The Pittsburgh Dish
Do you really know the food scene of Pittsburgh?! The Pittsburgh Dish introduces you to the people, places, and recipes that make our regional cuisine so special. By sharing personal stories, weekly recommendations, and community recipes, we aim to inspire you to connect with local taste makers and experience the unique flavors that shape our city.
The Pittsburgh Dish
061 Kate Clemons of Brown Bear Bread Co
(00:55) Kate Clemons reveals the journey of Brown Bear Bread Company, a story of passion, persistence, and finding your true calling. What began in 2020 as home baking experiments during the pandemic transformed into a church basement operation, then a full café in Mount Oliver, and finally found its perfect home in New Brighton's vibrant small-town setting.
(10:03) Their five-year-old sourdough starter (affectionately named Phil) brings distinctive character to their breads – especially their cult-favorite sourdough English muffins that require a full two days of preparation. Kate shares how customers with gluten sensitivities often find they can enjoy Brown Bear's naturally fermented sourdough when commercial breads cause problems.
Despite having "Bread" in their name, Brown Bear has evolved into a comprehensive bakery experience. From laminated pastries and custom cakes to savory options and weekend brunch, Kate and her partners Dan and Kaylie have created a menu that balances artisan techniques with approachable favorites. Their philosophy is simple: make food they themselves would want to eat, using straight forward ingredients.
(23:21) What makes this story so fascinating is Kate's own evolution from classically trained opera singer to passionate baker and business owner. Her early experience at a patisserie during college planted seeds that would later bloom into Brown Bear Bread Company, demonstrating how life's journey often takes unexpected but meaningful turns.
Whether you're a sourdough enthusiast, looking for a destination-worthy baked treat, or simply inspired by small business success stories, Brown Bear Bread Company offers something special. Visit them in New Brighton, catch them at local farmers markets, or follow their mouthwatering Instagram feed to experience handcrafted baking at its finest.
(36:38) Ashley Cesaratto continues our trip Beaver county with a recommendation to Biba, and Dagny Como brings us back to the home kitchen with a suggestion for up-leveled beef tallow french fries. Bring your ears and appetite!
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, Doug Heilman. How did a location move help to redefine one bakery's vision? We get the story from Kate Clemons of Brown Bear Bread Company. Ashley Cesaratto shares not only a great dining spot but also a lesson on how to be a good neighbor. And how do you level up the go-to side for burgers on the grill. Dagny Como shares a cooking tip for some great french fries at home. All that ahead, stay tuned. The Pittsburgh Dish is supported by Chef Alekka LLC For cooking classes, parties or catering. Just visit her website at chefalekkacom to explore menus and book a date. Now on to the show. Thank you so much for coming over and for being on the show.
Kate:Yes, thank you so much for having me.
Doug:Would you introduce yourself to our listeners and what you have going on right now in the world of food?
Kate:Oh my gosh. Hi everybody. My name is Kate Clemons. I am part owner of Brown Bear Bread Company. We are a bakery slash cafe out in New Brighton in Beaver County. There's big things happening out there in Beaver County so we are happy to be a part of that. Um, and then what am I doing right now in food? That's what you want to know.
Kate:Yeah, so, uh, basically my role at the company is um front of house stuff I do the people stuff yeah um, I do the social media, I do some baking, um, but mostly I'm interacting with customers, clients, wholesale clients, things like that. Um, I'm the one that they're going to email to talk about their orders, all of that jazz. So I'm living a lot in the social media world, trying to, you know, push Brown Bear even farther that way because I like doing it and it's, it's interesting. Yeah, just trying to get out there and like get as much out of the free marketing that you can, I completely understand.
Kate:Yeah, yeah, like I don't know, it goes pretty well, and so I'm just trying to utilize that as much as possible. Um, so that's kind of what I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Doug:All right, yeah, now tell me a little bit about the back of the house, like who's doing some of the baking right now.
Kate:Sure. So, um, my partner, dan Dan Galusha, he is our bread baker, Um, he, and Kaylie Carini is our um pastry chef owner and she also does bread baking as well. We all, we all kind of share a little bit of responsibility. I'm sure you have to yeah, we literally have to, because, um, we are a very small business and there's only three of us that basically run everything. So there's kind of round the clock baking going on.
Kate:Yeah, yeah, as much as we can. My partner, Dan, and I just moved to Beaver, actually to be closer to the bakery, and it's really nice. I'm very excited.
Doug:Yes, reduce that commute.
Kate:Yes, let's reduce that commute and I feel like we're able to like we're going to be able to get a lot more done and I'm really looking forward to that.
Doug:Now I want to just do a little bit of history about the company. Yeah, you guys started somewhere around Carnegie in like a church basement, was that right?
Dagny:Yeah.
Doug:Yeah, so what year was that?
Kate:Okay, I was thinking back. I Okay, I was thinking back, I believe, 2021. Okay, yeah, so Dan and I moved here. We're from New York, we're from upstate New York and we moved here in 2020 and April 2020.
Doug:Oh boy, it was wild yeah.
Kate:There was nobody on the road. No, you probably had a really false sense of, wow, the commuting here will be great. I really did Doug like for real A couple months, you, you know, like after vaccines came out and things, all of a sudden. I remember driving and being like what, where did they?
Doug:come from where?
Kate:where are these people coming from?
