Vinal Bakery
Sarah Murphy loves a breakfast sandwich at any hour.
"I just call them egg sandwiches because. I don't think they need to be limited before 10am. They're quick. They're easy, but they hit every note. Doesn't everyone feel that way. Doesn't everyone want an egg sandwich to start their day? It's like a breakfast sandwich? It's like I'm ready for whatever the day is gonna throw at me."
And you'll want to start your day at Vinal Bakery.
Set in this corner spot in Somerville, Vinal Bakery is the brainchild of Sarah Murphy, who along with her husband Jon Olszewski created the kind of spot you'd want to have in your own neighborhood.
"Vinal Bakery is a New England inspired bakery. We specialize in homemade English muffins in six flavors. We have kind of rustic New England style pastries. We've got coffee and we've got really great breakfast sandwiches."
All of those sandwiches are available on housemade English Muffins, something Sarah isn't shy about.
"Making an English Muffin? Oh, I love to talk about this all the time. So ours is a 24 hour process. It starts with a preferment and that sits out overnight. In the morning, the bakers will mix the dough. That dough gets a rest. It gets some hand folds to help develop strength in the dough and then the dough rests for a while again and then it gets cut and shaped by hand. And then it gets a proof and a slow ferment in the fridge and then eventually it hits the griddle or it gets really nice golden brown. A great English muffin to me, it's something that can really stand on its own either just toasted up with butter or really hold a sandwich. Ours are not like Thomas's they talk a lot about the nooks and crannies, which to me is just air which I like ours it's sturdier. It's nice and buttery. It can really just take anything any sort of delicious flavor you want to put in between it."
"Everyday we have our classic. We have our multigrain flavor, oat sesame, Anadama, French toast and then we have one flavor that rotates every month."
Picking which kind of English muffin is tough. But what’s even harder is deciding which one of Vinal's sandwiches you want. Like the GOAT- and homage to Tom Brady with homemade goat cheese, spicy pesto, arugula and an over medium egg. Or the Ham Jamboree topped with ham, brie, arugula and red pepper jelly.
“I feel like it's like you get a little bit of sweetness and a little bit of spiciness from the from the jam. You get the smokiness from the from the ham it's on the griddle which helps melt the melt the brie ]and then a little bit of arugula to just kind of like cut through. It just goes great on a soft and crunchy English muffin.”
For something on the savory side, try the Sorry Charlie; boasting tuna salad, dill pickles, cheddar and arugula. Or the Sam I Am, a sandwich that combines a medium egg, garlicky greens, and Dijonnaise.
"When you bite into that you get a little bit of the like sharpness from the Dijon and the Dijonnaise. You've got the over medium egg so it's like a nice kind of gooey middle and then you've got that nice savory garlic kick to just bring it on home."
And then there's the Miss Maple- a sweet AND savory sandwich topped with an over medium egg, cheddar cheese, your choice of meat and maple butter and this one should definitely be ordered on a French Toast English Muffin.
"The French toast muffin just goes really well. It's a little sweeter. It's kind of like a lazy way to make your french toast. You've got the cinnamon. You got the vanilla. It's a little sweet. You had the maple butter and all those flavors really tied together great."
Of course, you can also get any of the sandwiches on Vinal’s buttery biscuits.
"A lot of people here who love our English muffins, say once you go to a biscuit, you don't ever go back..It's great on any of the sandwich it was especially the bacon egg and cheese it's the McDonald's sandwich now the bacon egg and cheese biscuit. Right? It's that but it's elevated."
If sandwiches aren't your thing, you could always opt for pizza served during the week.
"This is our real kind of nostalgia throwback, I feel like for everyone who had English muffin pizzas after school. We make our homemade sauce. We do a blend with our cheese. It gets nice and crispy brown in the oven. Every time I have it for lunch. I always look down and I'm sad that there's no more on my plate."
The team at Vinal Bakery also prides itself on their rotating case of sweets, with options like fresh blueberry muffins, perfectly executed scones and the nostalgic oatmeal cream pie.
"You get a nice, chewy, oatmeal cookie. And then we make a homemade fluff, to make our fillings. So it's creamy. It's nice and sweet. It's what you remember from a Little Debbie, but so much better and so much. "
It seems what’s old is new again- and it's oh so tasty at Vinal Bakery.
"I like that kind of nostalgia of like what you remember growing up and how do we kind of take that to the next level. And also make sure we make it with the best ingredients we can and with a lot of care. It's a really amazing experience from start to finish."
