Manne’s Bakery
Meet the Joes.
“I’m Joe A. He’s Joe D.”
“I was named after my dad and he was named after my grandfather.”
And when it comes to baking, there’s nothing average about these Joe’s at Manne’s Bakery.
Located on Broadway in Revere, Manne’s Bakery is an old school spot serving savory and sweet treats created by hand for decades by the Manne family.
“We’re a third generation bakery. Making Italian stuff.”
“My grandfather started it. And here we are 81 years later, still doing the same things that they did back then.”
“Started out as a bread and pizza shop in the North End. And we wound up getting a bigger place in Revere.”
“One of the biggest things was following the tradition of the way my grandfather and uncle and father did it. t’s not many places that survived the second level mine the third generation so it’s pretty cool to be able to do that.”
The second you walk in the door, you expereicne the smells coming from their oven. And the sight of their overloaded shelves can be overwhelming.
“When someone walks in they’re kind of overwhelmed because it’s like everything. A one stop that deal. You can get your dessert, your food, your bread, anything you want and you see their face with a big smile so it makes you feel good.”
The sandwiches at Manne’s are nothing short of spectacular and that’s because the bread could not get fresher.
“The bread 100% sets us aside from everyone else, because it’s made fresh every single day for that time. It’s all made by hand. No machines making it. You can taste the freshness. For sure.”
That braided roll is a handful and can be loaded up with everything from gooey steak and cheese, to their one-of-a-kind chicken parm.
“The chicken parm, it’s all fresh. We make the sauce scratch every day. We put lots of cheese on it. We put three big full cutlets on each. People look at it and say ‘How am I gonna fit this in my mouth. What’s the best way to bite it?’”
You CAN get the Italian sanwdich on a braided roll, but since it’s so loaded, you may want something more manageable like Mannes regular sub roll.
“It’s big. So it’s capicola, provolone, mortadella, salami, ham, and then you can get all your condiments, your lettuce, tomato, hots, pickles, onions. It’s full and it’s loaded.
Haven’t heard anybody complain yet.”
Manne’s Sheet Pizza is legendary- and it’s made fresh every morning.
“The sheet pizzas a Sicilian pizza, thick crust. We prep it on the pans. Sauce it. Cheese it and then we let it raise. Then we bake it so you get a nice big, thick slice of pizza. So it’s fluffy, sweet. The crust is nice and crusty. Different than any other pizza.”
“You have your traditional, pepperoni, mushroom, fried eggplant, peppers. I think it’s.. the fluffiness usually gets them first because everyone expects pizza to be thin. And it’s, it’s, you know, it’s a full mouthful.”
And while everyone loves the pizza, there are definitely two types of people. Corner people and center people.
“I’m definitely an edge person. The girls will ask ‘Do you want a corner middle or end?’ And some people come in and I want 10 middles like 10 middle, so they take the whole center of the pizza. Now you have just the outside of the pizzas.”
Manne’s is also well known for their prepared foods. From their super popular Chicken Broccoli and Ziti and massive portions of lasagna loaded up with lots and lots of cheese. To their mammoth sized arancini.
“Ours are like a softball. People look at I’m like, holy cow. That’s huge. We do the traditional meat and cheese and then we do spinach and cheese. It’s loaded the traditionals loaded with cheese and hamburger and then the spinach is loaded with mozzarella so it’s stringy. t’s delicious.”
Of course this IS a bakery, so the cases are always filled with everything sweet from cookies and cakes to turnovers and tiramisu to muffins and more. But it’s the cannoli the locals love.
“I think it’s the biggest seller because the way we make the cheese, and the cheese that we use, we use an impostata, And it’s different than most cheeses that people use. It’s really creamy. It’s not gritty at all. It’s really good.”
But for the ultimate Manne’s sweet, you’ve got to try their lobster tail pastry…
Making may be difficult- but eating one of these monster pastries is truly an art.
“So the lobster tails are huge. Really crispy and loaded with cream.”
“It’s a mixture of different pastry cream inside. It’s the Italian boiled cream, ricotta and whipped cream.”
“You’ve got to figure out how you can eat.”
“You’re probably safest is breaking it in half.”
“I’ll take a big bite of it. I’ll break it.”
“When you bite into that. It goes everywhere.”
“The creams just gonna explode in every direction.
“It’s so crispy, they just like explodes because it’s loaded in the middle.”
“I would probably say break it, you know? Because if you don’t, you’re just gonna make a bigger mess than you have to.”
“It’s like a tradition. Now we wait and see who’s gonna get it all over their face or their shirt. So it’s funny.”
It truly is tradition that keeps these cousins going…and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’re here every single day…Our hands are in every part of it. I think you could 100% taste the love and time we put into all the food and stuff we make.
“We just celebrated 81 years, and I don’t know, maybe we’re retired 100. You know that sounds about right.”