Library cafes usually aren’t destinations unto themselves. When they do exist, the coffee is often stale and the food could easily have come out of a vending machine. But when I heard that Iliana Imberman Berkowitz was opening an As Kneaded Cafe in the San Leandro Public Library, I knew that it would become a destination.
As Kneaded Cafe held its grand opening at the library on Feb. 14, offering the same high-quality products found a mile away at As Kneaded Bakery, which I wrote about when it opened in 2018. But the cafe design — it seats 30 inside and 24 outside — allows Berkowitz the opportunity to expand her menu.
San Leandro, population just under 90,000, sees perhaps five new restaurants open a year, Berkowitz estimated. Calling it a “food desert,” she said she was thrilled to create “another great option for high-quality food in a welcoming, community atmosphere” in the city where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
The library cafe has a light, airy inside space and an outdoor patio, while the flagship bakery has limited seating and offers cold brew coffee only, with no espresso drinks. It also has its own entrance and its own hours.
Berkowitz was on one of her regular library visits with her children a year ago when she saw the vacant space at the entrance. “I felt a lot of potential in it,” she said. “I knew it could become something awesome.”
She emailed the library director and learned the city was accepting proposals from food vendors. She submitted her own pitch, advanced to the second round and then received approval. She signed the lease in September.
With help from Hebrew Free Loan — the nonprofit also gave Berkowitz an interest-free loan to start the bakery — she immersed herself in learning the ins and outs of running a full-service cafe. She is partnering with Counter Culture Coffee, and the cafe now offers a range of espresso drinks.
As Kneaded has earned high praise for its sourdough breads with dark, flavorful crusts. Its “miche,” a whole-wheat sourdough loaf inspired by the Parisian bakery Poilâne, has extra tang due to its rye flour and longer fermentation period. Another sourdough incorporates flax and sunflower seeds, and a honey rye porridge bread balances sweet and sour notes (despite sharing a name with the Chinese dish). Berkowitz also offers challah on Fridays and babka on Jewish holidays. I recall seeking out a cardamom-almond babka during the pandemic for comfort.
The bakery traditionally has offered two sandwiches at a time — one vegetarian, one not — but the cafe features six. They go beyond standard deli fare. The turkey, apple and cheddar sandwich is accented with onion jam; Brie and spring mix is paired with fig jam; and the vegan option features chick pea salad with roasted red peppers and spring mix (selections rotate seasonally). The menu also offers charcuterie and cheese boards, a “breads and spreads” plate, three salads (including kale and grain), and quiche that “takes advantage of our flaky pastry dough,” Berkowitz said.
She is hoping to bring her Jewish holiday specials to the library as well.
“By the time the holidays roll around, I would love to figure that out. The library is big on celebrating holidays, so I’d love to collaborate with them. I’d definitely like to bring a little of myself to this.”
Berkowitz, 37, grew up in Palo Alto. When I met her parents at the 2018 bakery opening, her mom urged me to search for a J. article about Berkowitz at 17, when she was a Diller Teen Fellow. She would frequently take the public bus dressed as a clown to bring joy to day laborers commuting early on weekend mornings.
Berkowitz discovered her love of baking in college and began selling at farmers markets on the Peninsula, sometimes with help from her father, before opening the San Leandro bakery. She envisioned a business that could serve the entire Bay Area. She set out to build a wholesale business based on her confidence in the product. “If I don’t believe that, how can I expect anyone else to?” she said at the time.
Over the next five years, she did just that, selling her artisanal breads in upscale markets throughout San Francisco, the South Bay and East Bay, reaching as many as 80 wholesale accounts.
In 2024, however, she realized she had drifted from what had initially inspired her. “I craved more face-to-face interactions with people,” she said. “You don’t know what impact you have on the world.”
Customers were asking for more items than she felt she could handle at the time. So she stopped her wholesale program and began expanding the bakery’s retail offerings, adding croissants and other pastries.
Now, with the cafe, she is poised to introduce her products to an even broader audience.
“I wanted to do something for my own community,” she said. “This is my library. I just feel very invested in the community here.”
As Kneaded Cafe, San Leandro Public Library, 300 Estudillo Ave., San Leandro. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. Closed Sundays.
Small Bites
Buttercup Diner celebrated 30 years in its current Walnut Creek location with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month attended by Mayor Kevin Wilk and Linda Vesneski of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce. As I wrote in March 2019, Buttercup Diner first opened in 1988 on North Main Street before moving to its current location in 1996. Founded by David and Debbie Shahvar, the diner is now co-owned by the couple and their three children. They also operate locations in Concord, Vallejo and Oakland.
The diner has some Jewish dishes on the menu, like matzah ball soup, a nod to the family’s Jewish heritage. The Walnut Creek location has become such a popular meeting spot for the area’s Jewish community that it’s often referred to as “B’nai Buttercup.”