MELBOURNE, Fla. – The names tell you most of what you need to know about Simply Bread and Highland Park Sandwich Shop.
Open the door to the two businesses occupying a single address in Melbourne’s Eau Gallie Arts District, and the aroma of fresh-baked bread tells you the rest.
Recommended Videos
The concept isn’t complicated. Paula Gallafrio makes artisan sourdough loaves using not much more than flour, salt and water. Sheila and Michael Pavlick stack fresh ingredients such as roasted turkey, green apples and micro greens between slices of Gallafrio’s bread, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.
[TRENDING: When to see the supermoon eclipse | 80 yearbook photos of girls edited by school | Nearly naked woman arrested after high-speed chase]
“It all kind of started at a Super Bowl party,” Michael Pavlick said.
Gallafrio, who has sold bread from her home kitchen for four years, brought a loaf to the party. It was such a hit, the Pavlicks suggested a partnership.
The Pavlicks bought the Mustard’s Last Stand restaurants, one in downtown Melbourne and one in Eau Gallie, in 2003. They wanted to try something new.
“We live in Eau Gallie,” Sheila Pavlick said. “We’d been looking for the perfect spot.”
They found it in a 1925 building on Highland Avenue.
Gallafrio arrives at 4:30 or 5 in the morning, Tuesday through Saturday, and bakes loaves to be sliced for sandwiches. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, she also bakes loaves to sell, including crusty baguettes ($4), sourdough ($9), olive and rosemary ($11), asiago cheese ($11). All come from a starter she made five years ago and thinks of as her third child.
Each loaf takes three days to complete. It has to ferment, rest and rise and must be folded and shaped. She uses natural, organic flours, some of which she mills herself.
She developed a following by selling her bread at monthly Fleagad markets. Weekly pre-orders are taken through Tuesday, with pickup on Thursday. Otherwise, bread on the bakery shelves is available first come, first served. Get there early or risk missing out.
“Her bread is so simple, but so amazing,” said Sheila Pavlick.
Just as Gallafrio keeps her bread simple, using only a few ingredients, the Pavlicks keep the sandwich shop’s menu simple, offering a daily roster of sandwiches, including a vegan option, grilled peanut butter and jelly and a grilled cheese of the day. Sandwiches come with chips or a salad of the day. Drinks are sold in recyclable bottles.
The trio is happy to start the business quietly. The Mustard’s Last Stand restaurants were established and well-known when the Pavlicks bought them. This is their first time opening a restaurant from scratch.
There are a few seats in the small, sun-soaked dining room, which shares space with the bread displays. An album — an honest-to-goodness vinyl one — plays on the turntable behind a butcherblock counter Gallafrio and her husband Henrique built. Each day’s bread and sandwich offerings are hand-written on brown craft paper.
There’s a small outside deck with bistro tables. Michael Pavlick plans to eventually plant a hydroponic garden behind the restaurant to grow fresh ingredients.
“Unlike Mustard’s, this is so nice and relaxing,” he said.
Go ahead. Walk through the door of the bakery and cafe. If the cheerful, nostalgic design doesn’t hook you, the aroma of baking bread surely will.
Simply Bread and Highland Park Sandwich Shop share a space at 1540 Highland Ave., in Melbourne’s Eau Gallie Arts District.
For the Sandwich Shop, call 321-600-4000 or visit highlandparksandwichshop.com or facebook.com/highlandparksandwichshop. Hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
For Simply Bread, visit simplybreadforyou.com or facebook.com/simplybread.paulagallafrio. Hours are noon-4 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, noon-6 p.m. Thursday.