Saint Bread opens stunning new bakery on Seattle’s Portage Bay

From a historically blessed spot on the shores of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, Seattle’s newest bakery, Saint Bread, puts out a divine, if eclectic, selection of food. Squirreled away in a tiny corner of Boat Street at the edge of the University of Washington campus, Saint Bread’s pastry case boasts Scandinavian cardamom knots and Japanese melonpan, while the prepared menu includes a bratwurst sandwich, avocado toast, and an okonomiyaki tortilla.

Before the arrival of the baguette-wielding stained-glass saint who keeps watch from a window over Saint Bread’s covered patio, the location was home to the nearly 100-year-old Jensen Motor Boat Company, which a customer appropriately called a “wooden boat cathedral” when it closed in 2018.

Now, the bakery gives the same glory to gluten as part of a new multi-building complex called the Jensen Marina Project and designed by Graham Baba Architects – the firm behind other restaurant-centric concepts including Melrose Market, Chophouse Row, and the Kolstrand Building (Staple & Fancy, The Walrus and The Carpenter).

Spearheading Saint Bread is Yasuako Saito, the co-owner of London Plane, and he brings together a crew of bakers whose handiwork, if not their names, will be familiar to Seattleites: Michael Sanders, who created Plane Bread and Randi Rachlow, whose Scandinavian-style pastries previously showed up at Acres Baking Co. Together, they trio holds high hopes for what the small shop will be – even beyond the food. “It’s kind of going to be organic and collaborative,” Sanders said on his Instagram.

As they get settled into the new space at 1421 N.E. Boat Street, all the food is takeout, but the deck sports heaters, a partial roof, and plenty of tables. The bakery plans to open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, starting small as they return to working for the first time in almost a year – Sanders shuttered Plane Bread in July and Rachlow had been staying home with her new baby.

“We want to create a place where we can all work and still live our lives,” Rachlow said on social media, echoing a message that seems to be constant from restaurant workers, after the pandemic has shown them the alternative to the long hours and low pay for which the industry is famous. “We want to pay people enough to live their lives. We want to support local agriculture and be a part of the community we serve.”

But the top priority remains strong: “Most importantly,” Rachlow writes, “We want to make delicious things.” Perhaps the most delicious – and most likely to soon become the city’s most sought after foodstuff  – is the melonpan breakfast sandwich. Similar to Chinese pineapple buns and bearing resemblance to Mexican conchas, the lightly sweet, soft bun has a crumbly crust on top. For the sandwich, Saint Bread splits the bun open and adds a square of steamed egg, which has just the right texture to hold together inside the tender bread – especially when helped by a square of American cheese. That combination of Japanese-style bread with American cheese fits perfectly with Saint Bread’s diverse sources of inspiration.

While the idea of sipping coffee from an Australian roastery (Proud Mary) while nibbling on a Norwegian-style, custard-filled school bun in the glow of sunlight streaming through the stained-glass window that evokes the bakery’s name and waiting for quinoa and tofu grain bowl might seem like an odd, unnatural combination, Rachlow’s Instagram post gives the best explanation of the wide-ranging offerings: “There will be things that we love and things that we grew up with and some versions of things that are combination of all of those.”