Doug:you're like I've never had a problem with these tunnels, ever, oh and then I learned yeah, yeah, well anyway.
Kate:So um, dan and I met and he was an executive chef, oh, and um had been for many, many years and kind of slowly started transitioning into baking.
Ashley:Um.
Kate:I think it just kind of started to like make sense to him and when he gets an idea he gets like obsessed with an idea. And he so he really did and bought so many books and really started teaching himself. And, uh, we decided to just start baking out of our house for a while just for like family friends, you know nothing, crazy. And then people were like hey, this is good. There's some really good stuff here.
Doug:Okay.
Kate:So then, uh, there was a church in Carnegie and they actually closed, but, um, while, uh, we, we were renting out the basement kitchen, I don't know two days a week, maybe, just baking like as much as we could, and tiny little ovens in in Dutch ovens, like it's so funny to see how far we've come from the evolution of it all right. Yeah, yeah, Like I think back to when we were in the church basement baking. Dan would go in and he would bake every single loaf in a Dutch oven.
Dagny:a cast iron Dutch oven yeah.
Kate:In like a regular home oven that was in a church basement and it took forever. Like if we had an order of like 20 loaves it would take so long.
Doug:I can't. Imagine.
Kate:Yeah, we just kind of did that for like a year, um wild. And then we met Kaylie Carini and, um, she is a a very established pastry chef, really focused on like cake design and cake decorating, custom cakes, and she's fabulous at it. I feel like our cake business is really starting to pick up these days. So if you didn't know now you know everyone that brown bear does custom cakes. So come to us with any of your crazy ideas and we'll try to make it happen.
Doug:I definitely want to get to the menu, because there is actually so much more on there than just a bakery.
Kate:Yeah, I would say so.
Doug:Yeah, I think your last post. I just saw chicken salad and some other stuff.
Kate:So I'm like wait, just posted that, yeah, so you know. Okay, I know you wanted to get into like the history. I'm sorry I could.
Doug:I could go off track and talk it's all good, it's all good, I'm taking us off track.
Kate:Okay, no, I'm a yapper.
Doug:Well, let's keep following this path.
Kate:So from Carnegie.
Doug:I know at some point you moved up to Mount Oliver.
Kate:Yes, we did in 2023. We basically hit the ground running as like a full service cafe. Yes, and that's kind of what the space called for.
Doug:That's how you and I first met.
Kate:Yeah, yeah, you came to the shop, yeah, all of a sudden exploded.
Doug:Yes.
Kate:Fall of 2023. We were nowhere near ready and it was absolutely wild. It was amazing and challenging and unsustainable and there were many reasons that it was unsustainable and I don't you know like I won't go into like what was really.
Doug:There's a lot of behind the scenes, yeah.
Kate:Um, but basically, um, it came down to, you know, building issues that were never addressed and that we, um, just as a business couldn't deal with, as a food business couldn't, couldn't deal with, and we ended up, you know, seeing this space in New Brighton and people are people really thought we were insane, like for real.
Doug:To move out to New Brighton To move to New Brighton.
Kate:Yeah, so well, in 2023,. During that year in Mount Oliver, it was crazy. We had a great time. We learned so much.
Kate:My business partner, kaylee, was pregnant. She gave birth last year, last summer, all of these things just happening all at the same time. I look back on it and I'm like I don't. I hardly remember any of that, cause it was so stressful. How did we do it? How do we? I have no idea. So, um, it was a great time, it was a beautiful space. I I am thankful for everyone that I met because of us being there, but I think that at the end of the day, it also just didn't really align with what we, like, really wanted to be doing.
Doug:Yeah, you were still in an almost a rapid experimentation kind of moment, right.
Kate:Yeah, and we're. I mean literally flying by the seat of our pants, like you know we we really dove in headfirst. We all quit whatever we were doing and just went in to do this thing and I'm so glad that we did. But it was awful and really hard for a long time.
Doug:Sometimes you have to do it to know what you don't want to do. Yeah, 100%.
Kate:I wish my parents could hear that hey, mom, you listening.
Doug:So when did you then make that leap to New Brighton?
Kate:Yeah, so we knew that we wanted to move and we were thinking about all of these different places. Um, kaylee and her husband live in New Brighton and they have for many years and they're like we really like it here. It's very cute, you know. And, um, her husband was talking to the owner of the grocery store there in New Brighton food land and talking about the business and looking for a new space, whatever. And he's like, oh hey, come check this out, I got a space. Okay, looking for a new space whatever.
Kate:And he's like oh, hey, come check this out, I got a space, okay. So he goes and looks at it, sends us some pictures and is like guys, I think you should check this out. So at first I was like no, this is crazy, this is insane, oh my God. And then we all took a field trip and we all looked at the space and everybody Dan and Kaylie were like this is what we need.
Dagny:Like this is perfect.
Kate:It was the first space that we looked at, the only space that we looked at, and it just felt right and the the price was right. I mean it just, it just made perfect sense we are aligning yeah. Yeah, and you know we wanted to go back to being a bakery that sometimes serves food, because we all not to like toot our own horn or anything, but we make really good food.
Doug:I will not disagree, thank you.
Kate:I really appreciate that. Um, Dan and Kaylie are both really just. They just know what to do in the kitchen as far as like putting flavors together, and they really care about making things from scratch. Like not, we don't really buy anything Sausage. Like we make as much as we possibly can, even our sausage these days we're making Really. Yeah, dan was like I can just make this.
