La Brea Bakery’s Newest Dining Concept Inspired by Chef Nancy Silverton’s Award-Winning Mozza Restaurants

Chef Nancy Silverton creates the total dining exprience at her Mozza restaurants, and now La Brea Bakery offers home chefs the opportunity to re-create the restaurant experience at home with their new Antipasto Bread and Artisan Appetizers recipe ideas.

Los Angeles (Vocus) January 21, 2010

For the past 20 years, La Brea Bakery’s brand has been known for its deeply rooted origins in culinary craftsmanship, quality, and originality. With founder Chef Nancy Silverton’s expertise and input, La Brea Bakery has created Antipasto Bread, the essential ingredient in the exciting new dining concept Artisan Appetizers.

La Brea Bakery spent over one year in research and development creating Antipasto Breads - artisan loaves perfect in size and shape, with a crispy crust and soft interior crumb, to provide an optimal base for a variety of Artisan Appetizers just like the bruschetta and crostini that Chef Silverton is serving at her renowned Los Angeles restaurants Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza.

“Our intent at Osteria Mozza was to use mozzarella for appetizers like crostini, because bread has such great texture and adds texture and flavor to every dish, it made sense to build upon,” said Chef Silverton. “The Antipasto Bread is easy to handle and when toasted up, it has the appearance of a crusty loaf, but is much more user-friendly than traditional artisan breads.”

Famed Los Angeles Times food critic S. Irene Virbila, named her experience at Osteria Mozza’s mozzarella bar as one of her most memorable dining experiences of 2009. In her article, Ms. Virbila describes how watching Chef Silverton create “mozzarella magic” with her antipasti recipes takes her on a journey through Italy. It was these magical antipasti creations that inspired La Brea Bakery to create Antipasto Breads and Artisan Appetizers.

“We see Chef Silverton as a true pioneer, great at creating a total dining experience at her restaurants,” said Sigalle Feig, director of brand development at La Brea Bakery. “She’s also a big fan of encouraging people to venture into her concept using their own methods at home. Artisan Appetizers are all about simplification without compromise.”

In October, La Brea Bakery previewed Artisan Appetizers to rave reviews from 4,000 culinary industry leaders at the American Wine and Food Festival in Los Angeles. Since then, consumers have been just as enthusiastic about the new concept. Available in three versatile varieties Rustic Italian, Roasted Garlic, and Toasted Walnut and with over 100 recipes available on La Brea Bakery’s website the home chef is empowered to re-create a memorable restaurant quality meal in the comfort of their own kitchen.

Visit http://www.labreabakery.com/artisanappetizers for more information. To reproduce recipes or publish photos, please send requests to kbrucker (at) labreabakery (dot) com.

Founded in 1989 by a James Beard award-winning pastry chef, La Brea Bakery, Inc. is the leading US producer of par-baked artisan breads distributed to foodservice and grocery retail businesses. The company maintains ownership of its original flagship storefront in Los Angeles, CA, in addition to a casual dining restaurant in Anaheim, CA. Recognized for its commitment to offering only high-quality and authentic culinary experiences to consumers, La Brea Bakery is continually ranked as the No. 1 artisan bread brand in the country. La Brea Bakery is owned by Aryzta, AG, a global leader in specialty bakery brands. For more information, visit http://www.labreabakery.com.

####