In an obscure strip mall that I remember from early childhood as having one of the only KFCs within a 10 mile radius of our house, Michael Rhoads and his wife Jen have opened up one of the finest bread bakeries in Boston. Yes, Boston. Technically it is 20 miles from Boston, but I don't know of another bakery in the Hub producing bread as good as his.
Commercial rents are high in Boston. Commercial/Retail rents in the burbs are significantly less. So Michael ended up setting up shop 20 miles from most of his wholesale customers, which include restaurants, shops, and clubs. While he may not have a huge following in Framingham (he's been there for over two years and Framingham is better known for its sizeable Brazilian population than for its food artisans) his 50 or so daily walk-in customers know they're extremely lucky to have him in the neighborhood.
Although I went to culinary school with Michael, I didn't officially meet him until after I finished when he started spending time with my roommate, who was also in culinary school with us. I knew him to be a baker - before culinary school, he had been building wood-fired ovens around the country and had already developed a reputation as a great baker.
I didn't see much of Michael after my roommate situation dissolved (long, sad story), though I popped into Sel de la Terre, where he was working, and chatted with him briefly about what he was doing (baking, mostly). I think that was sometime around early 2001.
Flash-forward seven years. Mom and I are sitting in a locavore-friendly restaurant in Cambridge having some of the best bread I've had in years (Chicago, sadly, doesn't have bread that even comes close to this). We ask the owner of the restaurant, who also happens to be our server, where the bread is from. "Oh," she says, "Its made by my husband's best friend. B&R - they have a bakery and retail space in Framingham."
Shocked that someone opened up a great bakery so close to my mom's house, I immediately get to googling when I get home. For the last two years there had been an artisan bakery almost in my mom's backyard, and we were only now figuring it out.
I stopped in on Michael the next day. After checking each other out with some uncertainty (I think we both looked rather different...or, at least he did, with some very chic oversized googly glasses perched on his nose), we shook hands. "Yeah, I thought I recognized you," he said, charitably.
We chatted a little about business, bakeries in Chicago (he had heard from Baker's Guild members that there was still lots of opportunity in Chicago), being one's own boss, long hours, and his new son who was no longer so new. I asked him if I could come back the next day to take photos. He agreed.
I arrived mid-morning the next day to take pictures. Michael was out and his wife didn't know that I was coming in. I didn't want to be obtrusive and take pictures in the bakery (had Michael been around I would have asked). I took as many photos as I could of the bread that was on display and the equipment in the front room.
B&R Artisan Bread
151 Cochituate Road
Framingham, MA 01701
(508) 370-7730
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