Doug:Let's take our listeners to your shop right now. Sure If they were to visit and they haven't visited before. As you just said, you are a bakery most days, but what are we experiencing when we go to Brown Bear?
Kate:Sure. So let's say it's like a Saturday.
Doug:Let's go on a Saturday, yeah.
Kate:We do serve food on the weekends only Okay, because during the week we are doing a lot of production for wholesale accounts. So when you walk in on a Saturday, you're going to see a brunch menu or takeout menu rather.
Doug:All right.
Kate:And you're going to see a couple different options, usually only four or five, and it will be two staple items and then three or two or three things that rotate depending on what we want to make.
Doug:Is it like breakfast sandwiches or like a breakfast pizza or stuff like that?
Kate:Yeah, yeah. So we always have a breakfast sandwich on the menu, if you have been to our previous iteration. I have and I did the famous brown bear breakfast sandwich is still on the menu. It's a sourdough English muffin, homemade breakfast sausage, fried egg, cheddar and a fancy sauce that we make.
Doug:And I'm going to just dot in here. We'll get to the breads in a second. But I will say my mom and dad are now obsessed with the sourdough English muffins and happily I can usually find them at Dagny's because it's really close to my house.
Kate:Yes, excellent, that's good news.
Doug:Breakfast sandwich is delicious. Oh, thank you, thank you.
Kate:Yeah, hot food on weekends, but we try to have some kind of grab and go option in our refrigerated case for the rest of the week.
Doug:Yes, yeah.
Kate:Like when we're open through the rest of the week. You know, we we try to have things like hummus and chicken salad, because what goes better with bread? Than spreads and dips and butters that we make, and then lately we've been trying to do more grab-and-go lunchy foods throughout the week in the refrigerator case.
Doug:Because you do have foot traffic up there, right yeah?
Kate:Well, we're right next to the state store. Oh, there you go. And you know Beaver's a dry town, not county, so you got to go elsewhere to go to the state store. Oh, there you go.
Doug:And you know, beavers are dry town, not County. So you got to go elsewhere to go to the state store Interesting Right, maybe really good positioning.
Kate:I know, yeah, yeah, I mean I can't. It's it's a very busy state store. So, um, yeah, we try to have, you know, just like some things. If, oh man, I'm hungry, I need something to eat, I don't want to go to the grocery store, I don't want to go to the drive-thru, like, let's see what, what Brown Bear has, yeah, we're always trying to keep those sorts of things in mind, like last week. Um, we made some burnt ends with some leftover pork from making sausage, and then coleslaw and cornbread in a little thing.
Kate:Wonderful, yeah, you just grab that and you take it home and heat it up if you want to eat it. It's yeah. So we're just trying to do stuff that we would want to eat honestly. Also. Then my business partner, kaylee's husband, sometimes comes in and helps us cook and come up with things, and he made a meatball meal like meatballs and garlic bread that's in the fridge right now.
Doug:Oh my, and you're adding all of these things to the menu.
Kate:That I didn't even expect, and we have not even got to the bakery yet. Yeah, that's so true. Oh my God, I just love food. Doug, I could talk about it, and we all love it so much you are with the right person right now. That's true.
Doug:Let's do it Okay. So let's talk about the main. I want to say bread items, yeah.
Kate:Is that right? Yeah, no, that's correct. I would say okay. I feel like we can break things down into into three things bread pastry yes, cake yeah possibly you know like those are kind of.
Doug:I don't know if cake is its own category, but I think so cake and pastry, so so the stuff that your partner is making in terms of bread. This is kind of where it all started what do you think are some of the the top movers or most popular breads that you guys are are baking up?
Kate:So um the sourdough English muffins are my best seller.
Doug:Oh yeah.
Kate:Hands down, they just are.
Doug:Um thank you.
Kate:I feel like they are just special, they're different. I don't even know like he's been making them since definitely 2021. And I don't even really know, like, what inspired him to especially make sourdough ones. You know, but our sourdough starter, his name is Phil. Well, you have to name him. Yeah, of course you do. He's our little guy, you know. He does a lot for us. Our sourdough starter is five years old and, yeah, and he's real strong. He's very strong, like just in smell and flavor.
Kate:There's something about phil's a little funky he's funky, yes, and like I feel kind of weird saying that you know in the best way, yeah, yeah, it's like a good cheese. Well, exactly, yeah some people get it, but I don't want to be like. You know phil stinks, but I mean he does, it's supposed to, it's fermented.
Doug:You need to have that happen and it it aids in so much flavor depth of flavor digestion when we get to that exactly so.
Kate:Um they're really special and different. Um they're super tall yeah, they're fluffy experience. Yeah, yeah, they're we let them prove for for quite a long time, so that they are light and fluffy yeah yeah, I just I hear nothing but great things. People absolutely love them and they are a labor of love. They take definitely two full days start to finish. So they are a labor of love and I I think that you can taste that.
Doug:Yeah.
Kate:Yeah, so the sourdough English muffins definitely bestseller. That I think. Second would be like our plain sourdough bread, people really like it. For you mentioned digestion. I get a lot of customers telling me that they're gluten intolerant or have issues with store-bought bread and they say but I have no problem eating sourdough. I have no problem eating your sourdough specifically. Maybe others they might. So that's really encouraging.
