The Pittsburgh Dish

033 Erika Bruce: Crafting Cakes and Community at Third Space Bakery

• Doug Heilman • Season 1 • Episode 33

Share episode

(00:55) What does it take to craft the perfect rustic pastry and build a thriving worker-owned cooperative bakery? Join us on this episode of The Pittsburgh Dish as we chat with Erika Bruce, the passionate co-owner of Third Space Bakery in Garfield, Pittsburgh. Erika shares the unique journey behind the bakery's inception, their commitment to seasonal and local ingredients, and the exciting, ever-rotating menu that keeps their loyal customers coming back for more. From mouth-watering quiches and galettes to hearty focaccia and sandwiches, there's something for everyone at Third Space Bakery.

We also explore the innovative cooperative model that sets Third Space Bakery apart. Erika explains the collaborative decision-making process that shapes the bakery. Plus, Erika sheds light on the vital role community support has played in their success and shares valuable lessons learned that could inspire aspiring cooperative businesses.

(11:59) Finally, Erika takes us through her personal culinary journey—from a picky eater to a devoted pastry chef. We discuss her transformative time in various bakeries and food media career with Boston-based giants. We end with a look forward to exciting plans for the business's future, which may include adding a wood-fired oven for community events. 

(31:59) Plus, a Regent Square recommendation from Julie Engelbrecht and a simplified tortilla soup recipe from listener Jon Hinojosa. Don't miss this episode, filled with heartwarming stories, delectable recipes, and a deep sense of community spirit!

Support the show

Liked the episode? We'd love a coffee!

Doug:

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman, for a bakery business open in less than six months. What has been one of the best parts for this co-owner? We'll learn about it from this week's guest. If you're looking for good fare over in Regent Square, Girl Eats Burgh serves up a recommendation. Serves up a recommendation and as we're getting ready for soup season, we have a tortilla soup that will also help finish up the produce from your late summer garden. All that ahead, stay tuned. Thanks for listening to The Pittsburgh Dish. If you like what we're doing, we would love you to support the show. You can sign up for as little as $3, $5, $8, or $10 a month. Just go to our website at www. pittsburghdish. com and look for the support button. Thanks, now onto the show. Thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show. Would you introduce yourself and what you have going on right now in the world of food?

Erika:

Introduce yourself and what you have going on right now in the world of food. Sure, hi, yeah, thanks for having me, doug. My name is Erika Bruce. I am one of the co-owners of Third Space Bakery, which is definitely what I have going on at the moment.

Doug:

Yes, yeah, and we should remind listeners we actually had one of your other co-owners on Beth Taylor a few months back, so the bakery's been open for just over six months now Not quite.

Erika:

We're in our fifth month, I believe. Okay, all right, yeah, we opened April 12th, 4-12. Yeah, oh yeah, 4-12, 4-12 day, how?

Doug:

great for Pittsburgh. I love it and it's located over in the Garfield neighborhood right along Penn Avenue. If folks have not visited Third Space yet, how would you describe your offerings Like? What do you think you guys are known for already?

Erika:

Uh, we do offer a lot of other, I would say more rustic style pastries. Uh, we also do have cakes, though, and you know trifles and mousses. We do not do croissants. We get a lot of requests for that.

Doug:

Okay, we do not do croissants no, laminated dough no laminated dough.

Erika:

We just don't have the space really.

Erika:

Cause you're doing everything there, oh yeah, everything's made scratch fresh that week, like, yeah, we definitely, we definitely use as many seasonal the produce as we can. And that's like my favorite part of the job is what? What do we get this week? What do we can? You know, it's turning, it's changing into fall now and it's really exciting because we have a whole new crop of things to cook with. So we usually rotate our quiche flavor and our galette flavor. We have a baker's choice loaf, we have, you know, focaccia that we top with seasonal ingredients. So I think that makes it really fun and we're, you know, trying to source from as many local purveyors as possible.

Doug:

When you mentioned the quiche and some of the other items. Somebody can walk in and have like a breakfast or a light lunch and also grab a bread. Or take a look at the pastry case for the day Lots of cookies.

Erika:

Yes, exactly, we are trying to expand our lunch offerings as well. Right now we just do. We have two sandwiches we offer a vegetarian, sometimes vegan, sandwich and then a meat sandwich and we call it the Dippy and the T-Rex. We're developing a breakfast sandwich right now and working on like a homemade granola yogurt parfait type thing. But again, you know we are still very new and it's you know, we've been working on getting staffed and, you know, having the time and bandwidth to be able to create new offerings. But yeah, we're only open until two and we usually have like a pretty good breakfast rush or crowd in the morning and then we definitely get a later people coming in for lunch.

Doug:

And right now, just remind us what days are you open?

Erika:

right now. We're open Thursday through Sunday.

Doug:

Okay.

Erika:

Yeah, and then right now it's Thursday, Friday, Saturday eight to two and Sunday nine to two.

Doug:

All right, and that could change sometime in the future with the staffing and all of that, all of the things. But you use those first few days of the week Monday, tuesday, wednesday to kind of recharge, restock, rebake.

Erika:

Yeah Well, Monday's our day off.

