Brandon’s Bread to sell loaves in Park Circle
Bread from Brandon’s Bread will soon be available for purchase at EVO Craft Bakery on North Charleston’s East Montague Avenue. Plus, to add a crunchy crust to the crumb, a Brandon’s Bread downtown Charleston location is in the works for 2026.
EVO terminated its wholesale bread program in October, but continues to make pastries for its retail bakery, which has operated for a dozen years alongside EVO’s popular pizzeria.
Brandon McDaniel started baking during culinary school, and once he relocated to Charleston from Las Vegas in 2022, began baking bread for James London and team at Chubby Fish. Soon he began selling loaves at the Sea Island Farmers Market (where the company still has a weekly presence), and picked up additional wholesale accounts, baking bread for other restaurants, including pumpernickel for Vern’s, and various other loaves for Lost Isle, Bar George, and Estadio.
“Any chef can tell you that consistency is key, and he’s the most consistent baker I’ve worked with in this town,” says Estadio’s executive chef Alex Eaton Poole. “The flavor, shape, and crumb are consistent; we primarily use the sourdough for its slight tang, moisture, and crusty exterior.”
All the grains McDaniel uses are grown and milled in the Carolinas, important for freshness and the flavors he’s passionate about showcasing. He’s equally passionate about growing his business since, “Charleston has had a bread void for a while. I moved into the space so I could get real bread to more people and illustrate that bread can be healthy when made with good grain and natural leavening.”
To ramp up production, McDaniel leased EVO’s retired wholesale bakery in Hanahan, and bought the equipment EVO no longer needed. He’s sharing the space with Uncle John’s Bagels, a forthcoming Grateful Dead-themed bagelry on James Island, under an arrangement termed the Cultured Breads collective.
Brandon’s Breads are now sold at the aforementioned Sea Islands Market and The Sunday Brunch Farmers Market at the Pourhouse. EVO owner Matt McIntosh projected they’ll join the EVO lineup within two or three weeks.
Cake, cocktails, and fancy knives
Late last fall, Quintin Middleton opened a Middleton Made Knives showroom in the Navy Yard, where his handcrafted knives are lined up like jewelry in glass cases, envisioning it as a space for other Black creatives to connect with the community, too. On February 22, he makes good on that idea when he hosts the inaugural Black Artisan Market from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Caking it With Candi and The Cocktail Bandits will be serving sweets and sips, and artists The Overstreet Brothers of Boysterous Southern Couture and Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson of Gullah Sweetgrass Baskets will also be selling their work. If you’re a Black artisan who wants to get in on the fun, there’s still some room to join.
Left: Quintin Middleton at the grand opening of Middleton Made Knives at the Navy Yard in 2024/ Stephanie Burt
Indaco remains intact
With the Board of Architectural Review’s decision earlier this week to allow demolition of 534-538 King Street, most recently home to Reeves & Son Shoe Repair and Affordabike, a lot of eyes are on that section of Upper King. As such, I heard some concern about a For Lease/Leased sign hanging over the patio portion of Indaco at 528 King.
The restaurant is not parceling off its patio, Steve Palmer of Indigo Road Hospitality Group assures me, but has new neighbors for the commercial space above the restaurant. “The patio is full every night, so no worries there,” Palmer says.
Feel free to get your patio pizza-and-pasta fix for the foreseeable future, Indaco fans.
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