NEW NEW NEW....
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Happening this Thursday: We'll be dropping not 1...not 2...but 3 new items! Hooray!
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 First up is our newest limited-edition sourdough, Fig & Fennel. Each loaf is filled with over half a pound of dried Smyrna figs, accented with toasted fennel seeds. Yes, these are two very polarizing flavors, but we think they make for an oh-so-satisfying snack.
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Smyrna Figs are sweet and slightly nutty. Originally grown in Turkey in the town of Izmir, once known as Smyrna, they are now also cultivated in California, where our dried figs were grown. We fill each hand-shaped loaf with over half a pound of Smyrna Figs, sprinkled with toasted fennel seeds, which provide warmth and complexity.
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Available for a short time only!
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We love eating it drizzled with honey and topped with a little cheese, like mascarpone or ricotta. Mmm. The bakeshop sells jars of locally grown honey, harvested by Stone Canyon Farm in Escondido, which is available in very limited quantities.
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Pre-order now, or pop on by. For IZOLA Drive-By, just call us at 619-289-8358 when you're outside, and we'll deliver your order out to your car!
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We're baking hot from the oven every Tuesday - Sunday from 7a-2p.
WAKE UP WITH IZOLA
You've been asking for it for a loooong time and we are finally delivering! If you read our email last week where we shared how it's taken us over 700 tests to arrive at the croissant that we serve today, you know that we are very intentional with all of our flavors, and that includes our drinks menu too.
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Today we launched our new IZOLA Vanilla Bean Latte. Made with house made vanilla bean syrup from Madagascar vanilla beans and organic sugar, we hope you'll find it to be a sweet start to your day!
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We are now also offering caramel too!
HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR
This week's theme is new - new sourdough, new drinks and a new (lunar) year! Jenny and I want to wish those celebrating a happy Lunar New Year. We'll be celebrating by trying our hand at hand pulled noodles - the longer the noodle, the longer the life, so I'm going to try and make mine the length of the kitchen. 🤣
PRICE GOES UP IN TWO WEEKS!
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If you have considered investing in IZOLA, our current per unit offering ends at midnight on February 15th.
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We are on a mission to change the way Americans experience sourdough and croissants. Some have wondered why we want to scale beyond our single location, and the simple reason is that with scale, we can scale our impact.
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We want to provide a healthy return for those who have invested in IZOLA. Scale creates more growth opportunities for our team while creating more living-wage+ jobs for our community, too (50 are planned for IZOLA Main in City Heights). Scale allows us to share IZOLA with the greater Southern California community and offer great-tasting food with exceptional hospitality, served hot from the oven.
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Each investment in IZOLA helps us achieve our goals of building our new production facility in City Heights, expanding IZOLA's sales, providing job training, opening new bread cafes, and improving our technology. Watch our short webinar or visit our Microventures portal to learn how this redevelopment will improve profit margins while creating jobs in a zero-emission dough factory.
If you're ready to invest, just click the "INVEST" button on the top right hand side of the page. You can invest as little as $1000.
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Please remember that investing is risky...most small businesses fail, so please don't invest more than you can afford to lose.
SATURDAY LIVE MUSIC
Every Saturday between 8a-1p, we host local musicians at IZOLA. Come on by and enjoy the abundance of talent that we have here in our community! Here's a little sampling of who will be by this Saturday:
JOYCE ANN MARTIN
8-9a
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Please welcome Joyce Ann Martin for her inaugural performance at IZOLA. We're excited for you to share your gift with us!
XAVY
9-10a
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Xavy is a San Diego native saxophonist with a wide range of musical interests. He is also a member of the Funk/R&B band Heaping Teaspoon.
ISAAC CHEONG
10-11a
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Issac Cheong is a San Diego Based musician and photographer. Also known as "She Blonde Swede" his EP "The shopping cart" is available for listening on Bandcamp.
LEATEA
11-12p
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Leatea (San Diego native Dylann Jelden) has been a musician all her life, beginning with classical violin at age 4. She began writing songs and incorporating guitar in high school. She performs regularly in San Diego.
GABY APARICIO
12-1p
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Meet Gaby Aparicio: Award-winning singer/songwriter and San Diego Music Award nominee. Inspired by her coastal Uruguayan and Italian heritage, Gaby blends cultural sounds into her music, creating a unique blend of pop, Latin, world, reggae, and soul.
OVER 700...
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When I launched IZOLA back in 2020, I just wanted a good loaf of bread. I didn't have any training in baking, but I knew what tasted good to me, so I began obsessively testing different methods, different room temperatures and bake strategies.
