Fugazzi Cafe And Bakery Opens On Monroe Street
Business
On a gray, wintry morning, Fugazzi Bakery on Monroe casts a cozy, golden glow, like a steaming mug of apple cider, on the world outside.
Long before morning commute traffic streams past the storefront bakery, loaves of bread and pastries fill the shelves.
The new cafe and bakery is the offspring of the more sophisticated Fugazzi lunch and dinner restaurant on Sprague Avenue.
“We were so confined in that space,” said Keith Goyden, baker and manager. “The demand for the bread just outgrew the space.”
Fugazzi Bakery, at 810 N. Monroe, offers the same crusty, rustic breads and hearty soups with a more casual atmosphere.
Howard Bateman oversees the cafe kitchen.
The brief menu of pastries, soups, salads and sandwiches changes daily. The shop features Starbucks coffee.
The emphasis is on take-out, for the convenience of nearby office workers, “but you are welcome to sit and linger,” said Goyden.
Goyden is especially interested in recreating traditional breads from countries like China, Tibet or Afghanistan.
“I’d like to introduce different tastes and flavors that you wouldn’t normally find,” said Goyden.
“We want to make it fun, so people will come in and try it,” he said.
Fugazzi restaurants are owned by Joe Dennison.
Fugazzi Bakery on Monroe is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Parking is available in the alley.
Import store may open next year
Cost Plus World Market, an import store based in California, may open an outlet in Spokane next year.
Business managers are eyeing several sites in Spokane, including commercial property owned by Tombari Properties on North Division, about a block south of Francis Avenue.
Tombari Properties recently received approval from the city to build a 19,600-square-foot retail building with an attached 5,160-square-foot strip mall on the property next door to the Northwest Bedding building under construction.
Melissa Oldenbourg, marketing and public relations manager for Cost Plus, said their stores average about 19,000 square feet. The company plans to open 20 more stores across the country in 1998. “We’ll make a decision by the end of this year,” she said Wednesday.
Cost Plus features casual home furnishings, gifts, decor and gourmet food and wine from 50 countries, said Oldenbourg.
Cost Plus opened its first store on the wharf in San Francisco in 1958. There are now 70 stores in 12 states, including four in Seattle.
Store inventory might typically include Italian pottery, candlesticks from India, masks from Ghana, furniture from Indonesia.
“Our buyers travel extensively to bring distinctive and interesting things back to our customers,” said Oldenbourg.
, DataTimes