Wildflower Bread Co.

Recently, Brian and I joined a group called Tastecasting, which is a movement to help local restaurants gain publicity by word of mouth/blog/tweet/linked in. It is a great way spread the word about the great food that restaurants serve and also about a great experience with fun people! I found out about it from a friend's sister's blog and then discovered that there was one here in Phoenix. Both Brian and I joined and had a great time tonight at our first tasting. Check out the link to see if there is one in your city!

While I will post about my experience tomorrow, Brian will also post about his experience soon as well.

But first, I'd like to introduce you to the place we visited. It's Wildflower Bread Company (WBC) and they have several locations, mostly in the Phoenix area. Louis Basile, Jr. is the head honcho and is obviously quite proud of this company. It certainly shows in the big and little details.

These are just a few things that stuck out to me about his commitment and passion about creating this restaurant:

- WBC lives by the Golden Rule of serving others as you would want to be served;
- his goal was to provide a place where Phoencians could get some excellent bread and also to provide a unique, tasty, affordable meal;
- each WBC has an environment with it's own character;
- WBC is active in the community and donates all its baked goods at the end of the day to churches and charities (definately a plus for me!);
- WBC takes its perspective of abundance and uses it to help others;
- all items are baked on-site and each loaf of bread takes 3 days to fully leaven (I LOVE bread and this is really cool!)

This was our first visit to WBC and we were certainly impressed by the decor, ambiance and again, the little details that convey that they really care about their customers.

One little thing that I noticed before we dove into the gastronomic festivities, was the really nice bathroom. Now I realize that I am blogging about the food of the restaurant, but for me, an indicator of a restaurant's cleanliness and care is the condition of its restrooms.

The restroom at WBC was surprisingly nice. I expected a little, but felt as if I was walking into a restroom at a fancy place. The frosted glass doors and ceramic tile complimented the bright lighting and FREE Bath and Body Works lotion samples on the counter.

I was so impressed (or perhaps dorky enough) to take some photos of the restroom!

Each stall is behind a frosted glass door


View from the loo


FREE lotion samples (Bath and Body Works Coconut Lime Verbena)


They even have a courtesy phone in the hallway


I must say that this first impression was certainly a reflection of the standard of service from WBC.

I expected WBC to be similar to a Panera, Paradise Bakery or Atlanta Bread Co. I was pleasantly surprised to have my expectations exceeded!

Tomorrow: the feast!