People ascribe a nearly mythic quality to New York City water and its ability to make amazing dough. This weekend I watched an episode of a Food Network Shows Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that had a segment on a restaurant named Jersey’s Cafe in Indiana run by a New Jersey native that featured New Jersey style diner food. They buy some of their sandwich rolls from a bakery in Queens, and the owner explained that it was necessary, because you cannot get the right flavor from anywhere else, and then he mumbled something about the water used in the dough. Oddly enough, that same restaurant also baked their own cracked wheat bread, which the owner proudly demonstrated as part of the segment.
I also know there is a pizzeria in Los Angeles called Lamonicas that claims to make its dough in Brooklyn and ships it cross-country, boasting that this allows them to use NYC tap water in their pizza. And many people claim that you cannot get a decent bagel outside of New York City and that the reason is, yes, the water.
The Vesuvio Bakery is no more, really. It is not just that they have new ownership, but although they do serve baked goods, they do not bake on premises. The store is now part of a chain, and although they retain the old signage of Vesuvio (for which I am grateful), its real name is Birdbath and it has its goods transported in from another location (which I believe is in the city, so at least it gets to use the magical water, I guess).
In my research, I noticed that the storefront was described at least once as “often photographed.” Hers is my contribution.
Dave DiCello
1 Aug 2011Really cool shot Mark. I like the classic look to this.
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Tobias George
1 Aug 2011Nice shot! I like the muted tones.
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Steven Perlmutter
1 Aug 2011Great shot Mark. I like that you chose to place the bakery off-center to show the contrast of the adjacent building.
Jose Vazquez
1 Aug 2011Very interesting about the water. I can’t believe the pizzeria in LA gets its dough from here. Love the shot!
Chris Nitz
1 Aug 2011Guess I need to head to NYC and test this theory of NYC water equaling a much better bread. Great shot and like you, I’m glad to see they left the old signage in place.
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Edith Levy
1 Aug 2011Cool shot. I love storefronts like this. They’re just asking to be photographed.
Chris Frailey
1 Aug 2011The green tones contrast well with the red building next to it. The NY water was new to me. I have never heard that mentioned.
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Simon Morris
1 Aug 2011Nice shot Mark – super architecture… great tones and processing too!
Chris Robins
3 Aug 2011classic and old school, very nice mark.
Jim Nix
4 Aug 2011very cool Mark!