Daisy Chow’s first bakery will offer tons of bread, kolaches, and cookies
Plus, the baker shares her favorite spots to eat Cream of Wheat and sub sandwiches.
Daisy Chow is a little stressed.
After a decade of living in Allston, the baker recently moved to Arlington with her husband, and there’s still plenty of unpacking to do. That and, oh yeah, she’s opening her very own bakery in October.
Breadboard Bakery’s Daisy Chow.
The Plano, Texas native has been a force in Boston’s baking community for the past 20 years, working in places like Ames Street Deli, Maison Robert, and Via Matta before landing at Clear Flour Bread in Brookline 15 years ago. She took on another role at Cutty’s, a sandwich-focused deli in Brookline Village, in 2015, and after working on sandwiches for the first year, Cutty’s co-owner Charles Kelsey prompted Chow to take a risk.
“Charles was like, ‘You should start baking stuff here, start doing pop-ups,'” Chow remembered. “[He said],’You want to open a bakery, you might as well get some exposure.’”
Pastries from Breadboard Bakery.
Breadboard Bakery served as a pop-up at Cutty’s every Friday and Saturday for the next three years, allowing Chow to serve her own sweet-leaning creations, including kolaches, the fruit-filled pastry with Czech roots and Texan fans. The pop-up ended in June; since then, Chow has launched a Kickstarter for the brick-and-mortar iteration of Breadboard Bakery, a roughly 20-seat cafe which will open in the former Commune Kitchen space in Arlington this fall.
“We’ll have a lot more bread than at Cutty’s,” she said. “That’s what I love to do the most. The goal at Cutty’s was to complement what was on the menu, so I mostly did sweet things. I’m a savory person myself, so I’ll probably have more savory options.”
In addition to bread, there will be muffins, cookies, and her coveted kolaches, though Chow said the menu is still being worked out. What she does know is that she and her husband will be taking a much-needed vacation before Breadboard opens — if we don’t take one now, she said, “I feel like we may never take one again.”
Before the baker gets too busy with her latest project, we asked her to share some of her favorite places to eat, drink, and people-watch, plus which Arlington taqueria provides the best moving day fuel.
Ice cream impressions
“When I first moved to Boston, I lived in Central Square in Cambridge. I really love Christina’s [Homemade] Ice Cream. That was the nearest ice cream place [at the time], which was ridiculous. I think they just had a Baskin-Robbins back in 2000, but I wanted someplace real.”
Eventide’s brown butter lobster roll.
When Texans want seafood…
“My friends from Texas who come to visit, they all want seafood, so then I take them to Eventide [in the Fenway]. I love the atmosphere there. The food is always really fresh, and it’s in a fun part of town.”
Just try it
“I love LimeRed [Teahouse] for their bubble tea. I usually will get the taro bubble tea but also their Thai iced bubble tea. That’s the first place I had hot bubble tea, which sounds weird but it’s delicious, so don’t be afraid to try that.”
Victoria Torta at La Victoria Taqueria.
Moving day sustenance
“I’ve had friends come over every week to help me clean [while I move], and so we order takeout. Two places I love are La Victoria Taqueria in Arlington Center. So far, everything has been really good. The other place I like is called Boyle’s Market, which sounds so ordinary but their sub sandwiches are delicious. Instead of sliced tomatoes and cucumber [in the sub], they make it into a chopped relish thing so it’s chunky. You eat it and it’s dripping all over your arm, it’s so good.”
Order the Cream of Wheat
“The Neighborhood [Restaurant & Bakery] has these awesome grapevines on their outdoor patio. You have to not have eaten for three days before you go there; they give you so much food. Let’s say you order an omelet — then they give you a separate plate for toast, and then either a separate bowl of Cream of Wheat or a dish of fruit. Always order the Cream of Wheat.”
Nothing changes
“I lived in Allston for 10 years. The place I’m going to miss the most is Blue Asia Cafe. The food is so deliciously consistent every time I go there. Nothing changes. I think of it as a Chinese diner. You get this cutlet off of their rice plate menu. It comes with rice, gravy, and a fried egg and two vegetables; their most popular ones are a side of corn and cabbage. You can’t stop eating it.”
The patio in front of Great Scott in Allston.
Come for a beer, stay to people watch
“I secretly really like Great Scott. Well, maybe not so secretly. It was really close to my apartment in Allston, and of course they have great live music. I love that they have this patio and you can just sit there with a beer and hang out. I feel like people don’t think of that place as a bar but more of a music venue. It’s great for people watching.”
Breadboard Bakery; 203 Broadway, Arlington; opening October 2019; breadandstuff.com