Doug:

Well, thank goodness.

Erika:

You should have it.

Doug:

Yeah, it's our sacred day off and then, yeah, production starts on Tuesday. When you were mentioning about having new produce and new items, who are some of the local partners that you are really loving to work?

Erika:

with. Well, we right now. We just started ordering from Three Rivers Grown.

Doug:

Yes.

Erika:

And that's been fabulous. They send out sort of like a listing menu of sorts every Friday and you know we jump on that and look at for like whatever new thing has come out.

Doug:

This is like produce.

Erika:

Yeah, they do produce. They do some dairy. We just started getting eggs from them, so I think they're also trying to expand their repertoire, so they've been great. We also partner with Frankferd. Farms is where we get all of our flour from, and they're like located up in Saxonburg.

Doug:

Yeah, so these are all like locally grown grains for the sourdough.

Erika:

Yeah, if they don't grow it and mill it themselves, they'll get it from somewhere pretty close by and mill it yeah.

Doug:

So people can sort of just trust that they're still supporting local even when they're just going to your bakery. That the support is is much further.

Erika:

Yeah, definitely, definitely yeah. And we get all kinds of cool flours, like we have a kamut loaf.

Doug:

We use buckwheat flour and a lot of things, spelt flour, so some some more unusual, you know things that people might want to come in and try out. You do more of more of the pastry pastry. Yeah Right, and weren't you doing? Um, maybe it was brownies with a rye flour or a cookie. This is sort of an angle you do.

Erika:

Yeah, oh, definitely it was a chocolate chip.

Doug:

Oh yeah, rye cookie.

Erika:

Uh, and then Chloe has actually a chocolate rye brownie that we sell at the market, the Bloomfield Market.

Doug:

We should take just a moment and talk about the owners right now too, since we're mentioning Chloe. So you are coming from a pastry background and a lot of other things, so we'll talk about that. Beth Taylor, who was on the show a few months back, does the teaching kitchen, which we haven't even gone into, and sort of front of the house items events. And then Chloe Newman she came from a bread baking journey herself called Crustworthy, and so she's sort of in charge of a lot of that. That bread component, yep, the bread department, absolutely the department.

Erika:

The department yeah, we're department heads now.

Doug:

Exactly, I love this, so I wanted to ask, since it's not quite six months, what's been going well, because I'm sure there's a lot of like oh, darn it.

Erika:

It's definitely been a journey. Um, it has been an exhausting journey. I think that I'm finally at the point now where I'm catching my breath a little bit Um, which feels really good. But I think the best part of all of it has been the local um reception that we've gotten from our neighbors and we have the most amazing regulars and they come in every day and I just find that so gratifying, like the, the fact that people come in every day come back at the same time every week, or whatever.

Erika:

To me that's a testament that you know we're doing something right.

Doug:

You are definitely doing many things right, yeah, so.

Erika:

I mean it's hard. It's really hard because it's really hard not to stress about money. Yeah, and overhead.

Doug:

Yeah.

Erika:

And so I try to sometimes step back a little bit and just acknowledge that and appreciate that and that people really appreciate us being in that neighborhood. I don't think that there's been a bakery there for a really long time.

Doug:

In Garfield, in Garfield.

Erika:

And also just what we wanted to be was a gathering space.

Doug:

We've got this wonderful outdoor space and the patio is amazing. I mean, we're recording right now in September and the weather couldn't be better to go over and grab something and sit outside and just hang out for a while. A couple of nice umbrellas.

Erika:

You know, I mean, eventually we're going to definitely develop that space and have more seating and all that. It's just really nice if people bring their kids and their dogs and they hang out. They'll hang out for hours, yeah, ride their bikes over, you know, so that feels really cool.

Doug:

And that is the sort of the definition of a third space. Right, the home and work are your first and second spaces, so you just want a hangout space, right? You had mentioned and I think Beth had educated us a little bit on the term cooperative, and so this model is you're all co-owners and you're sort of encouraging others that join in that they could also ultimately become part of that.

Erika:

Yeah, exactly yeah, and it's optional because we realize that not everybody is interested in making that kind of investment and you know we haven't gotten to that point yet. But yeah, definitely, hopefully by the time we're about a year in, I'm hoping that we have some other co-owners on board.

Doug:

Okay, so nobody has sort of come into the ownership cooperative yet, but how many employees have you staffed up to now?

Erika:

Right now, I would say, regular full-time people are about 10.

Jon:

Wow, yeah, and a couple of extras.

Erika:

Well, we have extras that come in and work on the workshops as well, but they're very part-time, so between 10 and 15. Okay, yeah, I know it's kind of crazy, it is.

Doug:

I mean, not only you're making your way the three of you are making your way of your own business, but you're really creating an opportunity for a lot of other people.

Erika:

Yeah, yeah.

Erika:

Once people, if they opt to buy in, then they'll have a vote you know, everybody gets one vote and can make decisions on directions that the business is going to go into and day-to-day operational decisions as well. So there aren't a lot. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of models in Pittsburgh at the moment. We've had to sort of go further. There are a lot of bakeries out in California. There are a lot of bakeries in Michigan that operate on this model. But we're hoping that we can sort of set an example and we had a lot of people reach out to talk to us about how a worker-owned cooperative operates, because there's different types of cooperatives and I think that can be confusing because the East End Co-op is a different model.

