“Bread in the U.S. has no taste. It is very fat, uses very much sugar and shortening,” says Thierry Dieu, master baker at the Greektown cafe/bakery Artopolis. “It is not bread.” Dieu’s bread centers around the flour, and his ingredients meet exacting standards. Since Artopolis opened just over a year ago, his work has attracted so much attention from other food professionals that in early February the cafe’s owners will open a 5,800-square foot wholesale baking facility at LaSalle and 46th.
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Though she may not have expected such quick success, Melidas knew from the beginning that bread would be important at Artopolis. “The idea for Artopolis started as a bakery,” she says. “Artos in ancient Greek me ans bread, and polis means city. We tried to do a bread bakery and a city cafe, married in one concept.” The idea sprang from the ancient Greek agora–a gathering place where people came to discuss politics, and later just to eat and meet friends.
Melidas met Dieu thanks to an introduction from a French oven seller. Born in France, the son of a farmer, Dieu had been working as a baker since age 13 and had trained as a food scientist in Belgium. When Melidas called him on December 1, 1999, he was working in LA for the oven seller, teaching bakery staffers how to use the ovens. One week later he flew to Chicago. He’s headed the bread bakery at Artopolis ever since.
Food offerings, in fact, seem like presents, remarkable for their color and taste. Eleven signature sandwiches spill with flavor, including roast lamb in Dijon mustard and chicken in tequila lime mayonnaise. Count ten wood-fired pizzas. Add some 14 salads and appetizers including a Mediterranean plate rich with hummus, fava, bean spread, baba ghannouge, tzatziki, tabbouleh, and olives. Tempting specials include salmon with fried leeks, decorated with varicolored roasted peppers. But most unique are the “artopitas,” succulent, round minipies based on a Melidas family recipe, a flaky crust socked with gooey ingredients such as portobello mushrooms and Emmentaler cheese.
Martial Norguier turned in his toque at the Pump Room January 20 to take over for chef Patrick Robertson at One Sixty Blue; January 22.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Nathan Mandell.
