I talked to the owner of mama papa Lithuania. He said his black rye bread was flown in Daily from Lithuania. True or not I loved it
1 Like
Not any more:
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/WhatTheFork/archives/2018/01/08/after-less-than-two-months-the-pain-shop-closes-its-doors
Guerilla foodism at its finest! Makes me want to buy a ticket to the Bay Area just to get bread.
Not surprised, they should have changed the name of the shop. Either all French or all English.
Do you need a secret code to let them know you are from HO? Sounds exciting!
1 Like
An article on buying bread at Midwife/ Baker.
Still a fan of Tartineās country loaf if I am ever around that area and thereās no line.
Though not really too relevant, but I like New Hollywood Bakery for their pineapple buns and oat and raisin buns. Wonderfood bakery in Oaklandās Chinatown also does a good job on their bread. Not a huge fan of Fancy Wheat Field Bakery (their San Bruno ave. location near 3rd/Silver and their Chinatown location). Their buns were a little dry for my tastes when eating it straight. I use to like VIP Cafeās bread before they bake using the Red A bakery items.
VIP Cafe used to be affiliated with Dragon City Bakery. Dragon City also owns AA Bakery on Stockton St. Try the items you liked at VIP there.
Fancy Wheat Field seems to be sprouting up everywhere these daysā¦
You can get Tartine loaves from Manufactory. I never ran into lines more than 2, 3 people.
My wife likes FWFās bread but itās definitely an Asian take on bread. Tastes like angel food cake to me.
I thought they were affiliated with the whole Dragon City/AA Bakery after their remodel, no? I liked the bread at VIP prior to their remodel (though, that remodel seems like it was five years ago). I thought AA Bakery was okay, but the bread seems less wellā¦ doughy would be the way to put it. Seems light and lacks that doughy chew.
Iāll like to throw out a bone to the two Cherry Blossom bakeries in the inner Richmond and near Ocean Ave (right near Ming Kee). I enjoyed eating the buns there.
There are more? O_o
Funny, Iāve actually never gone to the Manufactory; nor well, anywhere near the mission district for over a year. The parking is just not great.
And Iām pretty sure most people would rank the Boudin bakeryās sourdough on the lower end, but I still like them for the nostalgic taste with clam chowder.
You yourself said they are now using Red A Bakery products. Or did you mean AA Bakery?
VIP and Dragon City are under nominally different ownership, but I used to see the Dragon City truck delivering there, and I believe the VIP name was shown on the truck.
Fancy Wheat Field recently opened Irving and Clement branches.
And two fancy wheat owned locations, a bakery and a dim sum place, on San Bruno ave.
Their breads didnāt look appealing to me but I got a black sesame walnut thing that was still warm and quite good at the Fancy Wheat location on Clement Street today. The also have mille crepe slices for about $6.
Tartine Manufactory sells the country loaf and Iāve never encountered an real line there. I canāt for the life of me understand why people still line up at the original location when this branch has no lines and is less than a mile from the original - not to mention the killer soft serve.
Tourists with the 2015 Fodorās guide 
The two locations have different offerings, but nothing unique to the original is worth the wait IMHO.
Iāve picked up loaves from them then twice in the past month, 8-9am, parked and on my way home in less than 10 minutes.
oh, nice to know that the line for the manufactory is quite short! Iāll actually have to try it sometime.
Hmmā¦ Iāve got to take a closer look at VIP next time lol. I couldāve sworn it was Red A, but I might have meant AA Bakery since you mentioned they partnered up. Iāll defer to you since I think you have a much better history of the place than I do.
Apparently, I got Fancy Wheat Field and Sunny Wheat Field confused. Too many wheat fieldsā¦
Tourist guidebooks havenāt updated?
Thereās sometimes a wait to be seated for breakfast / brunch on weekend ( none this morning, and never on weekdays). For bread, walk in , stand by the loaves looking awkward , and someone will grab a loaf for you and send you to a cashier. Baguettes are $5, bigger loaves are ~$10, Danish rye is a staggering $14, but itās the dense kind so thatās actually a ton of bread.
What do people think or Kantineās Scandinavian rye? I love the stuff, and am excited to try their brick and mortar soon.
āThe two locations have different offeringsā
I was wondering about that since I havenāt been to the original location in many years.
Ha makes sense.
Is the service at the manufactory better than the original store? Sometimes I felt like a person that was not deemed worthy enough to purchase an item at the store haha.