Doug:

Yes. We talked to Tyler C ulp of the east end. Oh, okay, okay, so you know, okay, so, yeah, they do have there's a democracy to it, but there could be a different setup of ownership right and so that you said it's more of like a customer buy-in right um, and that has its own set of like perks and rewards.

Erika:

But yeah, worker owner is a little people are a little less familiar with that you're trailblazers.

Doug:

I love that. I so appreciate that you've found that. It's the support from the community that's been like a great motivator for you. Definitely. Has there been any other surprise out of the first five or six months that you're like. I didn't see that coming.

Erika:

That's a really good question. I think I really enjoyed the planning process Like immensely, like learning how to set up the business, run the business, get the funding and then we had to do a build out and a design and thinking about and problem solving all of those aspects about how theoretically the business was going to run is very different than how a business actually runs. And then, like all of the fires and the issues you have to deal with day to day, my biggest hurdle, I think for me has been communication and whether that's because it could be because we are dealing with a worker owned model and we have different people in charge of different things but no one's in charge of all of it, right.

Doug:

And so Like. A general manager doesn't exist in your exactly and you know a single owner that says my vote is the final word.

Erika:

Right or makes those decisions. Sometimes it's really hard for us to make a final decision because we just will have discussions and then people will think about it and then but there's nobody. That's like pulling the trigger on this and I know, I know from my I've had a lot of experience working in bakeries and restaurants that yeah, that stuff, stuff happens every day that you just have to deal with.

Doug:

Well, number one I appreciate you sharing that, because I think that's the reality, that when folks are maybe aspiring to do what you're doing, they don't have that insight. And I also think, since so many folks are reaching out to you about this worker owner model, this is a whole new lesson that you're learning that you could share with others and you're going to make it better for somebody else.

Erika:

Yeah, hopefully, yeah, yeah.

Doug:

So, erica, sounds like all good lessons, all good things happening. You know, I had a curious question, something I think I heard either from you directly or one of your coworkers. You are in charge of pastry and you're in charge of the cakes. Did I hear that you don't love cake? Like that's not your go-to.

Erika:

I don't really like to eat sweets. I just don't like how sugar makes me feel or I don't really have a craving for it. I did when I was younger. I mean chocolate was like my favorite food group, but I don't know. I don't know if it's because I've worked with it for so long. I love bread, don't get me wrong.

Jon:

I can eat bread all day.

Erika:

It's like the only thing that I lived on. But yeah, no, I just don't have a sweet tooth at all.

Doug:

I was going to say you're probably in the best place to be because you're not going to gouge into your profits, but if you do like bread, maybe I'm wrong.

Erika:

Well, yeah, we get a free loaf at the end of each day. That seems to keep me well stocked. Yeah, one of the perks. One of the many perks. Yeah, I'm a kind of person that's going to order a cheese plate for dessert. Oh yeah.

Doug:

You know, Erika, before I get too far away from all the pastry that you do, which is your specialty cause, you just made my birthday cake and it was amazing chocolate. What was the icing? It was marshmallow.

Erika:

It was like a seven minute icing. It's like a meringue icing.

Doug:

Yeah, like a Swiss meringue, but not a buttercream.

Erika:

No, buttercream, no, it was delicious.

Doug:

So good. I'm glad you liked it. Are there savory things that you love to make, like when you're not doing cakes and pastry? Is there any like savory dish that you're making all the time, that you're really good at and you love it, or the kids love it?

Erika:

Yeah, I mean, I love making pizza, you do yeah, you know, make my own crust and everyone gets to top their own pizza.

Doug:

They sort of come up with their own.

Erika:

Yeah, so we can do like individualized pizzas, but I love making pizza, that's perfect.

Doug:

Yeah, what are your favorite toppings I?

Erika:

love A white pizza. I especially love like a ricotta pizza with like a spicy sausage. Oh yes, and like banana peppers.

Doug:

Oh yeah.

Erika:

And basil yeah.

Doug:

I'll have a slice of that. Yeah, can we go back a little bit to your growing up life? As you said, you may have liked sweets. You know as a youngster what was food life like growing growing up? Did you cook at an early age? Did people cook for you? Were you picky or adventurous?

Erika:

I was such a picky eater really, yeah, and I didn't really. I mean, my mom always cooked for us but I didn't really get into cooking myself, honestly, to like home ec back when home.

Erika:

Ec was a thing in high school.

Erika:

In high school, yeah, I remember learning how to make like we made fried rice and then we made a coffee cake and then I would go home and just make that recipe over and over. Didn't really start to discover or start to appreciate food until I was in college I was lucky enough to go to school in montreal. Oh wow, oh yeah. So then it was like all of a sudden this awakening, because I kind of grew up in the, you know, in the burbs.

Doug:

Let's just kind of chime in here. You grew up in Boston.

Erika:

Well, outside of Boston, the South Shore, Duxbury.