Doug:I like that, and Dan loves that too. It's a beautiful, rustic-looking loaf.
Kate:Thank you. Yeah, I say thank you like I had anything to do with that?
Doug:You do rustic looking loaf, thank you, yeah, yeah, I say thank you Like I had anything to do with that and you're selling it, so you know, okay, yeah, yeah, um, I guess that then it kind of depends, and so I was going to ask do you then rotate some flavors or different grains or something in the bread?
Kate:Yeah, yeah, so, uh, we have different breads themselves. Um, sometimes weeks we'll have. We have like a cinnamon bread that's a loaf, loaf shape, um, and it's what we make our French toast with. Yeah and um, it's, it's really great. And, uh, that has that's been really popular. People really like that. Um, then sometimes the Italian bread will fly off the shelves one week. Yeah, I don't really know, it's hard to make a pattern of it. Okay, but we do rotate specialty flavors. Right now we've been rocking with a jalapeno cheddar for a long time.
Dagny:Yeah, that sounds good.
Kate:Yeah, and that's kind of, I think, just become a staple because people really like it.
Doug:Again, good with a spread or as a sandwich. I think that could be great.
Kate:Oh yeah, If you want to be like real extra and make a crazy grilled cheese yeah.
Doug:Yeah, I know. A little question I have. Does Phil sneak into all of the breads or are there some without Phil? Right, there are.
Kate:There's some without Phil.
Doug:Yeah, like an Italian maybe, yeah.
Kate:Yeah, that's going to be yeasted, because not everybody likes the sourdough flavor. It is distinct and if you're not used to like a little tang, a little funk, you might you know, it just might some people just don't like it.
Doug:It may not be your vibe, and that's okay. You've got other things. There's other things, yeah.
Kate:So we definitely do other yeasted breads too. We do a multigrain sourdough. It's very healthy, very good for you, and that's the thing. We don't put anything weird in the bread, it's just. You know the four main things that you need to make bread flour, water, salt, yeast and that's it. Or you know, if you're doing a sourdough, wild yeast from the sourdough starter et cetera. We're not putting any preservatives, we're not putting any enzymes or anything in the bread. Now that's going to make it go bad faster.
Doug:Yeah, bread doesn't hang out like we think the sliced in the plastic in the grocery store does, like we think the sliced in the plastic in the grocery store does. That is not natural.
Kate:And I have not bought store bread in years. So I honestly don't know what it's like anymore. I'm not doing it. Yeah, I get a lot of customers saying the same thing, like it's maybe a little less expensive than what we're charging and it's, you know, no good.
Doug:And it lasts for a month. Yeah, it's weird.
Kate:Yeah, so I think people are starting to see the benefits of that and that like it's well, it's cool to buy something with limited ingredients and that you know the people who made it and the people who made it can tell you about the. You know like you you be, you build trust with your, with the people selling your food 100%.
Doug:We've heard it again and again from other bakeries, from pizza makers on the show Everyone is all about keep it simple, keep it real with the ingredients, and people appreciate that. And then you do, you develop those relationships, knowing that I can come back and get this good product again and again.
Kate:Yeah, exactly so. That's really what we strive for, and all the bread in our shop is labeled. You can see exactly what's in it. If you need more information, you can always ask one of us. We usually have nutrition facts and things available too Awesome. Yeah, hi. This is Kate Clemons from Brown Bear Bread Company and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.
Doug:All right, now let's get into some of the other goodies. Other goodies, so cakes and pastries. I think I just saw some cookies on your feed as well. Yeah, I'm sure you did. You guys have everything in terms of the bakery sweets side. Yes, yeah, I think so.
Kate:Yeah, we do, you know, pretty popular at our last spot, um, but we do other flavors of cinnamon rolls as well. So instead of cinnamon, maybe it's berries as a filling, or lemon, or something like that.
Doug:Oh, I like that, just different. I've not had these.
Kate:Okay, yeah, they're kind of new. They're like a new thing that Kaylee started doing a few months ago and it's been going well. Um, you know we'll do things like cupcakes, um little. Uh, dan has actually started making croissants by hand and, my goodness, laminated dough, laminated dough and puff pastry as well by hand. Yeah, and I don't think people understand, like, what that means.
Doug:It's a lot of work.
Kate:Yeah, go watch great British baking show. Yeah, and just watch them try to laminate dough. Yeah, I mean it's great they have time, parameters, whatever, but it's a very challenging, very laborious, beautiful thing, yes, and he has just been really into learning more about it and improving and he started making like galettes and danishes and you know little things like that. So that's special and little things like that.
Dagny:So that's, special.
Kate:And I want people to understand and I know that when they eat it they will understand how special it is, but it's just cool.
Doug:Well, back to what you said, though, too, it's a labor of love to get there and master it, and it's nice that you have this space that maybe it's sort of in an experimentation phase and you're rotating some flavors, so it doesn't have to be your, your everything, but it's nice to then tack on those new skills and tack on those items whenever you guys feel like yeah.
Kate:And people are really liking it. So, it's cool. Um, we also do brownies. I make brownies and um, I do cookies as well. That's, that's my gig. So, um, I try to come up with, you know. You know like five, five or six different types of of cookies and brownies at one time. Um, let's see cake truffles. We do a lot of those oh coffee cake, muffins, coffee cakes biscuits scones.
