The bakery is located on G Street next to the Davis Food Co-op
By SOFIA BIREN — features@theaggie.org
The Upper Crust Baking Company, commonly referred to as Upper Crust Bakery by locals, is located in Downtown Davis on G Street. This year, its pastries were voted “Best of Davis,” getting 44.2% of respondents’ votes.
Upper Crust Bakery was opened in 1986 by Trudy and Mo Kalisky, and in 2019, their son Lorin Kalisky took over the business. The bakery sells baked goods, including breads and pastries. According to Kalinsky, they specialize in Jewish and French baking traditions.
Kalisky has been a part of Upper Crust Baking Company for most of his life, and started working in the family business at 16 years old.
“My favorite part of working and owning the bakery is definitely being able to provide quality food,” Kalinsky said.
Lorin Kalisky, who grew up in the U.S., lived in France for 14 years. After studying in France, he decided to incorporate more of the French baking tradition in the family bakery.
“I lived in France for 14 years, and it wasn’t really until then that we really started specializing in the French baking tradition,” Kalinsky said. “While in France and in the United States, I have trained with the best bakers and I have incorporated what I’ve learned into the current bakery we have now.”
Upper Crust Bakery’s current location was opened in 2019 and was previously a Radio Shack. The Radio Shack sign is still displayed in the back room today, the only indication that it was not always a bakery. Their current location allows them to sell baked goods within the bakery itself.
According to Kalisky, the Upper Crust Baking Company weathered the impacts of the pandemic really well. They transitioned to delivering locally and opted into a program called Farm Fresh To You, which delivers fresh food to homes. Kalisky said that switching to deliveries allowed his bakery to do well even during the pandemic.
Reina Yamaki, an employee at Upper Crust Baking Company, said that she loves working at the bakery.
“I really love my job because this is a really nice environment,” Yamaki said. “Everyone is really nice and I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Kalisky said that the most popular pastries at the bakery are the oatmeal cookies and bagels. The oatmeal cookies are “absolutely irresistible,” according to Kalisky. Additionally, they rotate between putting raisins, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips in them. The bagels are another popular choice because, according to Kalisky, his parents made sure to stay as true to the East Coast baking style as possible.
Kalisky’s favorite pastries are the chocolate babka and the croissants. He is especially proud of the croissants because he perfected his recipe in France, and says they are as authentic as they could possibly be.
Written by: Sofia Biren — features@theaggie.org
