Matilda's Bakery is holding a second soft opening starting Friday, with morning service running from 8 a.m. to noon from Friday through Sunday at 3200 Airport Ave., right where Santa Monica meets Mar Vista. The weekend run brings back a menu built around four-day fermented dough, hand-laminated pastries and bread baked fresh on site every day.
According to Santa Monica Mirror, the bakery is using organic ancient grains from Arizona's Hayden Flour Mills alongside imported French flour. The same report notes a four-day fermentation process, while the bakery's own site describes the timeline as “Four days from mix to counter, most of it spent fermenting,” per Matilda's Bakery.
Croissants, Quiche and a Loaded Bread Case
The pastry case covers familiar ground and a few specialty items at once. Per the Mirror's report, the lineup includes traditional butter, almond, chocolate and ham-and-cheese croissants, plus a gruyère-and-chive quiche and specialty danishes. Savory options also include sausage rolls and veggie mushroom rolls, the outlet notes, and the pastries are hand-laminated in small batches, a method the bakery's own site confirms by saying they are “Laminated by hand, in small batches.”
The bread program is just as deep. The Mirror reports daily-baked selections that include classic baguettes, sesame epis, sourdough loaves, seeded sourdough, brioche loaves, chocolate cramique, honey butter toast and a five-ingredient sandwich loaf, all produced fresh on site.
Sandwiches, Coffee and a Butter Bar
For something more substantial, the bakery's prepared sandwiches lean on imported ingredients: ham with Comté and salted DOP butter, turkey with Havarti, and a marinated fresh zucchini option with goat cheese, pine nuts, arugula sprouts and onion confit, according to the same report. Coffee comes from close by, too — the bakery sources its espresso beans directly from Caffe Luxxe, just a few miles away, the bakery's site states.
Matilda's also leans into an international butter selection served at room temperature alongside bread, house-made organic whipped ricotta and other spreads, the Mirror reports. Guests can build custom slice pairings with cream cheese, peanut butter, maple syrup, Nutella or house-made seasonal jam to round out the morning order.
The weekend soft opening gives Westside bakery fans another shot at the menu before any longer-term schedule is announced. For now, the window to visit is set: morning service only, Friday through Sunday, at the Airport Avenue address straddling the Santa Monica and Mar Vista border.
