The Roadhouse’s Newest Menu Item, Made Your Way
It’s solidly suppertime and your stomach is more than ready to dig into that sumptuous meal you selected, but while you wait, you’d like to whet your appetite. You need an appetizer to tide you over. That’s where our newest menu item comes in.
No basic basket of bread, this is a satisfying spread—a Zingerman’s Bakehouse artisanal bread platter! We get fresh bread deliveries from our partner business, the Bakehouse, multiple times every day. The Bakehouse has been baking up full-flavored artisan breads since 1992. As the second Zingerman’s business, the Bakehouse was initially started to supply the Deli with better breads for their sandwiches. Over the years, as the ZCoB (that’s the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses) has expanded, the Bakehouse has been supplying more and more Zingerman’s businesses (and beyond!) with breads (and pastries, and cakes, oh my!)—like Sicilian Sesame Semolina bread for the Toast Bar at Zingerman’s Coffee Company and brioche buns for our burgers. So, we’re in good company with an ever-growing contingent of big Bakehouse fans!
We love all of their breads—they’re made with traditional recipes; time-honored processes; and flavorful ingredients, many locally sourced—but we’ll admit that we’re especially partial to Roadhouse bread. After all, they created it just for us! Roadhouse bread is naturally leavened (as is the case with many of the Bakehouse’s breads) and based on a colonial American recipe. It’s made with a trio of organic grains: rye from DKB Farms in Columbiaville, Michigan, wheat from Bay State Milling in Colorado, and stone-ground cornmeal from Janie’s Mill in Illinois. For better flavor and even more nutrition, the Bakehouse has been incorporating more freshly milled flours into their breads; that’s the case for the Roadhouse bread, too, the Bakehouse freshly mills the rye on one of their own stone mills. The resulting loaf has a beautiful dark crust and a chewy, slightly sweet crumb, thanks to a touch of molasses.
Given our deep appreciation for Bakehouse breads, it only made sense to create an entire starter featuring them: the Breadventure Appetizer! Get ready to indulge your love of bread by picking the size of your platter—either small or large, depending on the size of your crowd (or how serious a case of the hangries you’re dealing with). Small spreads are served with two slices each of our signature Roadhouse and Better Than San Francisco Sourdough breads, large spreads include four slices of each. (Gluten-free friends, we’d be happy to hook you up with gluten-free bread from Zingerman’s Bakehouse!) For maximum cozy vibes and comfort-inducing aromas, slices are served warm with butter and fresh thyme.
Not just any butter is worthy of being slathered atop Bakehouse breads though. We only serve Vermont Creamery’s cultured butter with French sea salt. Vermont Creamery starts with fresh cream from local cows. The cream is pasteurized, then fermented overnight with the addition of live cultures. Come morning, the cream has thickened and developed complex flavor notes. The resulting butter is super creamy and oh-so flavorful, thanks to both the culturing process and the addition of the French sea salt.
We bet you’ll agree, it’s hard to beat the simple satisfaction of great bread paired with great butter! Longtime manager at the Roadhouse, Marcy Harris says,
By adding Zingerman’s Bakehouse bread to the top of our menu, we are honoring everything that goes into making it. Like with all of the food we offer, we get to tell the story behind what makes it so good, and help guide the customer experience of all the different ways it can be enjoyed.
And, as regular Roadhouse guests already know, we’re always happy to customize items to their liking, so it will come as no surprise that we created an appetizer that was designed to let guests make it their own! So, if you want to take your spread ‘o bread over the top, we have a whole slew of optional additions, sure to satisfy your crew.
Pick Your Path to Palate-Pleasing Perfection
Séka Hills’ Olive Oil—Smooth, nutty, and grassy, this is one of Deli Managing Partner Grace Singleton’s very favorite oils! Made in the Capay Valley, northwest of Sacramento, California by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. The Tribe is reclaiming its ancestral land with diverse, sustainably-minded farming operations, like their oil made on-site with their Arbequina olives.
IASA Peperoncino
Made in the tiny coastal town of Cetara, Italy, local chile peppers are mashed into a coarse paste, mixed with olive oil, and left to steep for a few months, as Zingerman’s Co-Founder Ari Weinzweig says, “to develop many layers of complex flavors!” He calls this spread one of the best things he’s tasted in the last 10 years!
Fresh Goat Cheese from Zingerman’s Creamery
The Creamery makes this soft cheese with milk sourced from small Michigan goat farmers. We love the bright, fresh flavor and creamy texture and bet you will too!
Pimento Cheese
A classic Southern spread, we make ours with lots of thick-shredded Cabot Cheddar, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, and roasted red peppers. It’s gained such a following that we made a t-shirt in its honor, declaring Zingerman’s the “Pimento Cheese Capital of the Midwest.”
Local Raw Honey
Michigan honey from T. M. Klein & Sons in St. Charles. In 1978, Terry and Mary Klein started beekeeping as a hobby; their business has continued to grow and support fellow beekeepers. Today, their team includes three generations of family members!
Noccioliva Spread
For those who want to take their breadventure in a sweeter direction, try this delicious chocolate hazelnut spread made with lots of Italian hazelnuts, dark chocolate, extra virgin olive oil, and a little sugar. Sous chef Jess Forbes grew up with the well-known brand of chocolate hazelnut spread and didn’t realize just how much better a version made with great ingredients could be. She declared, “When I took my first taste of the Noccioliva, it was like a chorus of angels had descended from upon high. It’s that good!”
Foley Smoked Salmon
Massachusetts-based Foley Fish’s smoked salmon is smoked using their Bay of Fundy salmon. The salmon has beautiful marbling and a mild smokey flavor, so the taste of the salmon isn’t overpowered. And, since it’s smoked fresh (unlike others that thaw frozen salmon, smoke it, and refreeze it), their salmon has a buttery texture that complements the rich flavor.
Tin of Fishwife Anchovies
Fishwife Seafood Company is a female-founded food company focused on high-quality tinned fish, like these wild-caught anchovies. They come from a third-generation cannery in Northern Spain, which also happens to be the only Marine Stewardship Council-certified fishery in Europe. Both these anchovies and the sardines you’re about to read about are packed in really good Spanish extra virgin olive oil.
Tin of Fishwife Sardines
These sardines are wild-caught at night, off the coast of Cornwall, by fisherfolk with sustainability certifications, then canned in Galicia, in the same cannery mentioned above. The Fishwife Sardines with Hot Peppers are o-fish-ally a fan favorite as a bread topping on our menu. Ari notes that the seasoning is quite gentle, adding, “It’s the flavor of the silvery sardines that comes through most clearly.”
As some of you likely know, Ari carries a loaf of Bakehouse bread around with him in his bag everywhere he goes. For fellow paniphiles who’d rather skip contending with crumbs in your carry-alls, simply stop by to create your own one-of-a-kind Breadventure soon! We regularly add new specials to our menu, so stop by to see what culinary adventures we’re cooking up. (Make a reservation to have your table ready and waiting for you!)