A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
WPC: Taylor Cuts the Bread Commute
The Washington City Paper's lead story is on restaurants who import their bread from out of town. Apparently Taylor is now using a local source, instead of Sarcone's in Philadelphia. I didn't notice. Did you?
Totally noticed this last week, new bread has a softer crust. It was always a tradeoff having the Sarcone's bread - which is incredible - but having it essentially a day old.
It'd be nice if they offered the option for a soft or hard roll now that they won't be serving the signature bread.
I noticed a difference too, but not enough to be convinced it was a different source. There was always some variation among the old bread anyway. This one looked different, but tasted about the same, and its softness was about the same as some of Sarcone's softer batches. So hey, I guess it was possible after all to not import bread and keep the same good product
I didn't notice a taste difference, but I did notice that my jaw didn't ache like it usually does after devouring a Taylor hoagie. I hope they keep the current bread vendor.
Little put-off since they made the change in Sept and still tout "All bread comes from the legendary Sarcone's Bakery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania" 5 months later. I'll skip my next visit for the lapse in integrity. For shame.
good. taking in stale bread from philadelphia, simply so they could say they were taking in bread from *philadelphia* was stupid and didn't add anything.
it was kind of a similar concept of how serving from a food truck gives this placebo effect that food is better simply because it comes out of a truck. The same food from a brick and mortar would be considered good but not fall out of your chair gushingly good like when "foodies" rave about anything out of a truck. I think Taylor fans had such boners for this place because they heard gasp! *they import the bread from philadelphia!* when in reality it's the vendor and not the city that the bread is made in that defines the quality
There are places that sell rolls with a harder outside, obviously, because Litteri's uses them for their 9" hoagies.
um, yea. the bread wasn't better because it was from philadelphia, it was better because it was from sarcone's. still philly had better bread. it's not like theyre touting the name of their new vendor.
I asked them about this a couple months ago because I noticed the sandwiches were slightly smaller. The cook told me that they were ``trying a different bread'' I followed up a couple weeks later and was told they had switched to a local supplier. Either way the taste is pretty much the same to me. Also it seemed sort of environmentally wasteful to truck in bread from Philly everyday.
i remember when this philly bread debate presented itself before, people would try to claim that the intricacies of baking would prevent a decent representation of sarcone's bread from being made outside of philly. now the bread is not the same obviously, but it is close enough to the point that it doesnt diminish the product aside from maybe making it smaller
Yeah, honestly, I never liked the bread at Taylors. Thought it was stupid to import bread from another city. I like the bread at Litteris so there are good local bakeries. I may try Taylor again now that they have a different bread.
I know it's not as simple as where the final product comes from, but local sourcing seems like a more sustainable and community oriented way to do bread. I'm sure Sarcone's was the shizzle, but let's give our locals a chance to shine and save a few gallons of petroleum.
my parents live two blocks from sarcones, they bring it down every time they visit. its great bread and much better than anything i've had in this city - sorry, i know its annoying for locals, but i'm afraid its true. however, it doesn't stay fresh over 24 hours, many sandwiches i've had a taylors the bread was on the way downhill - it gets tougher as the hours go by. in the end, i never thought the sarcones delivery method was sustainable (from a bizness perspective), so i'm cool w/ it. but they should take the signs down.
How bout Really taking it up a notch and making your own bread! Now That would really make u standout from the rest And follow the 'green',the 'local' philosophies and alleviate the staleness. BTW never really understand how the bread is the 'best',yet everyone states that it was stale and hurt your jaw to chew it...doesn't quite make sense.
Umm, the reason this place is successful is not the bread. Don't get me wrong Taylor makes a good product, but mostly it is because Casey and David are ambitious (and nice guys) and freaking awesome at marketing. They came up with a good concept but it was their ability to market the concept and convince both early customers and the press that their concept was novel, different, and "the best sandwich in DC" that has made them successful. When these guys opened on H St. they put on a media blitz and basically wrote the stories for the press. Two friends from Philly who were homesick for their favorite food from home ... authentic product straight from the source... open store in a blighted neighborhood ... live above the store together... green architecture using reused items ... it goes on and on. They got coverage in both Washington newspapers in the first month and not just in the food section but also in the style section. They were in Time Out New York and architecture magazines and real estate magazines. They were burning up the phones selling their concept. Good for them, but don't kid yourself ... this was never about the bread (except the green kind that they are counting as they open their 4th store). Couldn't happen to a nicer couple of marketing geniuses.
