Scoop: Three Forks Bakery & Brewing Co. is planned for downtown Nevada City

The internet is changing how we communicate in small towns. No sooner had we posted “A hip food-lovers hangout may emerge in Nevada City, near its farmers market” on the FoodWineArt magazine blog, than more details emerged from our Facebook fans.

“And then there is Three Forks Bakery & Brew Pub on Commercial St. coming this spring – right next to Cooper’s,” one fan wrote. Well, thank you.

So we “Googled” Three Forks Bakery & Brew Pub and found a Manta business directory listing. We spoke directly with the owner David Cowie, who lives just outside of Nevada City, who gave us the scoop:

The proposed anchor to the “food-lover’s hangout” emerging near the Nevada City Farmers Market is called Three Forks Bakery & Brewing Co. The principals include David Cowie (the brewer) and Shana Maziarz (the baker and a board member of SYRCL).

“We hope it can pump some life into the lower end of Commercial Street,” David told us.

BAKERY, BREWERY AND WOOD-FIRED PIZZA

Three Forks (about 3200 square feet in the Alpha Building Annex) will feature a full bakery, with fresh bread, muffins, soups, sandwiches — and espresso drinks, David said adding, “We aim to be as local as possible.”

In addition, Three Forks will feature a wood-fired pizza oven. Wood-fired pizza is a hot food trend, as we report in our summer issue. The wood-fired pizza oven at Sierra Knolls Winery, coupled with its wine and fresh produce from Jardin del Rio farm, is revitalizing South Nevada County as a food and wine gateway.

The brewery will be a small, seven-barrel brewhouse, with all the beer brewed on site to accompany the restaurant. David has been a home-brewer for 23 years. Like us, he’s bullish on the boom in craft beer in the Sierra Foothills and Truckee-Tahoe.

The business owners have met with Nevada City Hall officials about the project — including City Engineer Bill Falconi and City Planner Cindy Siegfried — David said.

David said he is hopeful that plans can be submitted to the city this fall and that the bakery and brewery can open as early as next spring.

He also has been meeting regularly with Gary Tintle, one of the owners of the Alpha Building. David and Shana are well along in securing financing for the project.

David confirmed the San Francisco Ferry Building has been an early inspiration for the project, as we alluded to in our original blog post.

We continue to look forward to the expansion of the fresh, local food scene in western Nevada County with entrepreneurs such as David, Shana, Amy Cook of SummerThymes and many others.