Take a look at MC.Farine's interview from last January. I think they make the best country levain bread in San Diego. Their bakery is about 30 miles north of San Diego, but they sell at many of the farmer's markets (Little Italy on Saturdays for instance).
Prager Brothers Carlsbad Bakery 5671 Palmer Way Suite J, Carlsbad, CA 92010 Tel: (760) 703-1904
My other long time favorite is Bread and Cie, in Hillcrest. They have a very comfortable cafe with a wide variety of breads, pastries and sandwiches. Their breads in the supermarkets are from their commercial bakery, and very good, but they are not from the ovens at the Hillcrest location. I particularly like the seeded sourdough baguettes, coated in poppy and anise seeds.
Another that might be worth a visit is Belen Bakery in Escondido.
It's worth noting that many of the bahn mi sandwich shops bake their own bread. I'm thinking of K Sandwiches http://www.ksandwiches.com/ in Kearny Mesa. The baguettes are not artisan, and are very light in texture and flavor, but great vehicles for the fillings.
There are some interesting Mexican bakeries as well, and tortillerias of course. Belen is a Mexican bakery but has some good French style breads.
As far as mexican bakeries go, if you don't mind heading into a sketchier part of town during the day, my favorite is Panchitas bakery down in barrio logan, right near where coronado bridge hits the city. Best pan dulce in San diego (IMHO). I have been trying for years to make pan dulce as tasty as they do, and I'm still not too close. Everything, especally the cuernos (they look like croissants with cookie dough wrapped up in them) and the classic conchas.
Paul,
Stan Ginsberg lives below San Diego, maybe you can see an early version of his new book.
Dwayne
I'll see if I can connect with Mr. Ginsberg.
Paul
Take a look at MC.Farine's interview from last January. I think they make the best country levain bread in San Diego. Their bakery is about 30 miles north of San Diego, but they sell at many of the farmer's markets (Little Italy on Saturdays for instance).
http://www.farine-mc.com/2014/01/meet-bakers-louie-and-clinton-prager.html
http://www.pragerbrothers.com
Prager Brothers Carlsbad Bakery
5671 Palmer Way Suite J, Carlsbad, CA 92010
Tel: (760) 703-1904
My other long time favorite is Bread and Cie, in Hillcrest. They have a very comfortable cafe with a wide variety of breads, pastries and sandwiches. Their breads in the supermarkets are from their commercial bakery, and very good, but they are not from the ovens at the Hillcrest location. I particularly like the seeded sourdough baguettes, coated in poppy and anise seeds.
http://www.breadandcie.com/
Another that might be worth a visit is Belen Bakery in Escondido.
It's worth noting that many of the bahn mi sandwich shops bake their own bread. I'm thinking of K Sandwiches http://www.ksandwiches.com/ in Kearny Mesa. The baguettes are not artisan, and are very light in texture and flavor, but great vehicles for the fillings.
There are some interesting Mexican bakeries as well, and tortillerias of course. Belen is a Mexican bakery but has some good French style breads.
As far as mexican bakeries go, if you don't mind heading into a sketchier part of town during the day, my favorite is Panchitas bakery down in barrio logan, right near where coronado bridge hits the city. Best pan dulce in San diego (IMHO). I have been trying for years to make pan dulce as tasty as they do, and I'm still not too close. Everything, especally the cuernos (they look like croissants with cookie dough wrapped up in them) and the classic conchas.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/panchitas-bakery-san-diego-3