Local eatery wins praise from Washingtonian’s top food critic

Chef Patrick Wilson cuts bread at the Bread & Water Company on Saturday morning. (Erika Christ image)

A bakery/cafe in the Belle View area received effusive praise yesterday from Washingtonian magazine executive food editor and critic Ann Limpert.

During her weekly online chat, Limpert was asked about her favorite place to buy bread. Rattling off a few bakeries, she gushed that one of the two places she’s “most excited about” is Bread & Water Company. Specifically, she loves its “M” bread, which she noted is “served in huge, two-foot-long loaves and sold by the inch,” as well as their raisin bread, which is “studded with pecans and currants.”

Bread and Water’s general manager, Ryan Shanahan — who busily manned the register during the breakfast hour this morning — was pleasantly surprised to hear the news.

“That’s awesome!”, he exclaimed, proudly pointing out that a previous customer in line had purchased an entire loaf of M bread.

While Limpert described the establishment as “near Fort Belvoir,” it’s actually located in the northern end of the Route 1 corridor at 1512 Belle View Boulevard (see map). Bread & Water opened there in 2013, moving into a space in the Belle View Shopping Center that was long occupied by Brenners’ Bakery.

Earlier this month, Bread & Water also was named one of the “15 DMV Bakeries to Try Right Now” by Eater Washington DC, a popular food blog. The self-described European boulangerie and patisserie opened a second eatery in Arlington this past February.