Best Italian Bread
STAFF PICK: Some of the best Italian loaves this side of the Via Veneto you'll find at Le Joyeux. Head baker Ron Colaneri believes in hand-rolled sourdoughs. The bread kitchen at Le Joyeux's plant, 4500 E. Speedway, provides a nose-twisting experience. Scent of citrus peel, cardamom and caraway wafts from fresh baked goods by the hundreds coming from state-of-the-art ovens. Off in the prep area, the myriad of starters Colaneri and his staff use to make each different batch of sourdough rise in sealed containers. Open one of these, and you'd think fine wine or small--batch bourbon was in the works. One of their starters, which Colaneri names "Nanook," comes from a starter born in Alaska in the 1890s, which Colaneri carried cross-country from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. The daily breads include the usual, long French loaves and others you're likely to see elsewhere. But you'll also find pugliese, the larger version of which comes from the oven sounding like a bowl of Rice Crispies as the dainty, thin crust cools to make a mosaic of gold skin. One of the most deeply flavored of all Le Joyeux's regular breads is the rye, a dense ball of yielding, compact texture, which comes closest to the sweet-fragrant-sour of New York rye natives hold in memory. Maybe it's the goat's milk. Maybe it's the way Colaneri pats each loaf as it goes in the pan. Le Joyeaux also makes special breads for Christmas and Easter. Most of Colaneri's bread is found at local restaurants. Retail orders are available by phone and at Daniel's Restaurant with one day's notice.
