Oak Bakeshop Has Soft-Opened and Here’s What You Need to Know
8 things to know before stopping into Providence's "Jew-ish" bakery from the same owners as PVDonuts.
Oak Bakeshop has soft-opened at 130 Cypress Street in Providence. Photo by Jamie Coelho.
I’m eating goodies as I write this, so please forgive the crumbs. Oak Bakeshop, from the same owners of PVDonuts, Lori and Paul Kettelle, has soft-opened at 130 Cypress St. in Providence. It’s been a long time coming with executive pastry chef Julia Menendez at the helm. Last year, when I put together our “Get Baked” bakery guide, they were doing sporadic popups, but I wanted to include them at that time. It’s been a whole year, but now, the “Jew-ish” bakery is in place and the surrounding neighborhood is thankful for its emergence just in time for the holidays.
Clockwise from top: Spinach quiche, chocolate chip scone, honey bread and peanut butter and jelly cookie from Oak Bakeshop. Photo by Jamie Coelho.
Here are some things to know:
1. The hours are early. You can visit Tues.- Sun., 7 a.m.-2 p.m. I went a little after the 7 a.m. opening time and it wasn’t too busy. I could get inside the door and waited about five to ten minutes to order. But I hear they sold out of items by 10 or 10:30 a.m. on their first day, so keep that in mind, and get there early. Coffee is still available after they sell out of baked goods.
2. It’s a soft-opening. Please be patient as they “continue to test and perfect our recipes, and figure out our operational flow for both front and back of house.”
Chocolate chip scones and cookies.
3. They don’t put out everything for purchase all at once. Pastry chefs will be busy baking in the back, but you can only purchase what is available in the pastry case. You might be eyeing the baked goods waiting on the racks on the side in the kitchen, but they are staggering the sales of those items as they are ready. I tried the spinach quiche, chocolate chip scone, honey bread, and peanut butter and jelly cookie, and all are terrific. But I definitely was eyeing the chewy, loopy Jerusalem bagels in the back, studded with sesame seeds, so I will just have to go back!
Pumpkin pie slices at Oak Bakeshop.
4. It’s “Jew-ish.” You will see some Jewish bakery items, like babka, rugelach, Jerusalem bagels, knish, hamantaschen and more, but they also have some brutally good chocolate chip scones, peanut butter and jelly cookies, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie and more. There won’t be a set menu each day, and they will focus on seasonality. Items that aren’t available first thing in the morning, might be on sale an hour or two later. Be flexible. They are making and selling new stuff all morning.
The pastry case and coffee bar at Oak Bakeshop.
5. There’s a full coffee bar. It’s fueled by a powder pink Italian La Marzocco espresso machine, so you can get a latte, cappuccino, cortado, mocha and more to pair with your goodies.
6. Indoor seating. They finally got their delivery of chairs for seating, so there’s a place to linger over coffee.
Photo from @prussnerprinting on Instagram.
7. There’s lots of merch for purchase. Pick up some nifty t-shirts (made by Prussner Printing), candles, glasses, house blend coffee beans, greeting cards, key chains and more (good to know if you need a last-minute gift or pick-me-up for a friend.)
Merch for purchase.
8. There is no online ordering yet. You have to go in person and choose from what is available at that moment. “We want to take our time and learn to do things right in-person before jumping headfirst into online ordering,” say the owners in an Instagram post.
130 Cypress St., Providence, oakbakeshop.com
Get all the latest updates on Instagram at instagram.com/oakbakeshop.