Doug:Oh my gosh. I know there's a lot. It's all it's.
Kate:It's the whole thing yeah, it's pretty much anything that you could want. You know, we, we wanted to cater the menu to um. You could come in and spend $3 on because you need a sweet treat. But you could come in and stock up on bread and spend $75, and you know, and also get sweet treats if you really want it. So we wanted to hit both ends of the spectrum.
Doug:So that cause we've all been there at 3 PM when you're like, oh, what is that the three o'clock drop by here? Yeah, I definitely need a little sweetm. When you're like, oh, I need a brownie, what is that the three o'clock drop, I hear, yeah, I definitely need a little sweet treat yeah.
Kate:And sometimes I always say that to customers like hey, it's sweet treat time, right yeah. And sometimes they're like yeah.
Doug:Now you were saying that Kaylee also does. Well, keep me honest Custom cakes yeah.
Kate:You can do cakes wedding or have you done a wedding? Yeah, actually last year, wow, yes, she did a wedding, um, and it was a pretty, pretty big one. Yeah, and she's done. She's done a lot, but I remember that's like the the first one that I remember being a part of you guys doing yeah yeah, so, um, we might be called brown bear bread company, but we obviously do a lot more than bread so. So people are surprised sometimes with um the fact that we do offer custom cakes.
Kate:So I like to shout it from the rooftops as much as I can um, and if you look through our feed, you can see some of some of the cakes that kaylee has done. Basically, we don't use fondant she does not use fondant.
Kate:Um, it's not that kind of. I'm not a fan of fondant, nobody really is no. So, uh, she makes amazing buttercream like the best buttercream ever. So, um, we can do. She can do pretty much anything that you want, from like kids' birthdays to and smash cakes to, you know, like big, huge sheet cakes if you need cupcakes, like really, whatever your menu is so much more vast than I realized.
Doug:Thank you, yes.
Kate:And also, you know, it's so much more vast than what we previously were able to do because we had to focus so much on food, because that's kind of like what happened and then we just, you know, rode with it. It's, it's nice to be able to be like no, no, no, look at the skills that we all actually do have and let's focus on those skills. Yeah, sure, we make great food and Dan and Kaylee are really great at that, but it's not the majority of their day anymore. They can really focus on the things that they were trained to do.
Kate:You know, Kaylie is actually a trained pastry chef and she does have a degree from Johnson and Wales. So you know, like this is, this is what she wants to do, and Dan has some culinary training? Yes, he does, and he went to, went to school for a little while and then had been an executive chef for like, or some kind of cook chef for I don't know, 15 years.
Doug:Oh my gosh. Yeah, okay, kate, I want to shift gears then to you. You're doing a lot of the front of the house, but you did say you're doing some of the baking.
Kate:Yeah, I do some of the baking.
Doug:Did you ever see yourself getting into this industry, or is this where you started?
Kate:It's not where I started, but yes, I absolutely could see myself doing this and I'm really. It's really like full circle. How it happened, yeah. So when I was in college in Ithaca, new York, I went to Ithaca college, not Cornell, everybody's always like oh, cornell, no, there's another one. So when I went to college I started working at this place called Sarah's patisserie, and it was this beautiful little patisserie.
Kate:There were two locations in town and I just was working the counter because I have customer service experience and I just needed a part-time job that was flexible. I ended up falling in love with it.
Doug:I was going to say is this where the bug maybe started? Yes, for sure.
Kate:Well, I mean, I baked as a kid like my grandma really taught me how to how to do a lot of baking, a lot of Christmas cookies, things like that.
Doug:So how old were you when that started?
Kate:Like seven or eight, probably, yeah, and I used to bake cookies all the time up through high school honestly. So it's something I like doing, but I didn't have the patience to ever do it right, cause I just wanted to get it done so I could eat it.
Kate:Yeah, yeah, it right Cause I just wanted to get it done so I could eat it, yeah, yeah. So, um, fast forward. I'm in college, I'm working this job. I end up falling in love with it because what my boss was doing was just so beautiful and so passionate and she cared so much about it. I loved her. I loved every part of it. She would trust me eventually to start making like ganache and, you know, whipped cream and filling macarons and um, baking the croissants and things like that, and I really started to be like this is so special.
Kate:Like this this level of baking, this level of bakery that we are now kind of, I think, entering um is is beautiful and it is just such an expression of love and I wish that people could see that more. I think that they do those that get it get it, those that don't need to come to Brown Bear and eat something.
Doug:They need to slow down and take it in. Yeah, a hundred percent. I got two questions for you, Okay. Number one is that patisserie still open in Ithaca? No, it's sadly not.
Kate:I ended up leaving Ithaca for a while and went to grad school and came back and during that time she ended up closing and actually ended up passing away, and so it feels even more. I'm getting goosebumps talking about it. You've got to carry the spirit on. Kind of yeah, and I just I loved this woman so much and she was a real pain. Let me tell you and I just loved her what was her name Tammy.
Kate:Yeah, her name was Tammy and we had a great time together and I was her like right hand man and yeah. So it's not open anymore and she's no longer with us. So it kind of feels even more special that now. This is like the level of attention I'm trying to bring to our business as well.
