Bread

Sure, fried chicken, potato salad and coleslaw are considered your standard, all-American picnic fare. But the movable feast begs a few modern questions: Is it lean? Is it convenient to make? It's time to take a cue from the French. When heading for a grassy knoll, under a shady tree, they tote along tuna pan bagnat (pronounced "pan ban-YAH"). The name means "soaked bread." The sandwich ingredients are bathed in a vinaigrette. The flavors seep into the bread as it is pressed. To press it, simply place a narrow tray, small skillet or a couple of small plates on top of the sandwich, and then weigh that down with a can from the pantry.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Little in this bombed-out, besieged city functions, little, that is, but the Klas bakery.This is not a time for cakes and pastry. A starving city needs bread, and the Klas bakery, the only industrial one still operating, yesterday turned out 70,000 loaves to feed 300,000 people cut off from the outside world for 10 weeks.Sarajevo is without fresh meat, fruit or vegetables, so people are dependent on the Klas bread factory to survive."We will do whatever it takes to get bread to these people.

The puckish SoBo Cafe flourished in Federal Hill for a good decade, especially in those early times when Winston Blick, now of Clementine, was running the kitchen. Its last few years were rocky, though, and last fall, SoBo was sold to Anna Leventis, a Towson native who left behind a career in information technology to open her first restaurant. Three months after taking over the comfort food haven, Leventis has begun to steer SoBo Cafe into interesting directions. Old favorites are still on the menu, but new ones now predominate, and they are the reason to plan a visit.

As more of us bid a fond farewell to corned beef, pastrami, melted cheese and mayo -- the fattening stuff great sandwiches were made of -- it seems harder to construct a sandwich anyone would want to eat.Harder for everyone except Tracy Ritter, that is.Ms. Ritter, chef at the luxurious Golden Door spa near San Diego, loves sandwiches, and she loves the challenge of giving them a healthful new look and taste."Sandwiches and burritos happen to be my very favorite foods," she said while arranging zucchini and eggplant slices on a hot grill.

For area restaurant listings and more reviews or to search for recipes, go to www.SunSpot.net/eatsThe evening we went to X Cafe, a raucous block party was taking place outside the front door. Streets were cordoned off, and a beer tent was doing brisk business. The Federal Hill neighborhood was crowded with people who were sipping from plastic cups, smoking cigarettes and generally checking each other out. It was clear that Dagnaehew Bekele, an owner of X Cafe, had found the right place to open his new coffee shop and Ethiopian eatery.

Item: Buitoni Focaccia Bread Mix What you get: 12 servings Cost: About $3.50 Preparation time: About 32 to 38 minutes in conventional oven; bread machine times vary Review: A friend first had this focaccia at her mother's house, and both women couldn't wait to tell me about it. They were right. Buitoni's new mix is a real find - the kind of thing you want in your pantry when unexpected guests drop by. The focaccia, fragrant with rosemary and garlic, is fine on its own. But it also makes a great pallet for more complicated appetizers or a pizza.

Tortillas may be the most popular wrapper, but they're not the only one. A tour of local supermarkets will yield a surprising variety of flatbreads and wrappers.Crepes: Thin, French-style pancakes, 8 to 10 inches across. Packages are sold in the produce area of some supermarkets. Crepes are delicate, so use light fillings and serve on a plate with a fork; definitely not finger food.Lavash: Thin, griddle-cooked Lebanese bread rounds similar to pita. The several brands we found vary in thickness; all are about 10 inches across.

It was a grim morning recently when the toaster broke, but it pushed me to find new twists on the morning munch and to examine the habits of my fellow toast eaters. I chatted up supervisors at two area strongholds of browned bread, Nona Nielsen-Parker, the co-general manager of Atwater's at Belvedere Square Market, and Cris Janoff at the Stone Mill Bakery in Green Spring Station, to get the latest on toast. They informed me that organic honey is making a run at raspberry jam as the toast topping of choice.

Motivated by the skyrocketing price of groceries, I took a stab at growing my own salad and baking my own bread. My efforts did not go well. The salad, made from spinach plants that I had nursed through the winter, was meager and tough. The leaves did not seem to have many flavors. The bread, which I made using a no-knead recipe, was disappointing. It was dense, flat and the crust tasted of cornmeal. I suspect that future loaves would have been better. Bread making, like essay writing, usually improves with subsequent efforts.

A fire damaged four Little Italy rowhouses yesterday morning, including a bakery that has been a neighborhood fixture for eight decades and is run by the community's last old-time bread maker.M. Marinelli & Son, which opened in a rowhouse at 321 S. Central Ave. in 1914, provides bread to about 20 Baltimore restaurants, including several in Little Italy and Tio Pepe, regarded as one of the city's best.By yesterday afternoon, the bakery was again producing bread, much to the relief of nearby proprietors.