Doug:

Okay.

Erika:

About 45 minutes away.

Doug:

In Massachusetts.

Erika:

In Massachusetts yeah.

Doug:

So went to college in Montreal and was this awakening sort of like French cuisine influence and that kind of fair, yeah, and just good food, good coffee, good, yeah, good bagels, culture, you know all those things.

Erika:

And then when I was 18, I think after my first year I traveled around Europe.

Doug:

Wow.

Erika:

And again like yeah, just yeah.

Doug:

Kind of a culinary awakening along with a cultural one. Yeah, yeah, and you went off to college. You didn't initially pick a culinary track right away.

Erika:

Is that right oh?

Doug:

no, what did you first aspire to do?

Erika:

I always wanted to be an artist, but that was not an option.

Doug:

Okay. Uh, this was a parental, not an option. Yeah, oh, okay.

Erika:

So I ended up studying psychology. I really thought I was going to end up going to med school, so I did a pre-med kind of path and then I got out of school. I was so burnt out I was like I'm going to take a year off and study for the MCATs and then I started working in restaurants and then that was it. And then I started traveling and I spent most of my twenties bartending and waiting tables and I don't know, doing all kinds of things, taking art classes.

Doug:

Did you love that culture working in the restaurants?

Erika:

Well, I did. I liked the fast paced energy, I liked the people I worked with and it was. It was really good money and it was a real flexible schedule.

Jon:

Yeah.

Erika:

So it allowed me to do a bunch of other things. But I think by the end of my twenties I was really ready to buckle down and choose a path. And again I was back to art school or culinary school and I decided that if I went to art school I'd probably be waiting tables for the rest of my life. So I went to culinary school. Yeah, yeah.

Doug:

And you worked in a couple bakeries along the way or after and found out that you loved pastry.

Erika:

Yeah, I mean that was pretty clear to me. I did a full chef's program and I was like, oh yeah, no, baking is where it's at for me. And so I started out working at a really great bread bakery called High Rise in Cambridge, and then I moved out to the Bay area.

Doug:

In California In.

Erika:

California. Yeah, and I worked in a bakery in Oakland called La Farine and that's where I started out in breads. But I moved over to the cake department and had this wonderful you know person I worked under who taught me everything I know about cakes now and I still base all of my cakes on the cakes at that place because they were just so wonderful.

Jon:

Wow.

Erika:

They're European. You know style cakes, not American style cakes. Hi, this is Erika Bruce from Third Space Bakery and you are listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug:

When you and I met I would say I was more fan than friend. I do remember that Because from there you somehow made your way back to the Boston area. Yep, and you started with Cook's Illustrated.

Erika:

Yep, I did, because I was again. I was working as a pastry chef at a really high-end restaurant called Rialto and it was an amazing experience, but I was totally overwhelmed and burnt out. You were running it.

Doug:

I was running it At this restaurant.

Erika:

Yeah, and for about a year. And then I had a friend who was working at the magazine and said you need to come work here and a lot of the people that worked there developing recipes that come from very intensive restaurant backgrounds and're ready for like nine to five job, weekends, holidays off, 401k, all those things like amazing, yeah, yeah.

Doug:

So what year was this? It was a good move that you maybe got to cook, so it was 2001, 2000, 2001. And if anyone doesn't know, Cook's Illustrated publishes Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country. They have a couple of PBS TV shows America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country. I'm a huge fan.

Erika:

They have expanded a bit. And they have expanded when I started, there were 30 people at the company, oh my goodness, and the entire kitchen was. I think there were like nine of us. Yes, yeah, so definitely got to see. I was there for about five years in working in, you know, the offices, and then I continued to work freelance after I moved to Pittsburgh. So I worked for them for years and years.

Doug:

I think ATK is celebrating 25 years right now. Oh really, I just saw some of that so that's how long they've been around, and so you also made a jump and did freelance for Christopher Kimball's.

Jon:

Milk Street.

Erika:

TV.

Doug:

And that's where I saw you on TV. Okay, and I took a trip over to Millvale because I wanted to check out Jen Saffron's Sprezzatura and I'm having some spaghetti and meatballs and there's another kitchen and I see this woman and I'm like my gosh. She looks like the woman from Milk Street TV. I don't know how you recognize me.

Erika:

I was like on TV, I just have so much makeup on. And then I was like probably mopping and sweaty.

Doug:

You looked like you, you looked like you and I fanboyed out and so funny. Oh well, it's funny too, cause I didn't want to be creepy, I'm just like, oh my gosh, like you're, you live here. And we had a quick conversation and then I started seeing you in the markets, cause you had reopened a bakery here yourself called Le Beau Gateau.

Erika:

Yep yeah, which I had started in Boston originally as a wedding cake company. And then yeah, I kind of adapted it here to sort of be a little less stressful and, yeah, more fun. But yeah, that was funny because that doesn't happen to me very often.

Doug:

People don't recognize you.

Erika:

No.

Doug:

Well, I love PBS cooking shows, and so still do. And now somehow I've meandered onto one.

Erika:

You're a TV star yourself.

