Syracuse, N.Y. — If you’re heading to a holiday dinner in Central New York and your plan is to grab a loaf of bread on the way, good move.
If that loaf is coming from the grocery store, we need to talk.
This is a region built on bakeries — not the artisanal-pop-up, sourdough-of-the-week kind, but places that have been doing the same thing, the same way, for a very long time. In fact, three of the stops on this list — Columbus Bakery, Di Lauro’s and Harrison Bakery — have been baking bread in Central New York for a combined 323 years. That’s not a flex. That’s a warning.
Bread here isn’t an accessory; it’s a requirement. It shows up wrapped in paper, torn by hand and passed until it’s gone.
At last month’s CenterState CEO Economic Champions Celebration, local leaders shared what they thought the best thing about Central New York was. Dr. Warren Hilton, president of Onondaga Community College, didn’t hesitate.
“For me, it’s the incredible bakeries and bread,” Hilton said. “People rave about New York City bread, San Francisco. But I gotta tell you — Central New York bread? Uh! The best.”
For generations, Central New Yorkers have known exactly where to stop before sitting down to Christmas Eve fish, Sunday sauce or a packed holiday table.
I spent part of a day making those stops — buying a loaf at each — to answer a simple question: Where should your bread come from this year?
Columbus Bakery (est. 1895)
64 loaves of Italian bread wait to be bagged at Columbus Baking Co. in Syracuse. (Charlie Miller | [email protected])(Charlie Miller | [email protected])
There’s a reason the line stretches out the door at Columbus Bakery every December. Opened in 1895, this is the loaf many families measure all others against.
The Italian bread here has a crisp crust and a soft, forgiving interior designed for tearing, dipping and wiping a plate clean. If your holiday table includes red sauce, seafood or olive oil poured deep into a bowl, this is the bread that belongs beside it.
For some families, it’s a tradition. For others, it’s muscle memory. Either way, Columbus isn’t just a bakery stop. It’s part of the meal.
So is the extra “flat” loaf you buy for the ride home. If you know Columbus Bakery, you know what I’m talking about.
Di Lauro’s Bakery (est. 1908)
A ‘point’ from Di Lauro’s Bakery and Pizza Inc. in Syracuse. (Charlie Miller | [email protected])(Charlie Miller | [email protected])
Di Lauro’s has been quietly turning out bread since 1908, and the people who come here don’t need convincing. This is the bakery many North Side families never stopped going to.
The Italian loaf is familiar in the best way: dependable, balanced, built for passing around the table without ceremony. It’s the kind of bread that shows up because it always has.
Ask customers why they come here and the answers are usually short and confident: This is our bread.
Harrison Bakery (est. 1949)
A loaf of Italian bread from Harrison Bakery in Syracuse with some half-moon cookies. (Charlie Miller | [email protected])(Charlie Miller | [email protected])
Harrison Bakery began in October 1949, when 30-year-old German immigrant Arthur Rothfeld opened a shop on Harrison Street with a simple goal: sell good baked goods at fair prices.
That vision carried the bakery to its longtime home on West Genesee Street in 1961 and through three generations of the same family. Arthur’s son, James “Jimmy” Rothfeld, grew up in the business and took over as a teenager after his father suffered a heart attack. Decades later, Jimmy’s son Mike stepped in, continuing a hands-on tradition passed down on the bakery floor.
The Italian bread here reflects that lineage. It’s sturdy, generous and built for sharing. It’s the kind of loaf that feeds a crowd and carries a little history with every tear.
Pastabilities stretch bread
A loaf of stretch bread with ‘everything’ seasoning from Pasta’s Daily Bread in Syracuse with a tub of their spicy hot tomato sauce and dipping oil. (Charlie Miller | [email protected])(Charlie Miller | [email protected])(Charlie Miller | [email protected])
Not every great holiday loaf comes from a century-old bakery.
Pastabilities’ stretch bread isn’t traditional Italian bread, and it doesn’t try to be. Soft, warm and famously pull-apart, it has a habit of becoming the center of attention the moment it lands on the table or next to a charcuterie board.
This is the loaf people hover over. The one that vanishes before dinner starts, especially if you were smart enough to bring a tub of Pasta’s spicy tomato sauce and dipping oil. Bring it if you want to be invited back next year. Bring two if you want leftovers — though good luck with that.
Bread from some of Syracuse’s best: Columbus, Di Lauro’s, Harrison and Pasta’s. (Charlie Miller | [email protected])(Charlie Miller | [email protected])
You don’t bring bread to a Central New York holiday dinner because you have to. You bring it because it means something.
Whether you’re loyal to the bakery your grandparents visited, stopping where you’ve always stopped, or showing up with something a little different, the rule is simple: don’t come empty-handed.
And if there’s a line outside that bakery?
Get in it. That’s how you know you’re in the right place.
