Beyond Bread

Believe Beyond Bread’s name. In addition to a few dozen different sorts of loaves, rolls, ciabattas, focaccias, baguettes, pretzels, and pitas that are baked every day, the kitchen’s repertoire includes sandwiches, pastries to accompany coffee, salads, and three kinds of mac ‘n’ cheese.

When I stopped in for lunch, the special was a brat: a beautiful, taut, spicy sausage piled with sauerkraut and stuffed into a pretzel roll that has a sturdy crust and chewy insides. With German potato salad on the side, this is a grand sandwich.

Turkey is freshly cut for the sandwich known as Avi’s Avo, which also includes avocado, cucumber, sprouts, and mayo. But it’s the ciabatta roll on which it’s made that steals the show. Risen high with big spring to its crumb, it is fresh-baked bread at its finest. I’d love it with nothing but butter.

Omelets, quiche, egg sandwiches, and French toast are available for breakfast, as are a wide array of sweet pastries, including an elegant Kouign-amann, fruit pinwheels, sweet-roll swirls, and “cup o’ coffee cake,” which is an individual serving of cake baked and served in a cup. Add good coffee and espresso, a spacious dining room in which to indulge, and you have a delightful destination for breakfast (or lunch or brunch or snack or supper).

Other locations: 421 W. Ina (520-461-1111), 6260 E. Speedway (520-747-7477), and Tucson International Airport