The memory that comes immediately to my mind is a little Greek bakery in Tarpon Springs, Fla., when I was about 12 on a family vacation. I stood before a case of sweets and baked goods each day in a seaside enclave of Mediterranean sounds and smells settled by Greek immigrants long ago. On the last night, we stopped by the bakery again, and my mom bought me the biggest piece of cake Iāve ever seen, covered in icing and chocolate shavings.
I can still taste it.
Pastry is memory. Walk into Campbellās Bakery, and you can experience exactly what Iām talking about. Your guide is owner Mitchell Moore, who took the reins of the bakery in 2011 after what seemed to be an endless cycle of new ownership and failed attempts to recapture what Louis Campbell created in the 1960s when he opened the original storefront.
āI want to restore Campbellās to where it should be in everybodyās mind,ā Moore explained.
āI want you to see it the way somebody who is 70 years old sees it. As that place where your kids came in, and they got the cake pops every day and got all their birthday cakes from here, and they always got the tea cakes here, because nobody does them as good as us.ā
As we talked, he mixed ingredients for a batch of chocolate chip cookies; all the others sold out earlier in the day. Behind him were two immense vintage cast-iron ovens. I was struck with the memory of an illustration from Kiplingās āHow the Rhinoceros Got His Skin,ā and the Parsee baker who lives on an island with only his knife and iron cooking-stove and eats nothing but cake.
āItās all about tradition. Itās a memory,ā he said. āIām helping families form new traditions. Because what are their traditions going to be? Going to Starbucks? Is that a tradition? It is, but should it be?ā
Moore is passing on the lessons he has learned from a life well lived to another crop of future culinary technicians. The Campbellās Bakery internship program, a word-of-mouth apprenticeship that has taken root in the kitchen, teaches students about the finer points of baking.
āThe teaching aspect really helps me to focus on what Iām doing,ā Moore said. āItās OK to make mistakes, just make new ones. And if theyāre learning, they tend to make new mistakes. And I enjoy it.ā
One of the former interns, Kathryn Gunderson, recently began training at the Culinary Institute of America in California. A current intern, Kelsey Steen, plans to attend culinary school in Boston. And Moore recently made a phone call to one of his own mentors to tell him heād been extended an invitation to cook at the James Beard House in New York. The pride in the successes of oneās pupils keeps coming back around like a Lazy Susan, generation to generation.
āI donāt want to be known as the baker in town who drives a Corvette,ā Moore told me. āOf course, Iām not a Chevy guy, so I never would. But I donāt want to be that guy. Itās not about how much money are we making. I could make a lot more money if I used cake mix. But itās not what we do. Itās not why weāre here. If youāre gonna do it, do it.ā
A perfect symbol of the evolution of the bakery was parked outside. A black 1951 Ford Step Van, with painted flames from the previous owner, will soon be renovated and restored to become the Campbellās Care-a-van, a mobile delivery system of sweets and treats.
The thing about the golden age of Americana is that as we get further away from those post-war glory years, there are fewer people who were actually alive to remember it. But thatās the true nature of nostalgia; based on feelings, not facts. Moore understands the distinction. He isnāt trying to recreate a facsimile of a long-lost time, but rather, to re-engineer an experience, combining that mid-century family-friendly optimism with dashes of contemporary hipster and southern sweet.
The mixing bowl rumbled as the chocolate-chip cookie dough came together. āAnd you know, this is a handmade product, so I donāt mind selling out every once in a while,ā Moore said, standing over the mixer.
āYou sell out, but you never sell out,ā I said.
āExactly.ā
Previous Comments
Isn’t this also the place that doesn’t have any yeast products like cinnamon rolls and the like? All quick breads?
#2523 | Author: Pilgrim3 | Date: Apr 18 2013