Doug:

Oh my gosh, and I've told this story before. Then we did a cooking camp. I asked to volunteer for a camp called Luminari's Camp Delicious. You and Beth Taylor were running it. Probably soon after that you started plotting for the bakery.

Erika:

I had. Yes, I had kind of always wanted to do something with Beth, like I. Just we have so much in common in terms of our passion for food and recipes and cookbooks and like we can just talk hours. So that camp was a really good experience to see how we worked well together.

Erika:

It was like a lot of pressure, it was a lot of work, it is a lot of work and you're teaching, you're giving like teenagers knives and like, yeah so, but it was, as you know, very fun and rewarding and the kids were great, um, so that was a really great experience and another reason why we really wanted to have a teaching component to this bakery, because I think we're both really passionate about that about educating people.

Doug:

And, if we haven't said it clearly yet, you're open those daylight hours for bakery and then you have classes in the evenings, and so probably a couple a month now and we're up to more.

Erika:

We have usually at least four, sometimes more. We're just constantly expanding.

Doug:

And so these are, like max, about 12 people and you've had a variety of like chefs, cooks, bakers come in I'm coming in to do one and a lot of other friends of the show. So I know that you've had Chef John Lloyd and Tara of Tara Perry Chicken.

Erika:

I love that, that whole mixing of some of the folks that have been on our show. Yeah, the classes are a lot of fun. I like that. It's an intimate group. Yeah, I've taught a few classes. Yeah, I really enjoy it.

Doug:

I hear the sourdough class is very popular.

Erika:

Super popular.

Doug:

Okay.

Erika:

Yeah, that sells out every time.

Doug:

Every time Got to sign up quick. Yep, you know, Erika. I just wanted to ask how long have you been in Pittsburgh?

Erika:

15 years Wow yeah.

Doug:

So you've done a lot of this freelance stuff out of those Boston cooking companies or media companies remotely or gone back to then do any TV.

Erika:

Yeah, they would find me back to do TV. I am very fortunate because I had young children. My daughter was six months old when we moved here and your kids are teenagers now or she is about to be 13 and 16.

Erika:

I can't even believe it, anyway. Yeah, but it was great and super convenient to be able to work at home. But after a while, I think I really started to feel isolated and I wasn't really meeting people and finding the same kind of food community that I had in Boston and I really missed that. I think another reason when I met Beth, that was like it felt really nice to make that connection because I was missing that.

Erika:

so, yeah, that's when I started saying I want to get back into working outside of the house and then I decided to start up my business because I wasn't really sure where else to start. And you know, it just has led to all these other things and other connections and you know, meeting Chloe and you did a maker in residency at Chatham.

Doug:

Is that how you met Chloe Yep?

Erika:

Okay, yep, we didn't do it at the exact same time, but we were sort of in the same cohort, so she did hers a semester before me, but we all would all meet together.

Doug:

And I know Beth attended Chatham as well, so you have a there's a similar ethos that you can all kind of pull from too, even though you maybe didn't all attend at the same time. But you can come from that shared experience.

Erika:

That's awesome.

Jon:

Yeah.

Doug:

So you've really made Pittsburgh your home after this.

Erika:

I guess it's time to admit that I have.

Doug:

You have.

Erika:

No, it grew on me. I was really sort of resistant when we first moved here, because I love Boston, it's beautiful. Yeah, I miss the ocean. But, Pittsburgh is just such an easy place to live.

Doug:

It's affordable.

Erika:

It's a great place to raise your kids. There's so many green spaces. The food community is getting better.

Doug:

That's what.

Julie:

I wanted to ask yeah.

Erika:

And I think it's nice to be in a place where there's room for that. Yeah, I find that kind of exciting to be able to be involved and be like, hey, we're going to introduce you to new things, rather than being in a place that's already saturated. But yeah, it is growing on me. I think I'm here Now that I've started a business here. I guess that means I'm staying for a while.

Doug:

Well, I hope so. Are there any big mentors here or back in Boston? Anyone that sort of carried you? I know you said that your cakes were based on that experience out in California. Anyone else you'd love to mention?

Erika:

I think somebody that's inspired me greatly, Joanne Chang, who's very well known has also been on television. Yes, I believe she beat.

Doug:

Bobby Flay oh did she? I need to look that up.

Erika:

I worked for her only like, like. It's kind of amazing. I worked for her for like three months and I worked for her between when I just moved back to boston, just before I got the pastry chef job, and she had just opened her bakery called flour, and she was brand new and it was super exciting to to be involved with that.

Erika:

But even though I was like I'm not, I don't want to work in bakeries, I want to work in restaurants and she was cool with that, but she taught me so much in that three months that it's kind of amazing and I I just, yeah, I think she's incredible and I've watched her build basically like a bakery empire and she's just. I think I have always said that she was just the best boss I ever had. She's just wonderful and gracious and generous with her knowledge. So, yeah, it's interesting now that I have opened a bakery and I'm like, hmm, and I also say I was very inspired by, interestingly enough, two people that I worked with at Rialto and Joanne actually was also the pastry chef for Rialto.

Doug:

So it's interesting how, and Rialto is in Boston.

