Before it became Rustica Sourdough bakery cafe, this building contained Pane Provinciale, then Itza cafe. Itza had once been good, but it suffered a drastic decline in the quality of its bread and cafe food, stopped baking, and finally became somewhere no one wanted to go to. Fortunately this has changed, with a new business and a new light-filled interior.
Rustica opened about 10 days ago. I went in last week to buy bread, then returned this week for breakfast. The pumpkin and olive loaves are fantastic, and I’m pleased enough that they have solved a problem for me: where to get fresh bread on a Monday morning when Babka is closed.
The coffee is average, but they’ve just started so there’s plenty of time to improve. The food is good: I chose the ricotta hotcakes with apple, honeycomb and cream, and my friend had the croque monsieur. It was not toasted as is usual – it was a sandwich with melted cheese on it, but my friend seemed satisfied. The hotcakes were excellent.
I like Rustica, especially the bread. I may take away more than I eat in, but I am very glad they have opened and I hope they do well.
2 May 2012 at 1:03 pm
Agreed, nice to find a place with the quality of Babka, and without the bohemian snobbery. And I thought the coffee was good!
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15 May 2012 at 11:43 am
I’d also like to see it succeed. The interior is nice and light, the service friendly, and it takes up a space which might otherwise become another chain store. However, I think to be here in 12 months it needs to improve its coffee and have a serious look at what their competitors are charging. At the moment they sit at the high end pricewise, which is probably not where a new business should be positioning itself.
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15 May 2012 at 11:55 am
I’ve been going back for the bread, which is excellent. I haven’t had the coffee again, but I will soon.
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7 June 2012 at 12:48 am
The bread is good but not worth the pricetag. The staff couldnt care less and were too busy talking to each other. I think its a pity that the coffee is not so great and the cakes are below par. I cant see this business lasting unless they lower their prices and offer a better product. Many of the local Brunswick St employees are choosing to go elsewhere already.
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