Helena Avenue Bakery – Good Bread in the Best Place

“How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?" - Julia Child

Bread is important.

Pastry is supremely important.

And a good bakery is the cornerstone of civilization.

At least to me.

So when I heard a new bakery was opening in Santa Barbara, I was delighted. For a city the size of mine, we are woefully short of enough bakeries. Yes, we have a few very good ones, but more is always better, and location is everything.

Housed in an industrial warehouse building and retrofitted to be hip and trendy the  Helena Avenue Bakery is the latest addition to an ongoing stunning change to the Funk Zone, a former unsightly industrial area two blocks from the beach. There are multiple tasting rooms, Figueroa Mountain Brewery, a distillery, art galleries and multiple places for food, like Mexican street food at Money’s, to food trucks to Seven Bar & Kitchen, Lucky Penny and The Lark - these last two owned and operated by Sherry Villanueva, who started the bakery. “Having a bakery was a logical progression for us,” Sherry Villanueva told me when I stopped in. “It’s exciting to see the growth in high quality businesses opening up in the Funk Zone. The need for a wholesome bakery that appeals to people of all ages became quite clear to us as the neighborhood continues to unfold.”

And the Funk Zone is unfolding rapidly and smartly. “We are trying to build a sense of neighborhood,” Sherry says. “It's not about making a quick buck, It's about building the long-term relationships.” Helena Avenue Bakery serves as a wholesale bakery providing custom-baked goods for Lucky Penny, The Lark, Les Marchands and other coffee shops and restaurants throughout Santa Barbara. What’s cool is that now it’s open for retail, via a shared door of the Santa Barbara Wine Collective. And Helena Avenue Bakery has a two pronged approach: bakery and picnic lunches. The bakery offers various quiche selections with a deftly crispy crust; baguettes; walnut batards; ciabatta bread not to mention egg croissants with arugula pesto and prosciutto; apricot-thyme croissants; and cookies including their rich peanut butter.

But there is also The Picnic Counter offering prepared foods for take-away like house pickled veggies; couscous salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumber and feta cheese; Brussels sprouts Caesar salad; focaccia with roasted corn, pasilla peppers, queso fresco and cilantro; and fried chicken sandwich on ciabatta.

These foods are ideal for dining on-site, or heading the scant two blocks to the beach or picnics around the Santa Barbara area. Open 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily, bread is now king in the Funk Zone! So check it out, eat up and enjoy some of the best of Santa Barbara.