I know a lot of you were simultaneously happy and heartbroken when master baker Ben Hershberger moved to NYC to work for Thomas Keller and took his Old Town Farmers Market cult-fave chocolate cherry sourdough bread along with him. (And I know many of you still have a stash of loaves in your freezers!)
Take heart that a new vendor will be joining the market starting this Saturday, just in time to ease your carb-happy little selves: Essence Bakery.
Owner Eugenia Theodosopoulos tells me she'll be bringing fresh croissants (including chocolate and almond), brioche, and those to-die-for French macarons. Eventually, she'll be offering sandwiches as well.
And whom do we have to thank for this good news? In part, Bob McClendon.
"He's been telling me for a long time, 'You have to come over here, you have to come over here," Theodosopoulos says.