Article: THE REAL FIRST COURSE They're finding ways to keep bread on the table ; FOR DINERS BEGINNING A MEAL, BREAD IS NEAR - AND DEAR

Bread is the staff of life, the thing we all work to put on the table. At restaurants, it's a promise of what's to come in the meal ahead. Good bread, with good butter or olive oil, makes us anticipate the food. It is, in essence, the real first course - the appetizer's appetizer. But stale, uninspired white bread; limp pieces with crust that whimpers rather than crunches; bread that tastes like cotton batting: These things do not inspire confidence. The breadbasket is a culinary welcome mat. Sometimes it gets pulled out from under us.

"I don't believe you can have a great restaurant if you don't have great bread," says Sel de la Terre chef Geoff Gardner. "They say you can judge a ...

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