Where else could I have found myself enjoying the heady aromas of baking breads and pastries, the taste of the best cappuccino in recent memory, and the sight of Colm Feore bantering with the bakers, baristas, and customers? Absolutely nowhere as delightful as The Bakery at Pazzo.
The Stratford area is home to many who are passionate about food – producers and consumers alike. It has eateries of every description and style, beer makers, cheese makers, chocolatiers and sommeliers, emporiums and market stalls. But barely a bakery in sight, until this spring.
That’s why Larry McCabe and Jeff Leney, the owners of Pazzo Ristorante Bar and Pizzeria, teamed up with their head chef Sean Collins and with baker John Bex. In May The Bakery at Pazzo opened next door to the restaurant on Ontario Street. “It’s a completely different experience,” says restaurateur Larry McCabe, “and it gets better every day!” Bex is the yeast in this mix, the master baker whose years of experience, high standards and effervescent enthusiasm are making the Bakery rise successfully.
Despite a few decades in Canada, John Bex hasn’t lost the accent of London, England, where he grew up and learned his trade – baking runs in the family. Bex was the Pastry Chef at London’s iconic Claridge’s Hotel, and at The Park Lane Hotel, before coming to Canada. While in Toronto he worked at the Four Seasons, and helped to design the Advanced Pastry Courses at George Brown College. Now in Stratford, he is also an instructor at the Stratford Chefs School.
Bex loves working in the light-filled space: bakery operations take place in the back half of the shop, wide open to the public view. “Normally,” he quips, “they put us down in the basement!” Ron Nuhn is the designer behind the transformation of this former clothing store. Daylight shining through the large plate-glass windows suffuses pale butter-yellow walls. The walls themselves are relieved with harmonious areas of contemporary brick. Partitions and shelving are of wood reclaimed from an old Mennonite barn. Some of the same wood provided the immense work counter that runs down the centre of the bakery proper.
Simply walking in the door seems to put people into a more relaxed and amiable mood. In this ambience, to lounge at the coffee counter, indulging in your pastry or sandwich, or just a great cup of coffee, provides a few moments of delicious comfort. Step back and people-watch, enjoy the view outside, chat with strangers, and look on as the bakers bake.
Customers come for specifics (the morning coffee, a favourite treat, their daily bread) or to browse the shelves of quality comestibles – pastas, oils, conserves and condiments are among the temptingly displayed merchandise. Some pop in for their lunchtime sandwich, and are usually open to trying something different, says Bex. Brioche with goat cheese and roasted pepper? Of course, I’d try that.
In determining the range of offerings, Bex and his partners were prepared to take their cues from the customers. But it seems that whatever they put out, people happily consume. Not surprising, really, given the quality of the goods.
Breads and classic French patisserie comprise most of The Bakery’s output. “That’s my background,” says Bex. His standards are uncompromising. For example, he extols the virtues of the flour they most commonly use: “It comes from Quebec, from the only place that makes this flour exactly to the formula of French flour. They have a certain way of milling. They don’t use metal rollers. Those tend to overheat the grain, and change the flavour…” My own simple gauge of a bakery’s calibre is the croissant. (Unsophisticated, I know, but it works for me.) I give these ones top marks. “There’s so much butter in the recipe,” jokes Bex, “we call it butter suspended in flour!”
But “uncompromising” doesn’t rule out inventive. There is a baked cheesecake that’s “different enough that people want it.” The special ingredient must be Ruth Klahsen’s cheese. There’s also a brownie that incorporates roasted beets, and yes, it’s great.
I suppose it’s true, that we do not live by bread alone. But it is oh, so tempting, to consider the possibilities, when visiting The Bakery at Pazzo.
The Bakery at Pazzo
76 Ontario Street, Stratford
519-508-2244