We have a small, but mighty team of 6 who handcraft each of our croissants, Tahitian Vanilla Knots and Morning Buns every week - they are lovingly referred to as our Dojo team because they meticulously create delightful pastries from a simple dough. Led by team lead Lidia, our Dojo team works literally day and night 7 days a week to create the thousands of pastries we'll bake in the 4 days (or 20 hours) we're open each week. The Dojo team works in a custom built insulated room to ensure each pastry is created under the optimum temperatures. The art of lamination (the process of enveloping layers upon layers of dough and butter to create airy layers of a croissant) is temperamental - it requires precise temperatures to ensure the butter is soft enough it is pliable, but not so warm it melts into the dough. The team works quickly when they are laminating - the gentle heat from their hands can even warm the dough up too much. At every step they are measuring the thickness of the dough, the temperature, and monitoring time elapsed. Between each lamination step, the dough rests and relaxes in the coolers - a step that is tempting to skip but crucial to creating a high quality pastry. Above the Dojo team is completing our Tahitian Vanilla Knots. They began their journey over 4 days ago when the team scrapes vanilla caviar out of whole Tahitian vanilla beans to steep our organic milk with. The milk steeps for days, then is used as the base for the dough of the Tahitian Vanilla Knot. This vanilla-scented milk imparts a subtly sweet and floral note to the dough. When the lamination is complete, hundreds of precisely measured knife cuts are made into the dough, then each knot is braided and rolled. They then rest overnight before hitting our proofers for the final leg of their journey. Our bakers bake them hot-from-the-oven, then dress them in Tahitian vanilla glaze before they make their way to you. We hope you enjoy the handmade creations from our Dojo team! Pre-orders are open now. We also hold half of our inventory each day for walk-ins, so pre-orders aren't required - just pop on by. Have a pre-order and in a hurry? No problem! Double park downstairs and call us at (619) 289-8358, we'll run your order down to you. We call it IZOLA DRIVE-BY.
IZOLA INVESTOR CONVERSATION...... See Ya Tonight! Jenny and I are hosting an informational conversation 7-8:30 tonight for folks interested in learning more about our equity raise. Drop by for a minute and say hi or stay the whole time. Tune in while you cook dinner, feed your kids or go for a run. It's a fun time and super casual. We'll share with you where we've been, our plans for the future, and why we have a lofty goal of raising over $3M in the next year. Never invested before? Not to worry! It's super simple, and in fact most of the over 300 IZOLA community members who have joined us have never invested like this before either. We're happy to answer any and all of your questions tonight. *We'll say this again tonight, but only invest an amount you would feel comfortable losing. Investing in private businesses involves risk. Though potential returns are designed to reflect that risk, there is a possibility that you will lose your entire investment.
VOTING OPENS TODAY! San Diego Reader's annual Best Of poll opens today! If you love IZOLA, you can vote for us as Best Bakery. Thanks for the love and support IZOLA fam!
Sunday 6/4 is the Rock N Roll marathon (and the Barrio Logan Grand Prix)! San Diego will have extensive street closures. We advise all customers to allow for 15 minutes of extra travel time and to approach only via the routes shown below.
Other routes, including many surface streets on the North side and South side of the bakery may be blocked.
Parking at the bakery is unaffected.
Here are our recommended routes with turn by turn directions:
Wow, amazing! Thank you to our amazing team, they show up each day with their whole hearts. Our IZOLA Community, thank you for the love, support and grace, especially when challenges arise! And to Jenny, my partner at IZOLA and in life for leading the IZOLA team with resolve and kindness, and inspiring me to push through the fear and keep building an undiluted IZOLA Future: great food, community + justice. -Jeffrey
Searching for the perfect interplay of crunch and pillow? Of savory, salt and sweet? We're obsessed too! Tweaking, testing, optimizing with each bake in search of a legendary bite. Will we ever get there? Who knows, it's all about the journey.... Pre-orders for the week are open now. We also hold half of our inventory each day for walk-ins, so pre-orders aren't required - just pop on by. Have a pre-order and in a hurry? No problem! Double park downstairs and call us at (619) 289-8358, we'll run your order down to you. We call it IZOLA DRIVE-BY.
SOURDOUGH IS BACK! Thank you all for your grace last week. Jesus is back in the house and Sourdough is back and rocking! Pre-order or stop on by for a hot from the oven loaf.
2023 Q1 Equity Round CLOSES SOON!
Join over 300 investors as we expand the IZOLA Hot-from-the-oven-guest experience across SoCal, expand production 10x, improve quality and profitability, activate, revitalize and create: all while being guided by our justice-based philosophy of economic, environmental, LGBTQIA+, racial, and gender justice.
IZOLA is a place where no culinary school or prior experience is required to work in our production departments, a place where we will invest in YOU. We are led by women and men, gay and straight, white and BIPOC, because we flourish amongst true diversity. Where we choose to do the hard thing if it brings us closer to our justice goals - like manually washing all of our dishes instead of putting more paper and plastic in our waste stream. Will you join us on our mission? To scale this vision into more communities here in San Diego and beyond, we must first increase our production. Increased production = Greater opportunities we can provide for our team and our community. But the infrastructure to support scale is expensive, and that's why we are coming to you, our IZOLA community, to ask you to invest in us and our community through our equity raise. Why are we raising funds directly from the IZOLA family? With a Reg CF raise we are able to open up this opportunity to anyone and are able to lower the barriers to entry to $1000. Going the "traditional" route means that only a select few can participate (i.e., net worth of $1M+ not including the value of your primary residence, amongst other requirements). Jenny and I firmly believe in IZOLA being a community space, and so it being owned by IZOLA customers and San Diego community members is a natural fit. Join us as we take one big step closer toward bringing 20+ purpose-filled jobs, jump-starting the innovation economy and reducing inequality in City Heights and beyond. Our Q1 Rolling Equity Round closes in HOURS! Jeffrey + Jenny
BEST RESTAURANTS 2023
Here are some of our favorites from San Diego Magazine's Best Restaurants 2023:
Top Five Restaurants:
Callie: The Mediterranean Feast is our favorite way of experiencing Chef Swikard's vision. No reservation? Try dining at the bar!
Animae: Caviar Shrimp Toast because every meal needs some bread. 😉 Whatever you try, you're in great hands with Chef Monsod.
Fort Oak: Their veggies will knock your socks off with their depth of flavor - Charred Caulilini, Hearth Roasted Carrots... Cheap Eats:
The Kebab Shop: We have both meat lovers and vegetarians in our family and this is always a win for everyone.
Ethiopian:
Awash Ethiopian Bistro: The meat and/or vegetarian combo is a great way to try a little of all the most popular dishes.
Indian:
Taste of the Himalayas: Chicken Tikka Masala is always our go to, there is also a veg version. And of course naan - because, BREAD! Garlic is our fave, but their Badami Naan is also unique and special combination of flavors (cherry with various nuts).
Thai:
Plumeria: All vegetarian dishes. The Tangerine "Chicken" is addictive....
Soup Dumplings:
Din Tai Fung: For their Xiao Long Bao of course, we also love their Spicy Wontons. We appreciate their focus on their craft and the attention to providing great service.
A word regarding San Diego Magazine: it's independent, community based journalism....Claire and Troy have skin in the game and they are working every day to make San Diego a tastier, more fun, more equitable place to be. Please support them today with a subscription.