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For our croissants, after over 700 tests, we know which ingredients taste the best, what temperature the room must be at when we're laminating them, the thickness that the dough and butter must be rolled to in each stage of the lamination process, everything.
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Recently we've been running a test on the milk we use in our croissants, testing our existing milk against a different brand. It seemed like it would be a straightforward test - a simple blind taste test to see if we could taste any difference in the two types of milk. But there is a reason why we insist on testing and verifying every part of the process before any changes are implemented, as this effort proved to be no exception!
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TEST ONE: In our first test, the control croissants were overproofed, resulting in a breadier texture with small, tight pockets when you slice one in half. On the other hand the test croissants were vastly underproofed, with big air pockets but the webbing was thick and doughy. Yet both the control and test were proofed on the same tray in the same proofer and baked at the same time. So we thought, ok, maybe it was because of the yeast - two different pieces of yeast were used for the control and test.
TEST TWO: Our Dojo team remade the test, using yeast from the exact same block of fresh yeast. In test 2, we no longer had the proofing issue but the test croissants came out too short in height.
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TEST THREE: For test 3 we made sure to obtain the average weight of the test and control croissants and the test were actually coming in slightly heavier and so should not have come in short. Oddly enough, we again experienced proofing issues with the test croissant - some looked beautiful, others again were underproofed. Though the results were nowhere near ideal, we proceeded to a blind taste test to at least see if we could taste any difference in flavor.
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The results?
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2 taste testers favored the test milk, another 2 the original milk - a straight down the middle, 50/50 split!
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BUT...what we quickly realized was that each and every taste tester chose the FIRST croissant they tried as their winner. A classic example of the primacy effect in full force...
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And so here we are, about 2.5 weeks into our test and just as puzzled...But you can bet that we won't rollout any changes unless we see an improvement over what we serve now.
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Ready to experience our traditional croissant - one that has taken us over 700 tests to arrive at? Pre-orders are open now, or just pop on by for a croissant served hot from the oven.
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We are open and baking hot from the oven every Tuesday - Sunday, 7a-2p.
NEW ADDITIONÂ
Today we launched a new organic Coconut Soda from Tractor Beverage. We love Tractor for their belief that beverages should be prepared with the same intention as the food they accompany. The Coconut Soda is delightfully refreshing and is crafted from organic coconut cream and has flavor notes of vanilla and sugar cane. Not overly sweet, allowing the coconut to shine.
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We hope you love it as much as we do!
LAST WEEK!
Last week for nominations! Our fave local magazine, San Diego Magazine, is closing out the nomination window for their annual Best of San Diego list. Love IZOLA? We'd love it if you nominated us for Best Bakery!
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Nominations are open just until the end of the month....
SATURDAY LIVE MUSIC
Every Saturday between 8a-1p, we host local musicians at IZOLA. Come on by and enjoy the abundance of talent that we have here in our community! Here's a little sampling of who will be by this Saturday:
KAHLIL NASH
9-10a
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Emerging from the elite San Diego music scene in California, San Diego Music Award winner Kahlil Nash is a Funk/Rock and R&B recording artist/producer who is a multi-instrumentalist. Influenced by artists Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, and Prince, Kahlil Nash thrives to entertain his audience.(And he is one of our musical directors, responsible for curating the thoughtful lineup of artists each weekend - thank you Kahlil!)
KAYLEE DAUGHERTY
10-11a
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Kaylee Daugherty is an up-and-coming singer in the San Diego jazz scene. With roots in gospel and R&B, her musical interpretations come with soul and passion.
KATRIZ TRINIDAD
11a-12p
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We're excited to welcome singer/songwriter Katriz Trinidad to IZOLA. She has found great enjoyment in performing music genres such as Neo-Soul and R&B where she explores the most of her creativity, especially through her songwriting. She has appeared on The Voice and has performed at NFL, NBA and MLB games.
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THE WILD CHILD
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The Moroccan Black Olive Chocolate Croissant is an IZOLA insider favorite. It sounds a little weird (olives and chocolate?!), it's not usually the first menu item someone tries, but once people try it, they become part of a secret fan club. We call it the "MBO" for short and it is the wild child of croissants!
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We start by chopping black Beldi olives - olives that are picked when fully ripe, then salt-cured. The flavor-packed olives are mixed into a dough made with buckwheat and sourdough starter, which adds a nutty and slightly acidic dynamic. A single bar of Valrhona dark chocolate gives it a small hint of surprising sweetness. As they come out of the oven, our Bake team gives them their final finishing touch - a light brushing of walnut oil, oil crafted in Iguerande, France in the Burgundy region.
