., Las Vegas and Atlanta.<\/p>\n But her answer arrived when dining in Rittenhouse Square. <\/p>\n \u201cI am seated near a family: a mother, father, and college-age daughter,\u201d she writes. \u201cI can hardly look at them, even as I can\u2019t keep my eyes off them. Veiled by Parc\u2019s low lighting, I allow myself to sink into a luxuriant, tear-flooded sadness … Before my check arrives, I request a to-go box of just cranberry-walnut bread, and am floored by the quantity of pieces I receive in a swish brown bag. I wish I could tell my parents about it. Just knowing it was possible to receive so much bread for free would have delighted them.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Weaver, Parc turns out about 1,500 loaves a day \u2014 200 of which are the cranberry-walnut variety \u2014 to give away slightly less than half a million dollars in free bread every year. The free bread costs the restaurant about 60 cents a bread basket, Starr tells her. <\/p>\n The goal, Starr shared with the writer, was to create a breadbasket that was so good diners didn\u2019t have to spend money. <\/p>\n \u201cFrom a financial standpoint, it was the dumbest move we ever made,\u201d Starr told Weaver. \u201cIt costs so much and people eat so much of it.\u201d But he tells her while he comes close to charging for it, \u201cthe moment I think I\u2019m going to do it, I go, \u2018I can\u2019t do it.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n