Beyond jsut making a good product, it is also a fairly unique product. Who else makes anything like the chicken cutlet and pork sandwiches? It is also unique because they didnt use the "soft sub roll" that almost everybody else uses (and that Litteri's has as an option). If all of those soft sub rolls do not come from the same place, then its crappiness is easy to mimick
Anon 1:59 is correct. Philly blows. The only thing I support there is Michael Vick and now that the Eagles are out of the playoffs, that city is dead to me. Grasping for relevance via mediocre bread is so sad.
I guess you don't realize that when you say "the only thing I support there is Michael Vick", you cause people to laugh at everything else you say, regardless of whether or not it's correct.
Passing off their current bread as Sarcone's is misleading, regardless of what you think of the bread. It was (and is) a key part of their marketing as a "genuine" Philly sub shop.
Leaving up the Sarcone's signs and refusing to publicize that they have changed vendors is a bad idea. All it takes is one unhappy customer, a lawyer with a little spare time, and a quick glance at the D.C. consumer protection act and they could be on the wrong end of a big enough money judgment.
That aside, the oddly colored ham I got once was a bigger turn off to me than the change in bread.
I guess you don't realize that when you say "the only thing I support there is Michael Vick", you cause people to laugh at everything else you say, regardless of whether or not it's correct.
He did his (ridculous amount of) time. Get over it. I hope he wins the SuperBowl next year just to spite stupid people like you.
It's more about the principle, and that Taylor misled people for a while. Customers are forgiving, by and large. I'm surprised we haven't seen a statement from them (unless I missed it) apologizing for misleading...
...or even a non-apology apology "sorry for the confusion"...
But till they at least acknowledge this dishonesty, I imagine at least a few people will be PO'd enough to not visit, out of principle
28 comments:
Totally noticed this last week, new bread has a softer crust. It was always a tradeoff having the Sarcone's bread - which is incredible - but having it essentially a day old.
It'd be nice if they offered the option for a soft or hard roll now that they won't be serving the signature bread.
I noticed a difference too, but not enough to be convinced it was a different source. There was always some variation among the old bread anyway. This one looked different, but tasted about the same, and its softness was about the same as some of Sarcone's softer batches. So hey, I guess it was possible after all to not import bread and keep the same good product
I didn't notice a taste difference, but I did notice that my jaw didn't ache like it usually does after devouring a Taylor hoagie. I hope they keep the current bread vendor.
Yeah i noticed a difference. I like the old vendor better, but agree with the other poster it was a jaw workout.
Little put-off since they made the change in Sept and still tout "All bread comes from the legendary Sarcone's Bakery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania" 5 months later. I'll skip my next visit for the lapse in integrity. For shame.
good. taking in stale bread from philadelphia, simply so they could say they were taking in bread from *philadelphia* was stupid and didn't add anything.
it was kind of a similar concept of how serving from a food truck gives this placebo effect that food is better simply because it comes out of a truck. The same food from a brick and mortar would be considered good but not fall out of your chair gushingly good like when "foodies" rave about anything out of a truck. I think Taylor fans had such boners for this place because they heard gasp! *they import the bread from philadelphia!* when in reality it's the vendor and not the city that the bread is made in that defines the quality
There are places that sell rolls with a harder outside, obviously, because Litteri's uses them for their 9" hoagies.
um, yea. the bread wasn't better because it was from philadelphia, it was better because it was from sarcone's. still philly had better bread. it's not like theyre touting the name of their new vendor.
not using sarcone's is a bad idea....
I asked them about this a couple months ago because I noticed the sandwiches were slightly smaller. The cook told me that they were ``trying a different bread'' I followed up a couple weeks later and was told they had switched to a local supplier. Either way the taste is pretty much the same to me. Also it seemed sort of environmentally wasteful to truck in bread from Philly everyday.
I look forward to trying the new bread. I always thought the other bread was way too hard.
I'm pretty sure Litteri's bread comes from Catania Bakery on N. Capitol.
I'm glad they are more local now-- importing bread from Philly never seemed to jive with the green vibe they have going. Kudos.
i remember when this philly bread debate presented itself before, people would try to claim that the intricacies of baking would prevent a decent representation of sarcone's bread from being made outside of philly. now the bread is not the same obviously, but it is close enough to the point that it doesnt diminish the product aside from maybe making it smaller
Yeah, honestly, I never liked the bread at Taylors. Thought it was stupid to import bread from another city. I like the bread at Litteris so there are good local bakeries. I may try Taylor again now that they have a different bread.
