Colombo bakery goods? (San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland: home, bankrupt, live)

[MechAndy]

The mother may be lost but I don’t think it’s dead.
It would take such an awful person to kill something that old.
I would think and hope that numerous people have been taking care of it.

[Therblig]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

The mother may be lost but I don’t think it’s dead.
It would take such an awful person to kill something that old.
I would think and hope that numerous people have been taking care of it.

That would be my thought, but Bimbo was so corporate-brutal about all the shutdowns that I could see propagating the mother loaf getting lost in the shuffle — say, if the bakery staff were simply locked out and the plant left closed for a few weeks. And even if most of the master bakers probably had their own culture, it probably was not maintained to such careful standards, at least for very long.

I find it odd that no one can tell me these answers — and I've queried the Bay Area bakery companies and institutions, the foodie and critic crowd, history groups and more. Surely it's not that obscure a matter for some of these folks/groups.

[MechAndy]

I am going to ask some folks that might know if the mother/starter is still alive when I get back next week.
Boudin won’t sell any of their starter.
I want to find a nice starter that I can keep.
I spend most of my time in a marine environment up north that is similar to The City
It would totally be cool if I can get close to a SF bread.

One of my friends up here has a real good sour dough starter that has been in her family for years from the Bay Area and it tastes good up here.
I going to get some of that to try out too.

Edited to add,
No stranger will tell you if they have “pinched” starter dough or where you can get some.
That is normally guarded.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

I am going to ask some folks that might know if the mother/starter is still alive when I get back next week.
Boudin won’t sell any of their starter.
I want to find a nice starter that I can keep.
I spend most of my time in a marine environment up north that is similar to The City
It would totally be cool if I can get close to a SF bread.

One of my friends up here has a real good sour dough starter that has been in her family for years from the Bay Area and it tastes good up here.
I going to get some of that to try out too.

Edited to add,
No stranger will tell you if they have “pinched” starter dough or where you can get some.
That is normally guarded.

Cool experiment! Report back.

[CaliforniaPlaya]

So sad what became of the Colombo and Parisian brands.

As a kid growing up in San Francisco, a loaf of either of those brands and a stick of salami was a special weekend treat. Would break off a hunk of bread and cut off a big piece of salami with a huge glass of Berkeley Farms milk and would call it a meal. Working for Safeway beginning in my teen years, I remember both of those brands being delivered still warm several times a day.

I was in a Nob Hill recently and had to take a step back and stare at the bread aisle for a moment with the realization that this type of bread doesn't exist anymore at the retail level. Boudin is okay and I do think the one baked at the 10th Avenue is better than the other locations I have tried, they just seem like they have gotten too commercialized. There is a good, fresh sourdough loaf at Bay Area Trader Joe's locations (not the one in the sealed plastic sleeve, those come in frozen, but the one in the open paper sleeve). This is about the closest I've been able to find to Colombo with the good sour taste, soft middle and crunchy crust. Of course being Trader Joe's, I've got no idea where it is baked or by who or even if it is available in other areas.

[sera]

Genoa's Italian Deli in Walnut Creek comes to mind; in doing research the one in Oakland closed. North Beach, an Italian Deli in San Francisco, could you find what kind of sourdough they sell ?

Brought back memories, years ago, my Dad would purchase sourdough in Oakland, send it to his family in Indiana !

This Thread has me drooling !

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

There is a microbe in the San Francisco air that is not found elsewhere.
That’s the secret to the bread.

Our summer/second house is about 2-1/2 hour drive northwest of Seattle so I don’t spend much time there.
As a whole the food and produce experience of the PNW is behind The City.

There are plenty of nice seafood dining places but they don’t serve real San Francisco bread or top shelf veggies.

In our area (the greater Sequim area) you can’t find fresh donuts.
They are trucked in and most on the shelf are a day old.
I know what an awful problem .

Don’t get me wrong the PNW is a fantastic place and I enjoy living here.

I am partial to our oysters.
I used to do oyster runs to Tamales Bay and do enjoy them.
It’s just that there is something tastier to the Washington oysters .
Might be the cleaner waters or possibly the evergreen trees that grow down to the water.
That said I will admit some nice French bread with butter would be a nice side dish.

The best bread we have found here was at Anthony's Restaurant in Lynnwood. There is one in Gig Harbor, not that far from you, Andy, you might try it some time. I don't know who makes it but it's a close as I have tried to what we used to get at Spenger's Fish Grotto in Berkeley years ago.

[MechAndy]

Good lord, I loved the old Spenger’s.
We knew the owner family and several of the staff were good family friends of ours.

Sadly those days are long gone.
Our friends that worked there were friends of my mom and they are either gone or are in assisted care.
It went down hill years ago when new owner took over.
Gone are the days of corks and stuff hanging off ceilings.

Remember that never ending plate of fresh bread and butter they kept putting on your table?
Oh my, I could just eat that bread as my dinner and be satisfied.

Ever since the covid lockdowns I’ve been learning to cook.
I’m not much of a baker, I mean I can work my bread machine…but my hand made boiled New York style bagels are off the hook.
Our area in Washington has that marine weather very similar to the Bay so I’m going to give sourdough
A try up here.

My mom is a good baker and has made her own sourdough since forever.
I’ll see if she can give it a go up here on her next visit.

[sera]

IF your Mom is willing to make some sourdough bread , share a starter, there are several of us who would be more than willing to try your breads Andy. Will bring salami !

[Hemlock140]

This thread inspired me so I made a few small loaves Sunday, ate one and froze the other two as "take and bake" for other days. My starter is only about 5 years old, and has a long way to go, but the bread is still really good, especially when you eat it right out of the oven.