When you see sacks of flour in a sandwich shop, it is a good sign. In skilled hands, flour becomes good bread, the soul of a sandwich.
Recently when I was sitting in Bon Fresco Sandwich Bakery in Columbia and spotted the 50-pound sacks of King Arthur flour stacked in the back of the shop, I figured I was in for a delectable afternoon. I figured correctly.
The breads at Bon Fresco are exceptional. They are baked on the premises of this simple storefront tucked in the Snowden River Center, a small shopping center off Snowden River Parkway. The ciabatta and baguettes have crisp, thin crusts, and remarkable crumb. I am a sucker for good bread, and Gerald Koh, the owner of this shop, had me at the first bite.
Koh baked for a while with Mark Furstenberg, a native of Pikesville who took Washington by storm in the 1990s with his artisan breads at Marvelous Market and Breadline restaurants.
Not only are the ciabatta and baguettes baked daily at Bon Fresco, but their doughs are first allowed to ferment slowly. Working on the theory that the slower the fermentation, the stronger the flavor, Koh uses ice cubes when he mixes his bread dough to get the dough to his desired low temperature.
Then he bakes at a high temperature, 460 degrees, in his steam-injected oven. The results are brown and beautiful loaves that are sold by themselves, at $2 a loaf, or split open and stuffed with meats and vegetables as savory $6.50 sandwiches. The ciabatta, Koh said, is a little lighter in color than the traditional version of the bread. He also bakes flatbread, which I did not sample.
I tried the baguette and the ciabatta as loaves and as sandwiches. I am a confirmed meat eater, but the grilled vegetable sandwich served on a baguette made me want to hug a zucchini. There were juicy pieces of the aforementioned zucchini along with grilled eggplant, mixed with plump roasted peppers, touched with just the right amount of tapenade.
A pork loin - which I was told was slow-roasted, like all the meat here - was superb. It was topped with mixed greens and a little tapenade, and served on super, if blonder, ciabatta.
Bon Fresco - the name is a play on French and Italian for good and fresh - also offers a line of spicy sandwiches. These put fire in the sandwich by adding a potent pepper sauce and hot cheeses. Feeling frisky, I tried a picante Italian sandwich - sopressata, capicola, hot pepper cheese and roasted red peppers. It was too picante for me; I ended up removing the fiery parts and munching on the bread.
To quell the heat, I sipped a small bowl of lentil soup ($2.95.). It was wonderful, with large pieces of potato and loads of lentils swimming in a flavorful broth.
The salads here were done well, and were not just your usual tomatoes and lettuce. The refreshing Israeli couscous salad was filled with chickpeas and carrots. The lentil and feta cheese salad was equally pleasing. Salads come as a small side with a sandwich or are served in a larger portion ($6.50) as entrees.
For dessert, I tried a homemade brownie ($1.88), which was dry, and a cranberry scone ($1.88), which had pleasingly moist fruit.
The decor at Bon Fresco is simple. You order at the cash register then sit either at eight tables or at a high counter, and staffers carry trays of food to you. If you sit facing the door, you look out on the parking lot. If you sit with your back to the door, you get to view the bread ovens and the all-important sacks of flour.
Bon Fresco is a little off the beaten path. To get there from Snowden River Parkway I took a right at Oakland Mills Road, a quick right into the shopping center, then another quick right to land at the shop. But once I got there, I knew I had found a sandwich oasis. As I left, I grabbed a loaf and a baguette, and let the pleasure of eating good bread linger for a few more days.
Where: 6945 Oakland Mills Road, Columbia
Call: 410-290-3434
Credit cards: Amex, Visa, MC
Entrees: $3.95-$8.50
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