Field & Fire — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” I purchased a loaf of the Field & Fire-brand “Organic Multigrain” Bread, at Forest Hills Foods, recently. Since this local bakery was completely unfamiliar to me, I decided to give it a chance in spite of my reservation concerning the loaf’s unusually dark crust. Unfortunately my suspicion was confirmed, as the bread tasted just as it appeared within its wrapper: inedibly burned. Into the garbage it went. Thinking that this might have simply been a one-time occurrence, I stupidly bought a second Field & Fire darkly-crusted loaf, at Forest Hills Foods, again, but of the “Organic Levain”-variety, this time. Yes, that’s a great guess, folks. Yet one more addition to the household trash heap. “Burned” means “burned,” not “carmelized” or some other trendy euphemism, people. Spend your hard-earned bread money elsewhere. Give “Field & Fire”-brand bread a VERY wide berth. One star is posted for the quality of the bread, the second for fooling this dummy into giving this Grand Rapids brand of bread...

I am a 72 year old bread baker, just to qualify this review. My bread is, she says humbly, legendary in my community of family, friends, and community. So, yeah, I’m a home bread baker of upward to 4 loaves a day as needed. That being said, I have occasions when I need to purchase bread from Field and Fire Bakery at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market. Sometimes it’s for parties, etc. Anyway, I’m a bit of a bread snob cuz that happens when you slave hands in over a home kitchen bakery, but I still marvel when I stare over the counter at their back ovens and equipment at Field and Fire. Anyway, today I purchased a loaf of their “plain” Italian White. Their “plainest” bread. It was perfectly browned, perfectly chewy, the crumb was open and airy, the flavor yeasty and perfectly salted. Just damn impressive. As good as my own!! Service is always friendly and informative. I highly recommend the small seeded bread rolls with the fennel, poppy and sesame seeds. Excellent! A truly great...

After looking at them longingly for months I bought some chocolate croissants and cheese danish today. Four items total. I paid around $16, but, I didn't care because I knew it all would be wonderful. Sadly, my family was a tad disappointed. The dough, while skillfully layered, really NEEDS a bit of sweetener if the fillings are going to be without it. Also, it tastes like it's baked with salted butter, yet, these are clearly desserts; perhaps Shelby and I come from a different school of thought on whether a dessert should be sweet, or, as in the cheese danish's case, downright savory and sour. The croissants, while having good quality chocolate, are both disappointingly under chocolated. Luckily, I'm determined...I'll try again, BUT, I'll be certain to ask a lot more questions before I swipe my card. I know somewhere in the near future Field & Fire and I are going...