Doug:You are taking skills that you developed with her in this current journey that you're on.
Kate:Yeah, 100%, and she really cared about every detail being perfect and I, I don't have that and I want it, and so I strive for it, but, um, you know, I did. Do we do the best? I do the best I can.
Doug:All right, I'm going to get back to another question that you sparked. What were you going to college for?
Kate:I was going to college for vocal performance.
Doug:Okay, yes, I think I've heard this.
Kate:Okay.
Doug:Yes.
Kate:I actually am a classically trained opera singer.
Doug:Oh wow so.
Kate:I have two degrees in that. I don't know Are you doing any singing? Now, yeah, I just kind of started again I took some time off because the industry is hard and oh yeah it's. It's not even that, it's just hard. It's unfair in many ways the opera industry.
Doug:Yeah, I was thinking the baking for a second.
Kate:I'm like oh, no, no, no, okay no, the opera industry is just, you know, it's a lot about, it's elitist in a lot of ways. Um and I don't want it to be and we, none of us want it to be, but it is at the end of the day and, um, it just kind of hurt my feelings.
Doug:Oh yeah.
Kate:That, that aspect of it, but what?
Doug:are you doing now so?
Kate:I am singing a little bit now, okay, um, I we're about to go on break for the summer, but, um, I do sing at a church downtown in Pittsburgh Okay, first Presbyterian church. I sing with my friends in the choir and, like, we lead the choir and have solos and we have a great time. We have a great time together. It's very low stakes and it's wonderful.
Doug:Use those pipes.
Kate:Yeah, exactly yeah, and and everyone at church is always so grateful, no matter whatever comes out of your mouth, you know like you. You could think that you sound horrible because you just drank three glasses of wine last night, which unfortunately has happened, and um. But you know, someone will come up and say that was really beautiful, that spoke to me, so that's nice.
Kate:And then, um, I recently sang with um steel city cabaret. They're like a little cabaret um project and they host events and concerts throughout the city throughout the year, I think almost monthly. So they have a pride one coming up. But I sang in their opera night. I think I saw this.
Doug:Yeah, I posted a lot about it.
Kate:Yeah, and it was like kind of a return to public opera singing for me. I hadn't done it in a really long time and it felt so good and it hadn't for a long time.
Doug:I love that for you.
Kate:Thank you, you, you're gonna find your place yeah, and but the relationship with you know a person in music, especially a singer, because it's so personal there's no instrument in front of me to hide behind and there's no instrument that is, you push a button and it makes the sound. I am the instrument and I am not the same day to day and so you know that was it's hard. That's really really hard and really really personal. And so taking that time off, like I definitely needed it and it feels good and for me again.
Doug:I like that, so I want to do more into it. Yeah, do it.
Kate:Anybody out there want to put on a recital? I don't know, hit me up.
Doug:Well, since you're taking us there, I would love to ask about anything coming up and, for the bakery, any big plans, events or even just goals for the rest of the year.
Kate:Yeah, I would say so. We have a partnership coming up with Yelp Pittsburgh, yelp Elite Pittsburgh. The group of Yelp Elites are always kind of going around to different small businesses or even just businesses in Pittsburgh different restaurants, trying new things. So look out for that. There's going to be a lot of marketing about that and I'm excited to have everybody. It's an opportunity for people who are used to city Pittsburgh things. For those that don't know, like Yelp elite is a invited group of people that, uh, have written so many five-star reviews that are detailed, lots of pictures, things like that.
Doug:They're actually doing the work. Yeah, yeah.
Kate:They're the ones that you're like. Oh, wow, that's a great review and that makes me want to go to this place. Um, so they get rewarded for that with special things, special offers, events and things like that. So we are happy to be hosting the elites June 12th through the 19th. Oh, so this is coming up. Yeah, so they have like a little. You know, they'll come in and see the bakery and they get a little something for for being a Yelp elite member, so I'm looking forward to that. There's always lots of events happening in new Brighton it is like the smallest, most busy town.
Kate:It's amazing. They're always doing something. That's great, it's really great. And like I saw a Tik TOK recently you know talking about how people glorify living in cities and and things like that but it was like small towns matter. This community does matter and making a difference, even if it's in a small town, is still making a difference.
Doug:Yeah, but even your move there, business is good. Business is good. You moved out of sort of big city area to a little less dense population but it's still a great place to be for business.
Kate:Absolutely. I really think so, and I think that there's more stuff coming in Beaver County. People want it. It seems to be more young people moving in and starting and having small businesses and it's really nice to be, you know, I don't want to say leading the charge, but it's really nice to be there and say, hey, come on over, it's cool, be part of this, be part of this. There's people out here that want this, that might not have this opportunity, you know.
Kate:So it's it's, it's cool and it's really nice to make a difference it is the amount of people like little cute old ladies that come in and to thank me for being open yes is.
Doug:I could just cry like it's so cool well, at the end of the day, Kate, people love a bakery, oh for sure. So, yes, thank you for all you're doing. Thank you anything else in terms of events, anything else coming?
Kate:um, we are in the. We are at the beaver farmer's Market every Saturday, probably through September. All right, that's from 10 to 1. And then we will be at the Carnegie Farmer's Market as well, because we got to represent our Carnegie peeps. I like that a lot, and that's July through September.
Doug:So that's on.
