ON FIRE
The sourdough team is on fire 🔥....I honestly think the team is making the best-tasting sourdough that has ever come out of our ovens (including when I was making/baking everything myself). With just 4 ingredients — organic flour, salt, water, and leaven — there is no hiding behind our Wild Sourdough. It's pure technique and love. Our sourdough has a hint of sourness from the ferment, an open and chewy crumb, and a crisp crust. Jenny's favorite is the Cranberry Pecan Sourdough because it's just slightly sweet from the cranberries and has the nutty crunchiness from the whole pecans. Spread a little Beurre D'isigny on top and add a sprinkling of Maldon salt. Yum!
Great job Alyssa, Joseph, Ari, Maddie, Chef Lane, and our newest Sourdough team member, Jennifer.
Online pre-orders are open now, or pop on by! We're open and pulling loaves hot from the oven from 7a-2p, every Tuesday through Sunday.
*** Pro tip: Sit at the bake bar and see the towering loaves coming right off the stone decks. Chef Lane, Colin, Ari, Olivia, and Zach are super knowledgeable and love to chat.
BEER AND WINE SERVICE LAUNCHES FRIDAY!
Ahhhhhh this is the life I've been waiting for, tasting delicious beer and wine in a delightful space......We're excited to announce that beer and wine service at IZOLA launches this Friday! Over the course of the last many weeks, Tammy and Daniel at Breakthru Beverage have been taking us on a journey with wine and beer. I had a clear vision of what flavors I wanted our small and focused menu to consist of, and some picks were quick and easy, like the authentic trappist beer, Chimay Red. Others took a few twists and turns before we landed on the final pick.
We'll have a crisp, dry bubbly for you that will compliment our buttery traditional croissant, a red that goes hand in hand with the bulgogi beef in our Bibibimbap croissant, and a white and rosé that both enhance the experience of our pastries.
The Belgian ale from Chimay is perfect with the earthiness of our Olive Pecan Sourdough, and the cider and radler we've picked are both super refreshing.
You will also be welcome to BYOB for a $20 corkage.
We look forward to hosting you for weekend brunch with your girlfriends, birthday celebrations with family, or a simple lunch with a Bibimbap Croissant and beer.
THE IZOLA COMMUNITY SHOWS UP IN FULL FORCE
Last week, we shared the inspiring journeys of two of our team members, Adrian and Jennifer.
Jennifer just moved out of a shelter and into her new apartment, and we asked if the IZOLA community could help us celebrate her with some housewarming gifts. And holy moly did the IZOLA community step in — and in a huge way. The call to help furnish her apartment went out Sunday evening and by 6 a.m. Monday morning, Jennifer awoke to a doorstep full of housewarming gifts.
We cannot thank you enough for caring for our team and our community. We feel honored to work with people like Jennifer every day, and seeing this physical and tangible show of love and kindness brought tears to Jenny, myself, and Jennifer. THANK YOU.
Jennifer would like to share a message with you:
ATTENTION EMPLOYERS + SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS!
It's a complex journey we are on here at IZOLA — from making hundreds of artisanal sourdough loaves and thousands of croissants with 96 layers of butter a week to tracking the progress of each unit to ensure we can bake and serve the food hot from the oven to the guests with warm hospitality. Our team is fantastic; I bet many of you have felt it.
The only way we can deliver this consistently is by building a solid team of people who are kind, hard-working, curious, and have integrity. How do we do it? We prioritize these personality traits and values in our hiring instead of previously acquired skills/education/training, and then we train, train, train. We welcome applicants from all life experiences, including those with justice-involved backgrounds. We have found that folks who are determined to follow a new path in life are highly motivated to come to work with that same drive, determination, care, and passion....the exact recipe for a successful IZOLA team member.
If you're curious about our process or have any questions about our journey as an employer, please feel free to contact Jenny. She would love to share the ins and outs of what we've learned so far.
Second Chance has a new class (cohort) every month and they host monthly Mock Interviews where you'll have the opportunity to meet the newest cohort, interview them and maybe even find your newest high performance hire. If you have visited IZOLA, it is very likely that at least one person, whether it was the team member greeting you and taking your order, making the dough for your croissant, delivering your order, or clearing your table, came to IZOLA from a Second Chance mock interview. 😉
We try to attend as many mock interviews as possible, even if just to provide practice opportunities for the class. We'd love to see you at next month's!
If you're ready to connect and possibly hire someone from the justice-involved community, reach out to the folks at SECOND CHANCE. You can email Scott Taylor (that's him and Jenny above at this month's Mock Interviews) at staylor@secondchanceprogram.org or call him at (619) 839-0960 and just tell him IZOLA sent ya.
PRO BONO ATTORNEY?
As we learn more about the obstacles that the justice-involved community faces, at IZOLA, we're trying to educate ourselves about how we can best support our team members. Thanks to the openness of our team members, we're learning more about some of the local services that are available for healthcare, housing, and more. We've also heard from the IZOLA community and are so thankful for the information, so keep it coming!
One connection we would love to make is if you know of a criminal defense attorney who might be available for pro bono work. We're looking for people who could assist IZOLA team members who have already completed programs at amazing organizations like Second Chance, are on the IZOLA team, and are faced with clearing through vestigial legal issues. Someone who can help us prevent legal setbacks for our team members who are well on their way to being contributing community members. Navigating any large public system can be incredibly daunting, and we can only imagine how much more daunting and, honestly, frightening it must be when it comes to our justice system because each decision could undo the progress they have worked so hard for.
If you or someone you know would like to talk further, please email Jenny or call her at 619-887-6300.
IZOLA MUSIC SATURDAYS
Every Saturday we host live music at IZOLA from 8a-1p. Come on by and see how talented our San Diego community is! Here are just a few of the artists stopping by this week.
ALAN JELDEN
8-9a
Alan has been playing guitar for over 40 years. He has a wide range of musical styles that he likes, and plays many classic rock songs. He loves spending time with his beautiful wife and daughters, and on occasion has performed with his older daughter Dylann, a.k.a. Leatea at Izola, which he really loves to do.
KAILA SHAW
9-10a
Kaila is a self-taught Singer-Songwriter and acoustic guitar player. Her music style is peaceful acoustic, upbeat covers and thoughtful original lyrics and melodies. She puts her heart into every song and when performing she loves encouraging the audience to experience the music and interact.
JADEN GUERRERO
11a-12p
Jaden is an independent artist from San Diego! He loves to sing, act, write, and play guitar. Studying theatre and music at USD, Jaden has a deep passion for storytelling, allowing all genres of music to inspire himself and others. Namely Neo soul, jazz, indie, rock, hip hop, Reggae and R&B.
CAITLIN MACDONALD
12-1p
Cat Macdonald is a singer and songwriter in San Diego. She writes songs about pancakes, carousel horses, longing and divinity.
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