argo georgian bakery:

i went shopping up on devon over lunch today. i was looking for indian sweets, but gregg had told me about this georgian bakery on the same corner, and i decided to investigate.

the place was quiet when i walked in, just two guys tossing dough and a radio in the back buzzing in russian. or georgian, i guess. i looked at the glass display cases for a while and selected a bag of frozen potato pierogis, which is when the two guys decided to notice me. the older one came thundering up to the register, scowling. i figured i had committed some sort of cultural faux-pas against the georgian nation, and braced for a scolding, but he threw his hands down on the counter, and all he said was "YEZ!"

"I'm sorry?" i asked.

"YEZ HOW I KEN HELP?"

"can i get, um," i perused the price listing, "a loaf of the long bread, and two of the round bread."

"NO BREAD," he responded.

i looked around the shop at all the bread. the bread on shelves, the bread on counters, the bread on carts, and the bread still baking in the stone dome-shaped ovens. "um. it's not?"

"HEF NO BREAD TODAY. ONLY YISTERDAY. NO BREAD." i stared at him for a beat, and he continued, slower this time, like he was being very patient with a very slow child. "HEF NO BREAD TODAY. ONLY BREAD FROM OTHER DAY. BREAD FROM LAST DAY NIGHT."

"OH!" i said, proverbial lightbulb flickering on. "that's fine. yesterday's bread is fine."

in the end i got 2 loaves of "round bread", 1 of "long bread" (like a baguette), a bag of pierogis, a spinach pie, and a mushroom and potato pie, and it cost me less than ten dollars. the bread smells amazing, the pies were sublime. i'm definitely going back there. :)