One of the things that makes Lisa a great friend is her wealth of knowledge.  Specifically where to eat.  She has introduced me to several of my favorite places to eat over the years, and this morning she gave me the gift of another delicious find:

The Grateful Bread Company supplies bread to many restaurants in Denver and, according to Lisa, is open to the public for a few hours each Saturday.  “It’s like Disneyland,” she said.  “There’s always a line, but everyone’s smiling and friendly and just so happy to be there.”

We arrived about 15 minutes before they opened this gorgeous pre-snowstorm morning and, indeed, there was a line:

As Lisa promised, the parking lot had more than its share of Subarus and most of the waiting customers were holding reusable bags.  It was too chilly for Birkenstocks, but otherwise it was exactly as Lisa described.  Ready to get my hipster on, I leveled up with my fair trade African shopping basket, which the woman behind us in line complimented before totally taking over our conversation with bright chatter about how her in-laws always bring her bread from here, but she’s never been herself, and do we think they take credit cards, and how do you pronounce “levain” and how great is this? I politely mm-hmmed my responses while was trying to decide if her ragged faux-fur coat and tea-in-a-Mason-jar out-hipstered my shopping basket and leggings.

They opened the doors and everyone got the first whiffs of a delicious, yeasty smell.  The line moved pretty quickly and soon we could see the list of the day’s choices:

Then we got a glimpse inside:

and made our way through the twisting turns of the line up to the cash registers:

I bought way more bread that one person needs, but how could I not?  Did you see that menu?  Plus, they assured us that it freezes well.  Not that I’ve frozen anything yet.  Instead I ate one the best chocolate croissants I’ve ever had:

Then cut myself a slice of that beautiful boule of lavender sourdough bread (yes, lavender sourdough) and tried it, per Lisa’s suggestion, with avocado on top.*

So. Freakin’. Good.  I’m already calculating how long it might last if I picked up some more deliciousness for the family for Thanksgiving next week.

Seriously.  You should be friends with Lisa too.  She knows all the best things.

*The mason jar tea might have given the lady an edge over me, but I think I surged back to the top by eating my avocado toast on a handmade table runner I picked up from a little shop in Egypt.  Right?