Luke Loomis Bodega Chef, “We’ll be cooking with wood, we’ll be cooking with open flame. But the real core of this live fire kitchen is using ancient techniques, the old way of doing things. When we’re baking bread, we’re using a naturally leavened bread. When we’re smoking meats, we’re using wood. We’re doing things the hard way, the old fashioned way. We’re making it a point to pickle and ferment and to apply the classic American way of cooking.”
“When you walk in the door it smells great. Is that the wood that I’m getting? ” “It’s a combination of everything that we’re doing. One of the lovely things about what we’re doing is that it is so aromatic.”
“We’re curing pastrami in-house, and then smoking it and serving it hot. If you love pastrami you will love what we’re doing here. We’re buying Creekstone Beef, which is as good as it gets… We put it in a brine for about 10 days. Then we rub it with toasted and fresh ground coriander and black pepper. And then it goes in the smoker for about eight hours. And it becomes really juicy, really tender. And we take that out, cut it fresh to order, and put it onto a sandwich with mustard we’re making fermented, in-house.”
Owners Dan Papernack (no hat) and Chuck Golder (hat), “You can’t expect the customer to care about the 14 hours that goes into the brisket – just that when it lands on the plate it’s exceptional, and they walk away feeling like they got a great meal.”
Bodega 810 Glenbrook Ave., Bryn Mawr – Across the street from the hospital – Park in the municipal lot on Bryn Mawr Ave