After spending eight years as pastry chef at the storied White Dog Café, James Barrett decided it was time to bring true European-style bread to Philadelphia.
James Barret
A natural sourdough starter he created in 1987 and a partnership with fellow White Dog alum Wendy Smith Born was the basis for Metropolitan Bakery.
Barrett’s traditional training in the U.S. and abroad, carefully sourced organic ingredients and a determinedly slow-food approach—each bread’s dough is allowed to rise for 48 hours—have made Metropolitan the leader in regional artisan baking.
Barrett and Smith Born have built the company from a single rack of bread to a 10,000 square-foot facility with national name recognition. Barrett’s signature baguettes, nutty sandwich loaves and crisp organic miche with rye flour are just a few of the big sellers, available at the company’s five locations and restaurants around the region such as Pumpkin, Butcher & Singer and Rouge.
Barrett has long been a supporter of local food, as a co-owner of the farm-to-table Farmicia restaurant. He has also shown a commitment to the local community by employing parolees, mentoring at-risk high school students and co-sponsoring the H.O.M.E. Page Café in the Free Library, which employs formerly homeless Philadelphians and raises money for Project H.O.M.E.