Erika:

It is. It closed a couple years ago, I think.

Doug:

Okay.

Erika:

It was in the Charles Hotel right in Harvard Square and we had all kinds of famous people. I made a cake for Martha Stewart once. Oh my goodness.

Doug:

I know how did that go.

Erika:

I hope. Well, I don't know, she didn't send it back.

Doug:

Well, there you go. We'll just say it went well.

Erika:

So, yeah, two other people that I worked with have gone on to open bakeries, one in Portland Oregon, another one just outside of Boston, and you know it's really kind of daunting to do something like this later in life you know, and I saw them do it and I said you know, that's pretty awesome and they're amazing and they've created these wonderful spaces and I think I'm going to going to try it too.

Doug:

Yeah, I actually think you just said about Martha Stewart. I think she started her company at age 50. Did she really yeah? And I think Ina Garten left her storefront business and catering and did her new thing at age sort of like 50. That's awesome, yeah.

Erika:

Why not?

Doug:

Why not? I just had one other side question that popped in my head. It sounds like you've learned from a lot of folks and you're learning a lot right now in your own business as a bakery. Are there any other bakers or bakeries in the Pittsburgh market that you are inspired by or just love what they're doing?

Erika:

Oh, yeah, definitely Five Points, when Five Points first opened.

Doug:

I was so grateful. Five Points Bakery is over in Point Breeze and adjacent to Squirrel Hill. Scary. It's walkable to our house. I have definitely gone there for many cookies.

Erika:

Yeah, not only are they wonderful down-to-earth owners and they have been so helpful in our process of opening our bakery and very generous with their advice, but, yeah, no, when they first opened, I mean by far hands down the best baguette in the city.

Doug:

Yeah, they do a mean bread collection and a wonderful croissant.

Erika:

They're so great.

Doug:

So go to Five Points for your croissants. So far.

Erika:

Yeah, exactly yeah, don't go to.

Doug:

Third Space. Well, that's great, I love, and that kind of goes back to what I always see in the food community of Pittsburgh. It's so welcoming. When I first met you and I felt like, oh my gosh, this woman that's from TV and an amazing career, and you guys were so welcoming to me. And then through that experience, we met with Chris Fenimore that week from WQED and he was so welcoming and I'm like oh my gosh, these people are nice and way more approachable than I ever thought.

Erika:

Yeah.

Doug:

So, Erika, we've talked earlier about the business. I'd love to kind of come back to it. Are there any new goals or events or anything coming up that we should talk about for the bakery?

Erika:

There are so many ideas that we have. I mentioned a little bit before about expanding that outdoor space. We I have well, I don't know, I say we but it may be more me but I have this fantasy of of putting like a wood fired bread or pizza oven on the property and then being able to do classes and or like community bakes there. I would love that right.

Doug:

You know wood-fired pizza. Doesn't Chatham have something like that?

Erika:

they do, but they're unfortunately way out in Gibsonia they are.

Doug:

Yeah, they're far awesome, but it's something you can model I had so much fun.

Erika:

I did a lot of baking in that, um, in that oven, and I I love it so much. Uh, what else? Um, we are toying with the idea of opening up like one evening, maybe a week.

Doug:

As the bakery.

Erika:

As the bakery, but offering, like you know, more like maybe pizzas or flatbreads or different sort of items.

Doug:

And you've done this already with some of the Garfield Unblurred Fridays. Yeah, that's sort of been our trial run.

Erika:

Yeah, it's still like hit or miss. You know, I don't know if people will identify us necessarily as being open during the evening, but I think I just, you know, trying to think of creative ways to utilize the space and bring people together, like partnering up with local breweries you know, or or maybe having people come play music, or you know, we have people come show their art.

Doug:

I love these ideas.

Erika:

Yeah, I. But I will also say that we are coming up to holiday season, so probably we'll just focus on surviving that and seeing how that goes, Because I would imagine I mean I hope that we'll be very busy.

Doug:

I bet you will.

Erika:

Yeah, for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.

Doug:

And you're still having a litany of teaching classes too. So, if folks haven't, I think you can check out the website, but also sign up for the newsletter. Yes, because you actually see a lot more and you don't have to dig.

Erika:

And you'll also get the posting first. And so you'll sort of get first dibs to signing up for classes. So if you are interested in the Sour Dough 101, I would recommend that. That is a good tip, and we're also available, for we've done some private events and we've done some corporate team building events. Okay, so that's another thing. If you're interested, all good things.

Doug:

Yeah. So, erica, before we go, I always like to give folks a moment to plug the business and the social medias where people can find and follow you. If they haven't stopped in yet, I know you have a website, so what is that?

Erika:

Yeah, you can definitely find us at our website is thirdspacebakery. com, and we're also on Facebook and Instagram. Yeah, is thirdspacebakery. com, and we're also on Facebook and Instagram.

Doug:

Yeah, and on Facebook it's again thirdspacebakery. On Instagram I think it's at thirdspacepgh and especially. They should just stop in.

Erika:

Oh, definitely should stop in. It's so good. Yeah, and the address is 5349 Penn Avenue, perfect, yep.