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We dare you to try it! What've you got to lose with the IZOLA Almighty Guarantee?! If you don't love it, we'll happily refund ya.
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We are open and baking hot from the oven every Tuesday - Sunday, 7a-2p. PRE-ORDER NOW
LAST CHANCE
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Our Currants & Spice Sourdough will be available this weekend, then it is gone! We also have frozen loaves available for you to stock up on. It makes a killer French Toast....
Our fave local magazine, San Diego Magazine, is kicking off their annual Best of San Diego nominations. Love IZOLA? We'd love it if you nominated us for Best Bakery!
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Nominations are open just until the end of the month....
Before IZOLA, I spent two decades as a photographer, director, producer. I've always been
drawn toward creating experiences and storytelling. One of my favorite ways to spend a couple of hours off is to be transported away by great storytelling. This week Jenny and I finally watched Will & Harper, a documentary following Will Ferrell and his friend Harper Steele as they take a road trip across America. Harper recently transitioned and is exploring how her world as a trans woman looks now, while Will Ferrell processes this new stage in his 30-year friendship with Harper and asks the unfiltered questions that many of us wish we could ask.
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I usually choose movies that transport me to another world. They allow me to release all my worries and concerns and provide a couple of hours of awe and raw emotion. Will & Harper was not that—it was hard to watch, personal, and very close to home. Yet many times, doing the hard, uncomfortable thing is what helps us grow.
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Every single day, when I get dressed in my floral button-down shirt, vintage vest, scarf (or two or three), and black and white Docs, I feel like ME, I AM ME. For forty years prior, I dressed in an understated pair of jeans or trousers and a plain collared shirt, playing dress up as another man. But even though the clothes I wear today reflect who I am and make me feel like a person, each and every time I take a step out of our house to face the day, I take a deep breath and leave in fear.
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I am fearful that today is the day that someone will cuss me out.
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I am fearful that today I must bear hearing yet another hurtful queer "joke."
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I am fearful that today is the day that someone may try to hurt me, or worse yet, Jenny.
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I am fearful that I won't be ready when it comes.
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I am fearful that I will run and not fight.
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When Jenny asked me why I choose not to run, my answer is simple: I am tired — exhausted from a life filled with fear. Choosing to stand up is not just a decision; it’s a powerful step I can take to transform my daily reality.
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So today, I choose to share something very personal and private with you in the hope that it might help even one person find more love for the people around them, more empathy, and more openness to those who may come from a different country, have a different skin color, or wear different clothes.
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Please watch Will & Harper - it is an intimate look into what it feels like to not fit the mold of what society perceives as "normal." It also shows us that it's ok to have questions and it's ok to not understand - but what really matters is that we approach each other with kindness, compassion, and a willingness to try to understand. And to those of us in the Rainbow Community, let's show compassion to those working to understand us. The world has changed rapidly in the last 50 years, and expanding one’s worldview to embrace inclusivity takes time.
SATURDAY LIVE MUSIC
Every Saturday between 8a-1p, we host local musicians at IZOLA. Come on by and enjoy the abundance of talent that we have here in our community! Here's a little sampling of who will be by this Saturday:
LEATEA
8-9aÂ
Leatea (San Diego native Dylann Jelden) has been a musician all her life, beginning with classical violin at age 4. She began writing songs and incorporating guitar in high school. She performs regularly in San Diego. (And she is one of our musical directors, responsible for curating the thoughtful lineup of artists each weekend - thank you Dylann!)
KIT GotSomeBeats
9-10a
Kit is a dynamic artist whose journey began as a DJ spinning house tracks, evolving into a celebrated figure in hip-hop culture. Known for his turntablism mastery, Kit combines scratches, beat juggling, and live finger drumming to create sets that are both technically impressive and emotionally powerful.
Kit's performances are more than music-they re storytelling, where every scratch and transition speaks to his passion for rhythm and sound.
TAYLOR JOHNS
10-11a
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Taylor Johns couldn’t pick a genre she loved most, so she does a little bit of pop, pop punk, country, soft rock, and whatever sounds good that day. She's just starting to share the music she's been writing for 2 decades and can’t wait for everyone to hear.
AARON BOWEN
11a-12p
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Aaron Bowen is a local San Diego musician, guitar builder, and well practiced recording artist. Bowen has recorded and produced many local musicians, he has truly lifted the music community in San Diego. His musical style encompasses many genres fused into a unique, well sculpted tone, that encapsulates the listener into a trance.
XAVY
12-1p
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Xavy is a San Diego native saxophonist with a wide range of musical interests. He is also a member of the Funk/R&B band Heaping Teaspoon.