The Wait Is Over: Ad Astra Bread Co. Opens on Alvarado Street

August 29, 2023 – The Ad Astra space station has taken flight. 

It started preparing for this liftoff months back, in Seaside, riding a much-awaited breakthrough that was a long time coming.

Edible detailed that, and the deeper backstory, with the recent feature “Bread of Life: For celebrated chef Ron Mendoza and company, the path to breadmaking enlightenment was not a straight rise.”

Flash forward to stardate Aug. 29, 2023 and Ad Astra Bread Co. has debuted its planetary headquarters in the heart of historic downtown Monterey, in the former Bull & Bear (what many locals still remember as The Mucky Duck). 

The fully operational 3,000 square feet and its commercial-grade gear frame a striking space that’s airy, contemporary, stylish, and—most importantly—allows AABC to scale up production for popular restaurants and farmers markets. (Cafes and eateries hoping to stock its baked goods will remain on a wait list while Ad Astra figures out how much product the new storefront moves; meanwhile, Ad Astra just added the Oldtown Salinas market on Saturdays to appearances at Carmel, Carmel Valley and Pacific Grove farmers market.)

That production kick’s happening in sync with the introduction of a slick public-facing cafe/retail counter that is surprising fans with its design and inventory alike. 

Project partner Alain Musich recommends readers peek Ad Astra’s Instagram for a taste of those offerings. 

Some of the rotating mouth magnets include things like roasted broccolini-cheddar-gochujang hand pies, Valrhona Dulcey chocolate cream buns, quadrangular ham-and-cheese danishes, pain au chocolat, curried Yukon potato pies and more.

(Note: They’ve also debuted a quasi-underground IG feed under Ad Astra Space Station.)

“The expansion in what we make is because we can uplift our staff to better roles with the right equipment that wasn’t available until we had this larger space,” she says, citing the sheer joy of deploying a dough sheeter to help with gourmet croissants. 

That harkens back to something Mendoza said last September about the close quarters at Other Brother Beer Co.: “It’s inefficient,” Mendoza says. “We’re doing things that are dumb and labor intensive. My team deserves better. With the new place we can be more efficient and offer more product.”

“For the longest time [clients’] number one complaint was that we ran out of test batches too quickly,” Musich says. “Not any more.”

Carissa Mann will oversee day-to-day as head pastry chef, under the tutelage of partner/executive chef/pastry whiz Mendoza.

After experience with two startups—Revival Ice Cream and Ad Astra 1.0—Mendoza and Musich knew what they wanted with the flow, functionality and guest experience at 479 Alvarado. 

They also found cosmic collaborators in Craft Design Build, the same team behind Alejandro’s across the street and Captain + Stoker. 

“We’ve had so many moments of compromise in the past,” Musich says. “Craft really listened to [Mendoza’s] guidance and what he wanted and was able to without compromise—which is really cool, because that never seems to happen.” 

Hours to start are 7am-5pm, then shift to 7-7-7 going forward: 7am to 7pm seven days a week.

Musich adds that letting guests in and seeing their reactions to how everything looks has been a big part of the excitement around opening. 

“We worked really hard to have the space complement what we offer,” she says.

The emotion in her voice is audible. Meanwhile, Mendoza isn’t able to break away from a blistering scene today to fire off more than a few texts.

“Working 16+ hours on 3 hours of sleep,” he messages at one point, later adding, “We are slammed.”

After the doors close on day one, he does provide some perspective on the whirlwind in process. 

“First day was thrilling and fun,” he texts. “The team, front and back, are absolutely amazing and their energy certainly filled the space. 

“Really looking forward to see the space grow and become even more a part of the community. It is what I envision as a modern community bread shop.”

So, yes, liftoff involves rocket booster loads of intrigue, energy, activity and ambition. 

Fortunately, if Musich and Mendoza get too wound up amid uplift and liftoff, they have seven failsafes in place to help keep them grounded. 

One through five are Olive, Pickle, Onion, Pepper and Radish, their cats. 

Failsafe six is Trixie, their pooch, though she might belong more to the cats than the humans at this point.

Lucky failsafe number seven: They’re also planning their wedding.

More at adastrabread.com.