Doug:

All right, erica, I always have an ending question for all of the guests on the show. The name of the show is the Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've eaten this week?

Erika:

Oh geez, because I know I had something really yummy lately and I just can't think of what. It is. All right, the thing that pops into my head was something that I had at our bakery at the last Unblurred. Lizzie Solomon was the artist and a lot of her inspiration came from when she spent time in Oaxaca, so we decided to do sort of a Mexican themed. You know, we did a chicken mole pizza. And then Beth made this street corn salad. That was magical.

Doug:

Wow.

Erika:

Did it have like lime and cheese? And then this amazing dressing that was like just a little bit spicy, just spicy enough, and then toasted pumpkin seeds, pepitas for crunch Sounds great it was so good, the corn was roasted.

Doug:

Yeah. All right Roasted corn salad yeah.

Erika:

Unfortunately, we don't have it all the time, but we all enjoyed it immensely.

Doug:

Well, maybe it'll come back when corn is in season again. Yeah, best bite of the week. Yep, Erika Bruce, thanks so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Erika:

Thank you for having me, this was fun.

Doug:

If you're looking for some good fare over in Regent Square, Julie Engelbrecht of Girl Eats Burgh shares a spot. Hey everyone, we're joined today with Julie Engelbrecht of Girl Eats Burgh and Julie, I was wondering if you could give us a place that's maybe local to you, that you love to go to for I don't know brunch, lunch, dinner. Is there any place you have in mind?

Julie:

Yes, the perfect spot is Hemlock House in Regent Square.

Doug:

Yeah, that's right, I haven't been there yet. I love it Always looking really good on Instagram.

Julie:

Oh yeah.

Doug:

What are some dishes that you've tried there that you've loved?

Julie:

Okay, I've tried. I would say half the menu Perfect.

Doug:

Yeah.

Julie:

All their appetizers are amazing. I would say the two that I would highlight crab and bacon. Hush puppies.

Doug:

What.

Julie:

Yeah, wait, wait, okay. Two favorite things, my two favorite things.

Doug:

So are they hush puppies, like it's all mixed together. Yes, oh my gosh.

Julie:

It's as good as it sounds. It's bacon and crab and a hush puppy with a really good sauce. It's just the best. It's so good that and their fried artichokes.

Doug:

Oh, and do they serve that with any kind of like dip, aioli, something like that?

Julie:

Oh yeah, it's like a good sauce another sauce Really good, really savory, really nice. And do they do a brunch? Yeah, I've recently just tried it.

Doug:

And any other really good bites that you love there.

Julie:

They always do a really good special that they switch up and a lot of times it's focused on duck oh wow, yeah, which is really different. Sometimes they do just like a duck entree, but right now they have a duck burger.

Doug:

Have you had this?

Julie:

No, not yet Haven't been that brave.

Doug:

A duck burger. That is very unusual. But so fatty and delicious, that's really out of the box.

Julie:

Right, I love it. That's how they are, like this restaurant's very quirky.

Doug:

Oh yeah.

Julie:

Yeah, it's Twin Peaks themed.

Doug:

Oh, you mean like from the show back in the 90s.

Julie:

Yes, I mean so. I've never seen it, so this was like so new to me I didn't know what to expect, but it's really cool. It has like a cool vibe. They have like red lighting on one side of the room and it's just. It's really different.

Doug:

I did watch Twin Peaks, so I would like yeah it's a really cool series. So, all right, we should tell our listeners that it is located over in Regent Square, but I think technically the address is Swissv ale. It's right along Braddock Avenue and I think they're open. It looks like every day of the week, maybe a little earlier on Saturday and Sunday, 11 am, most days till midnight.

Julie:

Yeah, they have long hours. Yeah, people going in there just for a cocktail or like a little app.

Doug:

Sounds great. Yeah, Julie, thanks. So much Thanks for being on the Pittsburgh Dish.

Julie:

Yeah, thanks for having me, Doug.

Doug:

You can follow Julie on Instagram . To ease us into the soup season we're giving our friend Jon Hinojosa a call for his streamlined tortilla soup recipe.

Jon:

Doug, how's it going?

Doug:

It's so good to talk with you again, John. How are things with you Great?

Jon:

Super busy. You know the fall is upon us, although in South Texas it's our second summer, but I can feel I can start imagining the chill in the air.

Doug:

Oh, it is coming on to soup season, so I'm really excited to talk about this tortilla soup recipe that you and I were sharing together, and we're going to share it with our listeners today. I think I've seen you make tortilla soup, but this one is your easy chicken tortilla soup, so why don't we just dive in there? What have you done here to make it a little easier for folks?

Jon:

Well, so I make traditional tortilla soup, which is also called sopa azteca or sopa de tortilla in Spanish. It's a very important sort of culturally historic dish in Mexico. But you know, when you've got short time frames, when you're cooking during the week and you want to figure out a way to make something delicious and tasty but at the same time try to shorten and speed up the time that it takes to make, you know, instead of roasting tomatoes in the broiler, I could buy already pre-roasted tomatoes. Yeah, instead of roasting a chicken or boiling a chicken, I can go ahead and purchase a rotisserie chicken which, would you know, free up a lot of time. And so you know, all together I would say 40 minutes, but prep time and cooking time way shorter than that. You just want to have it sort of all of the items, sort of stew together when you're making a good soup.

