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    Restaurant Review: Flowers & Bread

    There are a whole lot of women inside of Flowers & Bread. You park in the back, follow a winding ramp to the front of the building, open the door, and there they are: a wall of women. Every table is occupied with women. All women. Only women. They’re nice looking people, well-heeled it seems. Still, it’s a lot to take in on the way to the baked goods at the back of the house.

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    Perhaps the demographics should have been anticipated. Women like flowers, and women like bread. It just seems like men might enjoy that stuff too. It’s not like the place is named “Tea Party with Dolls,” or something more traditionally associated with gender rolls, er, “roles” rather. The other rolls are in the back with the baked goods.

    Anyway, dudes are missing out. There’s some good eats at the place: like sandwiches. Built on long, toothsome baguettes, the daily sandwich options are wrapped in paper and ready to go in the cooler (right above some bouquets of flowers). The sandwiches are serious. There’s a Smoked Salmon ($9) offering that’s lushly layered with fresh, distinctly smoked slices of salmon teamed with herbed cream cheese and generously peppered with capers. That’s a classic combo.

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    Less classic is the house take on a Vegetable Sandwich ($8). It has arugula, and soft mushrooms and zucchini that also boast a smoky grilled flavor (though they’re described as “roasted”). Tying the veggie combo together is a sweet pepper jelly and a rich feta and yogurt spread to give it some heft.

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    See? Those things aren’t just for women. Those are bona fide manwiches.

    Then there’s a case of baked goods. You can go basic with a Mini-Boule ($3.50). It’s a great option for bread-heads, a small loaf that smells of yeast and delivers an airy-bread experience under its crackling crust. The Lemon Lavender Scones ($3.50) are painfully tender-crumbed and impart both the zing of lemon and fragrant accent of Lavender.

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    For the sugar fiends, there are the chocolate bundt cakes and carrot cake. The perfectly formed Mini Chocolate Bundt Cake ($3.50) delivers a mild chocolate base with a charged-up, more aggressive sweet chocolate icing. The Carrot Cake ($4) comes in large squares with a layer of piped frosting that’s almost as tall as the cake itself. The cake itself is relatively simple, sweet and dense.

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    There are also loaves of bread. They’re probably not something you’d eat at one of the tables, but certainly good options for taking home. The daily loaf options are situated high overhead in baskets. There are lots of choices, but to be honest, we didn’t make it past the first one on the end, a loaf of Milk Bread ($7). You don’t see milk bread much in the local market place. It has a fine tenderness and richness that marries butter in a whole new way. Although the loaf is sizable, it’s not that difficult to finish in one setting. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

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    You can find Flowers & Bread (plus a whole bunch of women) at 3870 N. High St. and online at flowersandbread.com.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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