Kate:Sundays. So yeah, come out and see us.
Doug:Wonderful Kate. I'm going to ask you a question I think I know the answer to, but I want other folks to know how did you come up with the name Brown Bear Bread?
Kate:Okay, so Dan and I have been together for six years this year and we have a dog who came with me from a previous life and his name is Luke and he's eight years old and he's a perfect baby angel.
Doug:Of course he is Of course he is.
Kate:Yes, and his nickname is Brown Bear. He just sometimes looks like a little like a little bear. He's 80 pounds guys. He's not little, I don't know, but you know how dogs have a zillion nicknames. So Brown Bear happened. And then we were joking like, oh, wouldn't Brown Bear bread be fun someday? Like Brown bear bread? Ha ha ha.
Kate:And then I had a friend drop the logo with Luke's ears as the outline and and it just kind of all made sense and in my mind I thought it was funny to have a label, a logo, with dog ears but be called brown bear. People are like what the heck?
Doug:It's kind of a good marketing thing, cause people do give that second look and like, huh, they do.
Kate:They ask about it. Yeah. Yeah, it's named after our sweet boy and he's my soulmate dog, like he's obsessed with me. Yeah, and I'm obsessed with him, so it's fine.
Doug:That is the best name ever. Thanks, all right, Kate. Why don't we take a moment to give folks your website or any of your social handles so they can follow you, if they haven't discovered you yet?
Kate:Okay, so I love to do most of my posting on Instagram, which is linked to Facebook. So on Instagram we're at brownbearbreadco I think that there's a period between each word and then on Facebook, same thing. Just you know, search brownbearbread and we will come up. You'll see the logo with the dog ears and that's us, and then our website is brownbearbreadco. On the website you can actually do a bunch of ordering. You can order bread, pastries, lots of things, just like your online shopping. Yeah, you can also do custom cake inquiries there as well. So check out the website if you haven't. Kaylie and I worked really hard on it cake inquiries there as well. So check out the website If you haven't. Kaylee and I worked really hard on it.
Doug:So look at it. Let's just remind folks your like current hours and location.
Kate:Sure, so our location is 400 ninth street, suite C technically, uh, new Brighton and basically we are next to the state store, and so we're in between a pizza shop and a state store.
Doug:Okay, you can't miss it.
Kate:Um, and our current hours Monday Tuesdays we're open 10 to four. Wednesday we're closed. Thursday, Friday, Saturday 10 to six. Sunday 10 to two. All right, it's a lot. Yeah, Check the website. Yeah, Check, yeah, exactly, I really try to update Instagram daily. Yeah, I'm always posting, Check us out.
Doug:I love it. Thanks, all right, Kate. I always have one more question for our guests. The name of the show is The Pittsburgh dish. What's the best dish you've had to eat this past week?
Kate:Okay, I went to this restaurant in Aspin wall called Cornerstone.
Kate:Oh, yes, have you been it has been a few moons since I have been to cornerstone very random choice, um, but it was a recommendation, and by my best friend, Tori, who also loves the show. Hey, Tori and um and I had a roasted chicken oh that was amazing. I love a properly roasted chicken, you know, like with the crispy skin, but the juicy meat and it's like kind of hard to achieve and it's hard to achieve, like exactly the right temperature and everything, and it was absolute perfection.
Kate:I think it had either a creamy polenta or some kind of potato situation underneath and broccolini.
Doug:And.
Kate:I love broccolini.
Doug:Oh my.
Kate:God, it was so good. It blew me away because this was just such a a random, you know choice. Oh, I've never been here long. Whatever, let's just go. And oh my God, it was amazing.
Doug:I need to get back. I actually I don't think I've visited it in like three years, yeah, so I'm so glad to hear it's still maintaining great quality. Yeah.
Kate:It was awesome, yeah, yeah.
Doug:Kate Clemons yes, it's been such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much for taking some time and for being on the Pittsburgh dish.
Kate:Thank you so much for having me Doug. I love dishing about food and I just am so glad to be doing this life.
Doug:Oh, thank you so much Thanks. Up. Next we stay in the Beaver County area and learn about another great spot from our friend, Ashley Cesaratto. Hey everybody, we're joined today with Ashley Cesaratto of Eating with Ashley on Instagram. Ashley, it's been a while. How have you been?
Ashley:I've been really good. Thanks for having me back.
Doug:Yeah, I have seen your feed and you have been going out to eat to some really cool places. I thought we should talk about a couple.
Ashley:Yeah, for sure. I've been going out to eat a ton, trying some new places and some places that I know I already love, so happy to talk about everything.
Doug:I have noticed geographically, you've stopped in a couple places that are a little outside of Pittsburgh. Has there been a spot that you've visited recently that you think is definitely worth the drive?
Ashley:For sure, Biba in Beaver.
Doug:Oh, you know what? I think I've heard of this before from our friend, Raquel Holiday, because she lived in Beaver. Oh, that's right. Yeah, so I think we talked about it on her interview last year. So you just went there for dinner.
Ashley:Yeah, I went a few weeks ago with my husband and our friends Mike and Liz. We actually met through my Facebook group and they used to own Carson Street Deli and Craft Beer.
Doug:Oh, that's awesome and we should remind listeners you also do manage the very popular Facebook group Pittsburgh Foodies.
Ashley:Yeah, we have 86,000 members now.
