Grand Central: the Como loaf on Hawthorne, any day of the week

Across a lot of Southeast, good bread has turned into a Saturday thing, so buying a loaf at Grand Central on a Tuesday feels a little like cheating. The Hawthorne café has the Como on the rack on weekdays too. Grand Central started in Seattle in 1989, when Gwen Bassetti bet that people were ready for a crusty, hand-formed Italian loaf inspired by Carol Field and a European memory, and in 1993 her son Ben Davis opened the Portland shop in a remodeled nursery building at 2230 Southeast Hawthorne. There are other Grand Centrals in Portland, but this is the original, near Ladd's, where the pale, flour-dusted Como is stacked right within reach.

The remodeled café pairs modern lines with vintage bakery decor, warm wood, an old-style bread rack and pastry trays under lights. It sits next to Talarico's produce stand and has its own parking, which is rare in close-in Southeast, and getting bread and vegetables in one stop makes it easy to plan a weeknight dinner around the visit. The company was built on the Como, a pale Italian loaf with a crusty outside and a crumb tight enough for sandwiches. If the Como is gone, ask for the peasant levain or the darker Italian loaves, and golden braided challah is on the weekly schedule. These are everyday breads, the kind people actually finish.

The pastry and sandwiches are what make it a café, with morning pastries, breakfast sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, and a Sasquatch-level sausage order if you're there for lunch. They're a fine bonus, though the bread is why you come. You can walk in at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, check the rack and leave with a loaf, and online ordering is open until 3 p.m. for same-day pickup, so weekday bread is easy.

The map calls this area Hosford-Abernethy, locals call it Ladd's Addition, and if you live in the addition you can walk the loaf home. Other Grand Centrals in Woodstock, Sellwood, Beaumont, Multnomah Village and elsewhere in Portland sell the same bread, but if it's your first time, start on Hawthorne, because it's the original Portland shop and it feels like a neighborhood bakery even with a wholesale operation behind it. Hours are roughly 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, and weekend mornings are busier because Hawthorne is busier, but the ovens run all week.

A lot of beloved bakeries reward the people who show up early and a little anxious. Grand Central is the reliable one, where you go when you need to feed people tonight and can't risk an empty basket. Get the Como, a challah near the end of the week, or an Italian loaf if you're setting a table, and then walk it toward Ladd's or put it in the car.

The short version lives on the Grand Central Bakery page.