Blue Oven Bakery
January 10, 2016, the day after the Bengals played Pittsburgh in the playoffs, I stopped by Blue Oven Bakery at Findlay Market. What I saw there absolutely horrified me: I was greeted by a being (the term “gentleman” not being appropriate here) behind the counter wearing a Ben Roethlisberger jersey. With a look of unmitigated contempt, I informed him “I cannot shop here” and backed out.
More than a decade later, Blue Oven is under new ownership, and I’ve had time to reflect on the incident. While I am not qualified to diagnose, no “gatekeeper” should prevent me from confidently speculating. We all have our struggles, and perhaps I simply encountered this individual at the worst moment of his life? Or perhaps he was a paid Russian asset sent to sow discord in the Brewery District? Or perhaps he was overly influenced by a Shane Gillis set? I want to be sympathetic; people are under a lot of stress these days... I can only hope he received the help he needed to turn his life around.
Rather than continuing to straddle the line between a principled stand and an absurd bit for another year, I recently decided to normalize my relations with Blue Oven.
So, the focaccia (which I consider pizza). This is a very thick, bready affair, with a generous amount of cheese and a pesto-based topping. The dough has some not insignificant aeration, with large, irregular air pockets. It’s clearly a well-made bread, although a rather pale one, with only a few dark spots on top. There’s a lot of bread relative to the toppings, and while the interior is pleasantly airy, it lacks the contrast of a really crisp, well-developed crust. The result is perfectly decent, but not something you should particularly seek out.
Still I appreciate the return to normalcy of ending my decade-long boycott, even if there’s been no truth-and-reconciliation commission to explain how the events of Jan 2016 were allowed to happen. No sign of hate jerseys this time, and the folks at Blue Oven were incredibly pleasant. So, I’ll be back for their excellent English muffins.