Doug:

And you sent me some pictures. It looks amazing, and so, for any of our listeners that haven't seen the recipe yet, you are calling for, like a rotisserie chicken, that you've just shredded all the meat off the bone, maybe like three or four cups Chicken stock, some frozen or even canned corn, as you said, the can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. You're even going for a can of red enchilada sauce. Here's what I really like right now. In my neck of the woods, zucchini is over the moon. We always have so many zucchini. So you're calling for a small onion, a medium zucchini, some, you know, of course, garlic and lots and lots of other spices.

Jon:

The idea is that you want to take the onion and put a little bit of olive oil and simmer it, and then the chopped garlic. You don't want the garlic to overcook, and then it's just a matter of adding the items. Zucchini is a perfect example. I really feel like any zucchini. In Spanish they're called calabazas, and in Southern Texas and Northern Mexico there's sort of little plump like lime green ones.

Doug:

But zucchini yellow squash.

Jon:

Even your butternut squash would be delicious. In this it's sort of again the blending of the flavors. And then it's really the spices. You know, bay leaves are important and I put a little bit of chili powder and smoked paprika. Smoked paprika seems to be my sort of hidden spice that I sort of put in almost everything. I love smoked paprika and obviously, yeah, kosher salt and cracked black pepper. So the idea behind that is you just sort of get those a little translucent and then you add the rest of the ingredients and again, the part of it is that's the most important is you just want to get it to slightly boil and then reduce the heat to medium and then just cook, stirring occasionally so that this zucchini gets tender but not overcooked, and everything else is sort of translucent.

Doug:

I have seen some recipes that add tortillas to the soup itself. You don't do that in this recipe, correct?

Jon:

I don't, but that's a traditional common sort of thing. It's really the thick. This is more of a brothy soup not a sort of?

Jon:

a creamy soup. So a lot of people depending on the soup and here's the other thing is tortilla soup. When you look at it across Mexico and even in the United States, everybody makes it a little differently and the piece of that is is that's just what's available and what's you know and how they want it. But this is more of a faster, brothier soup. It's used sometimes in Mexican restaurants as an appetizer. You know a soup before? Yeah, yeah. And so the idea behind that is you can easily. The best thing if you ever want to sort of get a thicker, more sort of creamier consistency is what you can do is you can just put a fried tortilla in the mix or grind it and then put it in, or you could take some, you know, tortilla corn chips. You can actually even use the corn chips for the garnish as well. So, yeah, a lot of people put a tortilla in that and it just helps with the kind of consistency you want in the soup.

Doug:

Yes, and with your version, what you're really doing is saving the tortillas for the topping, and I see in this picture it looks like you've sliced a regular corn tortilla into thin strips, and then are you doing a little like pan fry.

Jon:

I've actually just taken those strips, sprayed them with a canola oil and put them in the air fryer for a couple of minutes, and they get crispy. I use the air fryer now to roast chilies to take the skin off, and that's just more of a healthier choice as well. I use the air fryer a lot to roast chicken before it goes into something. So if you want to use chicken and fresh chicken in this recipe, you can. All you do is really need to spray it with a little oil and slice it up and put it in the air fryer for just, I would say, five to six minutes, and it's going to have that lovely sort of charred, smoky flavor to it.

Doug:

And, as always with your recipes, the other garnishes don't disappoint. I see that you've got fresh cilantro, fresh lime wedges, sour cream, monterey Jack cheese, diced avocado, so it's as much about the toppings here as it is about that brothy soup.

Jon:

It's all about the toppings toppings here, as it is about that brothy soup. It's all about the toppings, and the way that I think I sent you a picture is that the best thing to do is to allow folks to put their own toppings in it.

Doug:

So everything with these garnishes is just to really elevate that soup. John and I couldn't agree more. I think it rounds it out to almost like the whole meal.

Jon:

I think so too, and really, again, while you know, some places use it as a starter, it just depends on how big a bowl you want to put it in. Right, that's right For me, it's. You know, this is sort of like a Mexican chicken soup, right For me. So it's just one of those things where somebody's telling me they're not feeling well or anything else. That means that you know, a bowl of tortilla soup with a grilled cheese sandwich is like a perfect.

Doug:

You know, pick me up for having either a bad day or not feeling 100% Wonderful. All right, John, this tortilla soup sounds delicious as always. And, John, I just want to remind our listeners if people want to find and follow you on social media for your food recipes, where can they find you?

Jon:

Yeah, super simple. It's at J-O-N-H-I-N-O-J-O-S-A and you'll find me on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok Threads, You're all over the place.

Doug:

Yeah, yeah, well, you're doing good, covering all your bases. Jon Hinojosa, thank you so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish.

Jon:

Yeah, it was great being with you, Doug.

Doug:

If you have a recipe, share it with us. Just go to our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom and look for our Share a Recipe form. That's our show for this week. We'd like to thank all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Douglas Heilman

Host