By LILLIAN GLAROS
Manifest Bread, a bakery across from the Riverdale Park MARC station, reopened on May 28 after 10 months of renovations.
Co-owner Rick Cook said the renovation added space for bakery production, staff and customers.
“The little cafe place in the front, where everybody was to eat, was very small and constricted,” Cook said.
Now, Cook said, there’s more space in the business for people to sit down and hang out.
The menu is also expanding, Cook said.
Renovations took twice as long as expected, Cook said, due to permitting and weather issues, especially snowy weather around the end of 2024. The renovations were originally supposed to take four months.
The bakery is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Soon the business will also have night hours, Cook said, which tentatively could be 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. The nighttime experience would also come with a different menu.
Manifest Bread’s storefront opened in January 2023, but Cook and his wife, Tyes Cook, started selling bread out of their house and at a wine store in 2018.
The bakery sells bread, pastries and sandwiches. The chocolate chip pecan cookie is the most popular item on the menu, and the cardamom buns come in second, Cook said. The location also serves coffee and other drinks like lemonade, beer, cocktails and wine.
Mid-morning on Sunday, June 15, the line of customers came out the door and down the block.
“It’s a local favorite, and for me and my wife, the other owner here … it’s important, first and foremost, that we are here for the community,” Cook said.
South Carolinian Natalie Geiger was visiting the bakery with her friend, Rachel Dey, after Dey, a Riverdale resident and repeat customer, recommended the bakery.
Geiger said she liked the bakery, enjoying both its ambience and food.
“I love how everybody here seems to be chatting and talking,” Geiger said. “So often you go into a cafe and people are on their laptops or working, and you can tell people are really here to be in community and speak with one another.”
Like Geiger, Dey also enjoys the ambience of the bakery, she said.
“I think it’s a nice place to take people to breakfast, it is very warm and inviting, and has a nice vibe,” Dey said.
The pair tried the salted caramel corn cookie and the olive oil Cake with strawberry glaze, which Geiger said were “delightful” and “rich.”
Dey said she likes the bakery’s expanded space and the addition of the bar area.
“I feel like there’s way more seating, which is nice,” Dey said “It used to be so cramped, so it’s really nice that it expanded.”
Dey said that while the bakery’s prices, which are around $3 to $8 for a pastry, $4.50 to $13 for bread and $12 to $14 for a sandwich, are a bit pricey, they are worth it for a treat that is freshly made and tasty.
