The new bakery and cafe from the owners of Baked & Wired may not have a name yet, but it is open. A sign on the door calls the place A Baked Joint with a side arrow explaining “temporary name.”
“Indecision is a terrible flaw,” says co-owner Tony Velazquez. “We couldn’t make up our minds… We thought that when we get our permits, they’ll make us have a name, but that’s not the case. You can skirt around that.” He hopes to settle on an official name in the next week or so.
Located in Mount Vernon Triangle, the bakery centers around breads baked in-house. Velazquez says they have eight to 10 types of bread right now, but they plan to eventually have as many as 15 to 20 loaves in rotation.
As promised, there is artisanal toast on the menu inspired by the San Francisco craze that Velazquez and his wife, co-owner Teresa Velazquez, experienced during a recent trip to California. But the owners have decided to make the fancy toast a less prominent part of the menu. The current menu offers toast with four topping options including “straight up butter”; Nutella, butter, and sea salt; and peanut butter with with Sriracha drizzle and cilantro. Prices range from $1.50 to $2.75.
“We ended up thinking it’s a good thing to have, but it’s not a main thing for us anymore,” Velazquez says. He explains it was better not to alter the bread, and toasting alters the bread by sucking up the moisture.
The bakery will instead showcase the bread with sandwiches (all $10), including a couple vegetarian options, curry chicken salad, and meatloaf. The breakfast menu also features biscuit sandwiches and an open-faced baguette with scallion cream cheese, tomato, and fried capers as well as quiches, yogurt, and oatmeal. Once or twice a week, there will also be a pizza night.
While there are no cupcakes in sight, many of Baked & Wired’s signature sweets have carried over. A display case showcases brownies, cakes, pies, breakfast breads, lemon bars, and more. There are also a number of cookie jars filled with snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies.
The coffee offerings are the same as Baked & Wired, but the new place has alcohol too. There are a few local beers available as well as three cocktails ($9 each) made with fresh-squeezed juices and herbs from a garden. “We’ve always done stuff from scratch at Baked, and that’s what we’re trying to do with everything else,” Velazquez says.
That also applies to the shelves filled with canned and packaged foods. In addition to popcorn and Baked & Wired’s famous Hippie Crack granola, the new place sells jars of pickled okra, beets, and cucumbers as well as peach and strawberry-rhubarb jam.
The 4,500-square-foot space is significantly larger than its sister establishment. There’s a communal table up front and a bunch of smaller tables further back. Head up a few stairs and you’ll find a lounge area with sofas and ottomans. Velazquez wants it to be a place where neighbors can “come and chill.” But like Baked & Wired, there is no Wi-Fi.
“We see our type of establishment as a place where people to go to chat,” Velazquez says. “What we’re trying to do is not have the majority of people on a laptop and just being focused on that.”
Take a look at some photos plus the breakfast and lunch menus below.
Unnamed bakery; 440 K St. NW; abakedjoint.com
Photos by Jessica Sidman