North Bergen cafe a wholesale pleasure

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The Record

Long a supplier to upscale hotels, including Manhattan's Ritz Carlton and Waldorf-Astoria and the Atlantic City casinos, North Bergen's Hudson Bakery is also a little-known retail destination, now with a renovated café.

The wholesale bakery has called North Bergen home since 2003, but the retail bakery didn't open until two years ago, said owner Mariusz Kolodziej. It offers the exact breads made at the bakery, including baguettes, focaccia and pullman loaves.

Decorated with faux exposed brick, the 2,000-square-foot café seeks to evoke a European setting in which locals can munch on the bakery's bread and sip espresso with dessert. An ample number of small tables, sofas and lounge chairs fill the inside of the spacious café, with a few umbrella-topped tables on an outside patio. The space is also equipped with Wi-Fi.

Among the most popular of the breads, sold whole or sliced, is the seven-grain, which Kolodziej says sports doctors have recommended to their patients to ramp up their metabolisms. Other breads of the 350 varieties available include kalamata olive, ciabatta and brioche.

The café also serves sandwiches, salads, soups (as well as bread in soup-stick form) along with chocolate tiramisu and Bindi desserts.

Breadman Caffé is at 5601 Tonnelle Avenue, North Bergen; 201-348-3097

— Amy Kuperinsky