There is no good bread south of Philly. the best seems to be in the Newark NJ to NYC area. its the wuda.
I know it's not as simple as where the final product comes from, but local sourcing seems like a more sustainable and community oriented way to do bread. I'm sure Sarcone's was the shizzle, but let's give our locals a chance to shine and save a few gallons of petroleum.
I didn't notice, but I never understood the hype about the bread to begin with because I didn't think it was particularly good.
my parents live two blocks from sarcones, they bring it down every time they visit. its great bread and much better than anything i've had in this city - sorry, i know its annoying for locals, but i'm afraid its true. however, it doesn't stay fresh over 24 hours, many sandwiches i've had a taylors the bread was on the way downhill - it gets tougher as the hours go by. in the end, i never thought the sarcones delivery method was sustainable (from a bizness perspective), so i'm cool w/ it. but they should take the signs down.
philly dan
atwaters bakery is pretty great.
How bout Really taking it up a notch and making your own bread! Now That would really make u standout from the rest And follow the 'green',the 'local' philosophies and alleviate the staleness. BTW never really understand how the bread is the 'best',yet everyone states that it was stale and hurt your jaw to chew it...doesn't quite make sense.
Umm, the reason this place is successful is not the bread. Don't get me wrong Taylor makes a good product, but mostly it is because Casey and David are ambitious (and nice guys) and freaking awesome at marketing. They came up with a good concept but it was their ability to market the concept and convince both early customers and the press that their concept was novel, different, and "the best sandwich in DC" that has made them successful. When these guys opened on H St. they put on a media blitz and basically wrote the stories for the press. Two friends from Philly who were homesick for their favorite food from home ... authentic product straight from the source... open store in a blighted neighborhood ... live above the store together... green architecture using reused items ... it goes on and on. They got coverage in both Washington newspapers in the first month and not just in the food section but also in the style section. They were in Time Out New York and architecture magazines and real estate magazines. They were burning up the phones selling their concept. Good for them, but don't kid yourself ... this was never about the bread (except the green kind that they are counting as they open their 4th store). Couldn't happen to a nicer couple of marketing geniuses.
Beyond jsut making a good product, it is also a fairly unique product. Who else makes anything like the chicken cutlet and pork sandwiches? It is also unique because they didnt use the "soft sub roll" that almost everybody else uses (and that Litteri's has as an option). If all of those soft sub rolls do not come from the same place, then its crappiness is easy to mimick
The real story here their sketchiness with regard to change.
Hopefully Sarconnes isn't litigious.
I always love when Philly people have this pride in their bread. It's kind of sad, as it seems there is nothing else to be proud of from Philly.
And the truth is, the bread really isn't any better.
Sorry Philly Dan.
Anon 1:59 is correct. Philly blows. The only thing I support there is Michael Vick and now that the Eagles are out of the playoffs, that city is dead to me. Grasping for relevance via mediocre bread is so sad.
I guess you don't realize that when you say "the only thing I support there is Michael Vick", you cause people to laugh at everything else you say, regardless of whether or not it's correct.
Passing off their current bread as Sarcone's is misleading, regardless of what you think of the bread. It was (and is) a key part of their marketing as a "genuine" Philly sub shop.
Leaving up the Sarcone's signs and refusing to publicize that they have changed vendors is a bad idea. All it takes is one unhappy customer, a lawyer with a little spare time, and a quick glance at the D.C. consumer protection act and they could be on the wrong end of a big enough money judgment.
That aside, the oddly colored ham I got once was a bigger turn off to me than the change in bread.
I guess you don't realize that when you say "the only thing I support there is Michael Vick", you cause people to laugh at everything else you say, regardless of whether or not it's correct.
He did his (ridculous amount of) time. Get over it. I hope he wins the SuperBowl next year just to spite stupid people like you.
It's more about the principle, and that Taylor misled people for a while. Customers are forgiving, by and large. I'm surprised we haven't seen a statement from them (unless I missed it) apologizing for misleading...
...or even a non-apology apology "sorry for the confusion"...
But till they at least acknowledge this dishonesty, I imagine at least a few people will be PO'd enough to not visit, out of principle
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