Tartine Bakery Plotting London, LA, and NYC Expansions

Like its Bay Area cohorts A16 and Blue Bottle, Tartine Bakery has set its sights on Tokyo, announcing a couple of weeks back that it would be opening its first bakery outside of the Mission in the Japanese metropolis. But that's apparently not all Chad Robertson has up his sleeve. In an interview with Grub Street, he says that he's getting pretty close to a London location, and that L.A. and NYC are in the cards as well. "We're almost there [with London], but the situation didn't really pan out. I have a team ready for London. Any place we open, it's because I have a baker who's worked with me for years and wants to go. One of my head bakers is a British guy who wants to move back home. Same with L.A. — another baker wants to go home...Of course, New York. My wife's from New York, and I'm there a lot, but I don't have that New York person yet. It doesn't work without that person."

Robertson also revealed some more details on the Tokyo location, saying that it would likely open in March. Most notably, some of its specialties will be coming to the city, via the bakery's ongoing exchange program for Japanese and American bakers. "In the beginning, we'll be doing Tartine stuff at Tartine Tokyo. But I'm using all Japanese ingredients and flours, and there will be new items. I'm sure I will start incorporating them into the menu in San Francisco." And, of course, there's that whole giant Tartine project in the Heath Ceramics building still in the offing, which may lead to more partnerships with new neighbor Blue Bottle. "I could see us doing something together, maybe in Japan," Robertson says.

· Tartine Breadmaster Chad Robertson Is Going Global [Grub Street]
· Tartine Bakery Is Opening a Tokyo Location [~ ESF ~]
· Tartine to Open New Mission Bakery/Restaurant [~ ESF ~]