Beginning May 24, 2022, Commonplace Coffee officially began serving Driftwood Oven food and pastries at all Pittsburgh cafe locations.
Menu items include: Chocolate chunk cookies (including a vegan option), brownies, blueberry muffins, savory scones, coffeecake, cinnamon rolls featuring a coffee-infused glaze, plain and chocolate croissants, seed & nut bars (vegan), pepperoni rolls, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, grilled cheese, deli sandwiches including a turkey club, and a mixed greens salad.
Driftwood Oven, based in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, is a sourdough pizzeria and bakery with a strong focus on locally sourced ingredients. Check out our interview with owner and co-founder Neil Blazin!
Commonplace: Kicking things off with the hardest question – do you have a favorite coffee roasted by Commonplace? Or a favorite drink and pastry pairing?
Neil Blazin: One of my absolute favorite things to have with coffee or an americano is our shortbread cookie! Generally I really dig on Americanos and will try all coffee varieties that are available but don’t really have a favorite. I just love coffee in general.
CP: How did this partnership start to develop?
NB: This partnership, like many partnerships or relationships that we find ourselves in, grew organically from being in the food service industry. I’ve known Bobby Chaffin, Commonplace’s Director of Operations, for a long time, and when my team at Driftwood was looking to expand its bakery program, I reached out to Bobby to see if they were interested in our baked goods for the Commonplace Shops. As we started to discuss options, it became apparent that the timing was perfect. Driftwood was looking to grow and Commonplace wanted to eliminate a tough process of getting pastries from Indiana to Pittsburgh. It was Kismet.
CP: What was your process like creating new items for Commonplace?
NB: The process was fun! All of us at the shop got to taste, sample, experiment, remake and explore new items we knew we could do, but didn’t necessarily have an outlet for. It’s been exciting for us to expand our culinary tools and learn a lot of new processes and movements along the way.
CP: How does the sourdough component affect Driftwood’s pastries?
NB: Our sourdough affects all of our risen items in a few interesting and fascinating ways! First, the shelf life is incomparable to yeast-only risen breads. Due to the lactic and acetic acid in the doughs (this leads to the “sourness”), the shelf life is improved greatly. These breads are risen with a sourdough starter, but when we bulk rise our doughs, we are simultaneously fermenting our grains. This aids in digestion and also helps the body absorb more of the nutrients from the bread. We also mix whole grain flours into all of our doughs, which ensure you’re getting a complete grain and not just the white flour part (endosperm)!
CP: What are you most excited about as it relates to this partnership?
NB: What makes me most excited is that I believe the synergy between Commonplace and Driftwood is great. Both of these companies have a lot of the same core values and to bring those values together in a partnership where we both benefit is incredible. It is really an amazing opportunity for Driftwood to help grow our brand and for our food to reach some new customers.
CP: What does it mean to partner with Commonplace Coffee?
NB: It feels great to be partnered with such a longstanding and well known company here in Pittsburgh. You never know where life will take you, and I couldn’t have predicted that this would be a project we took on in 2022, but I’m sure glad we did! Really looking forward to making those deliveries!
Driftwood Oven baked goods are available at the following Commonplace Coffee locations:
Garfield: 5467 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Mexican War Streets: 1501 Buena Vista St, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Point Breeze: 6736 Reynolds St, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Squirrel Hill: 5827 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
