The library can be a place of refuge, a temporary retreat from life’s stressors or a gateway to Libby, the audiobook app of my dreams. Sadly, Libby still doesn’t offer instant access to pastries. But the San Leandro Public Library is about to host the As Kneaded Café under its roof. By the end of February, or possibly sooner pending city inspections, Iliana Berkowitz’s San Leandro bakery will open a second location there. This time with a refurbished espresso machine along with the pastries, sandwiches and viennoiserie that have appeared at Bay Area farmers’ markets for the past decade.
Berkowitz described the expansion as a wonderful opportunity to extend the person-to-person service and hospitality that As Kneaded Bakery is known for. “Now people can come to the library and enter my side door before the library opens,” she said. “They can sit down, have a lavender latte, get a fresh-baked croissant from the bakery or they can come for lunch and have quiche and a salad, or one of our Parisian sandwiches.”
Pre-library opening, I dropped by As Kneaded Bakery for the first time this month. I was lured in by a photo of those Parisian sandwiches. That day I chose the tuna on baguette over the vegetarian chickpea. I once ordered a tuna sandwich in Paris. It was served not on a baguette but on a huge round bun that was closer to, but not exactly, brioche. The fish was brined in olive oil and paired with olives. I’d never tasted anything so briny and salty, and so clearly influenced by Mediterranean flavors. As Kneaded’s very American tuna salad sandwich is much less potent, but still comforting and familiar…