Manresa Bread’s Ambitious Cafe Is Open in Campbell

Right before Thanksgiving, Manresa Bread opened its long-awaited cafe in Campbell, bringing folks a new taste of the bakery. Unlike Avery Ruzicka’s other two locations, her new Manresa Bread — an offshoot of David Kinch’s Michelin-starred Manresa — serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner alongside its glimmering pastries and crusty loaves.

Ruzicka is creating toasts and sandwiches to highlight her house-milled breads and flours, along with plated entrees and cocktails. Naturally, the pastry case is the focal point of the room, which is twice as big as the Los Gatos and Los Altos bakeries at 2,100 square feet. Designed by RVH Design Studio (Tosca Cafe, Delfina, Frances) and Eaton Hall Architecture, the bakery wears a clean, minimalist aesthetic with white tile, geometric features, pale wood, and pops of blue and orange. Whether it’s the custom light fixtures, the framed prints, the merchandise display, or the ceramics, Ruzicka wanted to highlight Californian artisans.

“It’s incredible to look around and see how many talented people are in this area doing such amazing work,” she says.

For the food menu, Ruzicka thought about ways she already enjoys her bread — like with pate and a glass of dry natural wine — as well as less-expected ways to use her house-milled flours, such as in churro form with romesco sauce. (“It’s not bready and heavy. It’s light,” she says.) A few morning-focused dishes get phased out at 4 p.m., when more dinner-appropriate plates — including those churros — become available. Guests can order toasts, sandwiches, and salads at any time of day. Check out the full menu here.