Auburndale's New Breadsong Corner Bakery Mixes Innovation and Tradition

Since a long-forgotten inventive coffee drinker first added cubes to his caffeine to create iced coffee, aficionados have dealt with the same sad situation: as the ice melts, your iced coffee gets progressively more watery and less palatable.

Edgar Zavala and Rumyana Gizdova, owners of New Breadsong Corner Bakery in Auburndale have come up with a simple yet extremely effective remedy for this dilemma: use frozen coffee for the cubes.

“We just came up with the idea,” laughs Gizdova. “Instead of throwing the coffee away at night, we just freeze it in ice cube trays.” Zavala adds, “The coffee is really good, nice and strong. And with the iced coffee cubes  (they use decaf so everyone can have it), it stays good.”

This is just one of the subtle changes that Zavala and Gizdova have brought to the popular bakery. Both owners were employees of Breadsong Bakery for about five years before purchasing it from the previous owner in May of 2008. In fact, Zavala had worked with that same owner twenty years ago and renewed their friendship when he came to work at Breadsong.

Another modification that Gizdova and Zavala instituted was to make a slight change to the name of the small storefront by adding “New” and “Corner” to the existing moniker.

“We just wanted to make a little change,” says Zavala. “You have to change something, with new owners, to make it your own,” adds Gizdova.

But whether you call it by its full name or just use “Breadsong” (apparently the husband of the previous owner was a pop-rock singer), there is no question that the bakery has been making a mark in the community with its from-scratch baked goods, Boston’s Best Columbian coffee (iced and hot), sandwiches, soups and salads.

Patrons often stand where they can watch the action in the open kitchen and see their food being prepared.

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When asked about the most popular items at Breadsong, Gizdova states that the tea breads are a big seller as are the pies and cookies (“kids come in, sometimes even for breakfast, and they love the cookies,” she shares). At breakfast time, the sticky buns are hard to keep on the shelf, in spite of the fact that Zavala and Gizdova and their staff are there baking from 4 a.m. until close. Quiches and breakfast sandwiches (on croissants or made-in-house bagels) are also a popular way for Breadsong patrons to start their day.

When lunchtime rolls around, Breadsong crafts made-to-order sandwiches on a wide variety of their freshly baked breads. Customer favorites for their midday meal include the turkey club sandwich and, during the summer when produce is more readily available, the tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella sandwich.

Speaking of fresh produce, the folks from Breadsong are longtime participants in local farmers’ markets. When Gizdova and Zavala first purchased the bakery, they elected to participate in a whopping five separate local markets, quite an undertaking for such a small operation (“It was really a lot of work,” admits Gizdova).  Now they are focusing solely on being a part of the large, two-day-a-week Copley Square farmers’ market that is popular with urbanites, commuters and tourists alike.

As the seasons change, so too will the offerings at Breadsong. The last vestiges of Easter goodies and decorations still color the cozy interior of the shop, but soon these will be replaced with more generalized spring-related treats and, next month, with sweets for Mothers’ Day.

One thing that won’t be changing is the staff at New Breadsong Corner Bakery. Though they do hire some seasonal help from local college students, many of the same employees who worked there when Zavala and Gizdova took over are still behind the counter and in the kitchen.

“Pretty much (the people who were here) from the start, that’s who we are and that’s who is here.” Gizdova says, warmly. “We are like a family.”