Doug:That is amazing.
Ashley:Congratulations. Thanks, yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Doug:All right, let's get back to Biba. So you guys went there for dinner. Tell us a little bit about the bites, the things that you all had.
Ashley:Sure. So we started off with focaccia because our friend Mike said we had to have it and they serve it with a whipped ricotta and like a hot honey spread type of thing. So put those two things together and it was just the perfect bite.
Doug:Delicious.
Ashley:We also had their loaded fries, and you know, when I go out to eat I always over order. We always have tons of leftovers. But I figured, okay, there's four of us, we'll order these fries. It was enough to probably feed eight people as an appetizer.
Doug:Wait, wait, wait. Just this order of fries. Yes, and so was this like regular French fries, or were they loaded topped with things?
Ashley:So they were topped with a couple different types of sauces and some cheese and fresh jalapenos. I let Kurt have the fresh jalapenos, and the fries themselves were so well cooked. They were super crispy and brown on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside, and I had to stop myself from eating too many because I had to save room for dinner.
Doug:Yeah, it's actually probably hard to do when you're doing like this huge amount of fries. So kudos to Biba for getting the fries right.
Ashley:Oh for sure, yeah, and they got the steak right too. So I don't really order steak out a lot anymore because I like cooking it at home and it's so much cheaper at home too. But I was just feeling a steak that night and they cooked it perfectly, and when the server took our order she actually didn't even ask how I wanted it cooked. So they just do it medium rare and do it perfectly, and it was served with these potatoes and butter sauce and some chimichurri and it was that perfect combination of richness from the butter and the brightness from the chimichurri Just incredible.
Doug:I love that combination with that little chimichurri to brighten everything up. All right, what else was notable?
Ashley:Well, my neighbor and I were talking recently and she loves mushrooms. She is crazy about them and I was thinking what thing, what food item am I crazy about? And it's beets. So anytime I see beets on the menu, which is usually in the form of a salad, I have to order them. Yes, so we got a beet salad and it was just loaded with beets and again some cheese On the menu. It was gorgonzola cheese with the salad, but I asked if I could have goat cheese instead, because I just prefer that combination, and it was incredible. It was tangy and a little bit sweet, and they use local lettuces. Just perfect, I love that.
Ashley:We got a few other things too, like pasta and fish, and everything was incredible. I mean no notes, no critiques, Now, did you get any dessert? We did, we got a trace let chase strawberry cake and it was like the one of the top three desserts I've ever had.
Doug:That is saying something.
Ashley:Yeah, it was incredible, and I'm a pretty tough critic when it comes to desserts because I bake a lot.
Doug:Yeah.
Ashley:And this was just fantastic. I mean it wasn't too sweet, which I, you know. It's like people kind of joke around that you know you're old when you say that you like a dessert because it's not too sweet. Yeah, I'm getting there.
Doug:That's me.
Ashley:Right, but it really it wasn't too sweet. It was so well balanced and you got like the milky creaminess from the condensed milk and the fresh strawberries and whipped cream and it was perfect. We actually had to get an order to go because we loved it so much, oh wow. And then on our way home, we were talking about our neighbor who she's just finishing up chemo, and we're like you know what my husband was like? Well, why don't we give this to her?
Ashley:So we dropped it off at her house and chatted about our dinner.
Doug:Oh my gosh, don't we give this to her?
Ashley:so we dropped it off at her house and and uh, chatted about our dinner. Yeah, giving it, sharing it with somebody, was better than being a little bit gluttonous and having a second serving to ourselves that is the best story.
Doug:What a great neighbor you guys are. Thank you so much, ashley. And so we are talking about biba in beaver. I think it's on third street. Yeah, it's right on the main drag. That's right. Thanks again, ashley. Thanks, you can follow Ashley on Instagram at eatingwithashleypgh If you're looking to level up your summer burger game on the home grill and you want to make sure to take your sides to the next level as well. We get an ingredient tip from our friend Dagny Como of Dagny's Eatery. Let's have a listen.
Dagny:I will say on a whole different note. I don't know if it's I won't say the best, but really good. I just made fries last night and beef tallow. It's my first time.
Doug:Okay.
Dagny:And I will say that I get it now it's good. So like I, and I made like a few. So there me I was, like I soaked some in water, then some I didn't, then some of like parmesan, rosemary, some just had salt so like I'm experimenting, I'm giving them.
Dagny:Well, I want to do this at eight this weekend, so I'm giving my daughter, like, try this plate when I'll try this plate, do you like them? Is one crunchier. Oh, I love it, but um, I've never cooked with that, so it was kind of like something different. But really good I guess, that's what. Mcdonald's used to do back in the day.
Doug:That's what I heard back in the day. And now high-end restaurants do it now.
Dagny:Yeah, and I get it, so it was kind of cool to do that.
Doug:Beef tallow french fries.
Dagny:Yeah, Dagny, thank you so much for being on The Pittsburgh Dish yeah.
Doug:Do you have a recipe? Share it with us. Just visit our website at wwwpittsburghdishcom and look for our share a recipe form. If you enjoyed the show, consider buying us a coffee for this episode or supporting the show monthly. You can find links to those options at the bottom of our show description. And if you want to follow my own food adventures, you can find me on social media at Doug Cooking. That's our show for this week. Thanks again to 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.
