Buenos Aires is populated by millions of descendents of Italian immigrants. Nonetheless, most bakeries sell a pasty, tasteless bread and in some cases an absolutely insipid bread baked in electric ovens.The great exception is La Pompeya at Ave. Independencia 1912 (w/ Combate de los Pozos). This is a great find that I learned about years ago on Canal Gourmet. Founded in the early 1930, Italian immigrants are said to have gotten off the boat in Buenos Aires with little more than slips of paper with the address of the bakery. Now, as then, the place is well worth the trip to find it. This bakery has nothing to do with the Italian pastry shops that dot the lower east side of Manhattan. La Pompeya is as working class as the neighborhood it is situated in. The bread I go for is the round kilo loaf of country bread. It is crusty and made for bruschetta. Don't be put off by the dark salesroom. There are all sorts of surprises to be discovered and tasted: canoli shells, pan dulce for the holidays, flaky sfogattielle, and fresas, large round donuts of dried bread, which I have never tried, but are for moistening with olive oil to make a poor man's bread salad.
It's a two hour round trip for me to La Pompeya but I am always a happy camper those Saturdays that I make the trip. The country bread freezes perfectly.
