The Sweet Life

One day after opening the Newton Highlands branch of their bakery/café Bread and Chocolate, Eunice Feller and her husband had another dream come true:

The son they had been awaiting for three years was ready to be adopted from Korea.

But the road to this doubly blessed place in Eunice's life was not the one usually taken by chefs and bakery owners.

As a college/graduate student in Sculpture and Painting in Southern California in the early 90s, Eunice began working at The Art Store. Under the mentorship of eventual owner George Granoff, Eunice rose through the ranks of the company moving from cashier to manager of the flagship store to buyer.

"The interesting part- and the fun part- for me was all the analysis," Eunice says. "Seeing trends and wheeling and dealing with the vendors. Trying to get the numbers to behave."

Eventually Eunice was made vice-president of marketing. But after nearly 20 years the company was sold and Eunice decided to return to her original plan of attending culinary school.

"George used to call me 'the conscience of the company,'" Eunice reminisces. "I figured I could go get an MBA, work for a big box store and try to bring that quality. But Steve took me to an open house at Cambridge Culinary and three weeks later, I was starting school."

The Fellers began looking for a location for a café right away. But after nearly a year, Eunice said,  "Nothing really felt right. We could look for a perfect café/bakery or we could break all the rules and just start one, build one from scratch."

Bread and Chocolate in Newtonville opened in September of 2006, only a few months after Eunice graduated. "I kind of did everything ass-backwards, " she chuckles.

And this breaking with convention continued with the opening of the Fellers' second location.

Eunice recounts, "Oddly, this location in the Highlands came up for sale every year. And every year we'd say 'this year? No… too soon.' And this year, 2010, we just said 'you know what? We should just do it.'"

They opened Monday July 22, and Tuesday morning they got the call that in two days their son would be ready to join the family.  

"Steve had done an analysis of the probability that Dominic would show up the same week we opened the new shop. 'Two percent,' he said. I said, 'Okay, let's go for it. That's a small enough chance.' That was…interesting!" she laughs.

Dominic, her husband, and her successful bakery/cafes aren't the only thing that bring Eunice joy.  The best thing she has ever eaten is her mother's "perfect" yuk gae jang, a traditional spicy Korean beef stew made with red chilies, spring onions, and shredded beef in a rich beef broth.

"If I had to pick one meal forever, that would be it! " Eunice exclaims.

Bread and Chocolate is located on Madison Avenue in Newtonville and on Hartford Street in Newton Highlands. Videos of Eunice teaching cooking/baking can be found at How2Heroes.