Special sourdough starter is a key to LeBoulanger's success
By Suzanne Cristallo
LeBoulanger in Los Gatos is a bakery with a history. Its "sponge," which is the foamy yeast starter needed to make sourdough rise, has been passed on for decades. A little clump of dough is taken from each day's batch. It is passed to the next batch in a generational progression that keeps the dough for LeBoulanger's prize-winning sourdough consistent. In a similar vein, the bakery itself has been passed from one generation of Brunellos to the next.
The family history started in 1922 with the emigration of Paul Brunello from Traviso, Italy, to the small Northern California town of Weed. There he started a bakery just four years later, tending it with the help of each subsequent child until 1957, when he moved his family and his business to Palo Alto.
He called the new company El Real Bakery. His son Roger joined him soon after graduating from Santa Clara University and helped arrange a merger with Stemple's Bakery in San Francisco. Later, the Brunellos were bought out by Pepsi Cola, which renamed Stemple's La Petite Boulangerie.
In 1981, Roger, as CEO with four other partners, created LeBoulanger. He was joined by his brother Dan, a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, who became company president in 1981 as the new bakery opened its doors in Los Altos. They were in turn joined by their cousin Larry Ceccato, who became director of sales in 1982.
Today, the corporation owns 16 stores, with another five under franchise. Roger's son Scott, who earned his business and finance degree from Santa Clara University, joined the family-owned business as its chief financial officer and executive vice president in 1987.
The Los Gatos store was the second of the chain to open in 1983. It was originally in the building now occupied by the Delizioso deli on N. Santa Cruz Avenue. After the 1989 earthquake, a totally renovated building in the Park Plaza opened its doors in 1993 with LeBoulanger as its first tenant.
Managed by Anna Martinez, the local bakery cafe offers 20 varieties of breads baked fresh daily in its big, stainless steel ovens. Dough leavened by the company's famous sourdough starter is trucked in fresh and oven-ready each morning from the home plant in Sunnyvale. Besides sourdough bread, LeBoulanger offers hearth or "artisan" bread, which is hand-formed before baking, and a dark, dense pan oliva. There's also ciabatta, which bakes in an unusual form.
A new feature is the omelet sandwich for breakfast lovers, which complements the variety of filled croissants and danishes, cinnamon rolls and muffins. This month's featured muffin is old-fashioned peach cobbler.
"We're really classing it up," says corporate marketing rep Allan Gerston of the recently added "gourmet sandwiches" and pizzas.
The cafe now offers pizzas with a hand-made ciabatta crust. They include the Firenze with four cheeses, pesto, basil and plum tomatoes; the Monte Carlo with three cheeses, spinach, sun-dried and plum tomatoes, garlic and spices; the San Francisco with two cheeses, smoked gouda, barbecue chicken, scallions and spices; and the Toscana with mozzarella, provolone and bleu cheeses, spinach, bacon, spices and plum tomatoes. A nine-inch pie runs $9.95 or a half-pie with salad is $7.95.
There are also hot sandwiches such as chicken breast, turkey and pesto sausage (a half-size runs $3.95), soups, salads, a full espresso bar and fresh juices.
LeBoulanger, 145 W. Main St., Los Gatos. Open Mon-Sat. 6 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m.-6 p.m. 408.395.1344 or www.losgatosweb.com.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
