At 285 Lafayette Street, at the corner of Jersey Street, a custom multi-deck oven holds ten loaves per shelf, and customers watch the bakers through a pane of glass. RYE by Martin Auer opened there on September 10 in a 3,000-square-foot space. Tim Auer, who is 23 and runs the business with his father, told Grub Street the family had to win over landlords. He asked who would rent "their premium spot to this no-name from Austria with no track record in the U.S. who wants to put in a two-ton oven instead of giving it to Chanel?"
The oven got the space. Since then, the bakery has been known mostly for one number. The whole loaf of 100% rye sourdough costs $60, and that price traveled. USA Today recorded the backlash, including one commenter who called it "completely out of touch." Few readers got as far as how the bread is actually sold. When they did, it pointed to a pattern across SoHo's other September daytime openings. They open early, they sell something you can come back for, and two of them meet at the same $15 price.
What a Quarter Loaf Actually Is
The full loaf weighs 3.3 pounds and is made from four ingredients: rye flour, water, salt and what the Auers call time. They use the same 57-year-old starter for every loaf, and the rye flour is milled fresh in Austria and shipped over. RYE sells the loaf whole for $60, by the half for $30 and by the quarter for $15.
The quarter is the size that matters. RYE's managers told Advantage Austria that most customers skip the whole loaf and that the quarter is "by far the most popular option." Tim Auer told Grub Street that a quarter can cover breakfast and lunch for two people for two days. Gadi Peleg, who founded Breads Bakery, went to the opening and told The Guardian a quarter could be about the size of a standard loaf elsewhere. Food & Wine ran a blind tasting against New York rye sourdoughs priced from $7.99 to $9. RYE came second by a narrow margin, and the magazine suggested that curious eaters start with the $15 quarter.
If you buy a loaf for the week, a few details from the Auers are useful:
- Have it sliced at the counter. Tim Auer told the New York Post a whole loaf is hard to cut at home without "a really good bread knife."
- Plan on several days, but not too many. Tim Auer told the Post a loaf keeps about six days at home. The company's managers have said up to ten days when it's stored properly.
- Try a slice first. The "On Rye" menu has single topped slices, priced from $6 for butter and chives to $14 for roe on rye. Liptauer, a paprika-tinted Austrian cheese spread with chives, is $8.
- Go early or late. RYE is open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It also serves coffee, kombucha and natural wine.
Martin Auer has said why he didn't bring his Austrian cafés' baguettes and croissants. He told Grub Street that good versions of those can already be found in big cities, and that rye sourdough is "our staple." The bakery was built around one everyday product. The price got the attention, but the quarter loaf is how most people buy it.
Two Blocks West, the Same Fifteen Dollars
On September 25, chef Salvo Lo Castro opened La Salumeria Soho at 195 Spring Street, at the corner of Sullivan Street, next to his restaurant Casasalvo. The shop sells Italian sandwiches for $15 and also offers Italian wine, aperitivi and cheese tastings. It is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
So RYE's most popular size and La Salumeria's sandwich cost the same. Both shops open at 8 a.m. Two other daytime counters opened within a few blocks of Spring Street in the same weeks:
| Counter | Address | Opened | Hours | What the price looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RYE by Martin Auer | 285 Lafayette St, at Jersey St | Sept 10 | Daily, 8 a.m.–7 p.m. | $15 quarter loaf; slices $6–$14 |
| La Salumeria Soho | 195 Spring St, at Sullivan St | Sept 25 | Daily, 8 a.m.–9 p.m. | $15 Italian sandwiches |
| ÓOL | 178 Spring St, near Thompson St | Sept 9 | Tue–Sun, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. | Prices not yet published in coverage |
| Sandwell | 157 Prince St, between West Broadway and Thompson St | Reported open Sept 17 | Daily, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. | Sandwich prices not listed online; $6 chips, pickle and drink add-on |
Sandwell is the third Manhattan location for founder Andy Gottlieb. The first opened on the Upper West Side in October 2023 and the second in Gramercy in June 2025. The Prince Street shop is 800 square feet with 12 seats. Every sandwich is made to order and toasted, and the semolina rolls are baked in-house after the dough cold-proofs for more than 24 hours. The menu includes a Turkey Meatball Sub, Chicken Pesto Burrata, Spicy Chicken Banh Mi and a vegan sandwich called the Remy. Gottlieb told Patch he started the business after years of looking for a toasted sandwich "made from real ingredients" and not finding one.
The Breads Bakery Thread
ÓOL, at 178 Spring Street, links back to RYE through a supplier. Founder Ilana Gutierrez grew up in Mexico City, and she bases the café on the Mesoamerican taller de cacao, or cacao workshop. Her aim is to serve cacao as a drink rather than as a candy ingredient. At the cacao bar, you choose single-origin cacao from Ecuador, Colombia or Belize, then water, milk or oat milk, then a spiced syrup such as chile, cardamom or ginger. There is also a Cacao Coconut Cold Brew.
The pastries come from Breads Bakery, which makes them only for ÓOL. They include a cacao swirl, a cacao chip cookie and a cacao croissant made with cacao fruit. Breads' founder, Gadi Peleg, is the same baker who defended RYE's rye in The Guardian. He told the paper, "I'm so thrilled that somebody else is now talking about rye in New York." That gives two of the four new counters a common link to one established New York bakery.
Mexico City's Jorge Campos Estudio designed ÓOL's two levels, with a sculptural stone cacao bar, natural wood, leather seating and pieces by Mexican artisans. The café also sells Mexican ceramics, cacao preparation kits and a candle made with KLEIO. ÓOL was founded with Silver Street Hospitality. When it opened, the café said a lower-level studio for tastings and workshops would follow within weeks, and that it planned to move from six days a week to seven. For now, ÓOL is closed on Mondays, so check before planning a Monday morning around it.
How the Day Lays Out
These four counters together cover the day from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on blocks better known for fashion openings. The SoHo Broadway Initiative's October list of new arrivals is mostly retail. Victoria Beckham opened at 150 Mercer, Magda Butrym opened its first New York store at 170 Mercer, and Babylist opened a showroom at 477 Broadway. Here is how the new food counters fit into a day:
- 8 a.m. RYE, La Salumeria Soho and ÓOL all open. Monday is the exception for ÓOL.
- 10 a.m. Sandwell opens on Prince Street.
- 6 p.m. ÓOL closes.
- 7 p.m. RYE closes.
- 9 p.m. La Salumeria Soho and Sandwell close. At La Salumeria, the evening includes aperitivi and wine.
Several October exhibitions sit on the same walk. On Lafayette Street, RYE is a short walk east of Jeffrey Deitch's two galleries. Celeste Dupuy-Spencer: Burning in the Eyes of the Maker is on view at 76 Grand Street, and Eddie R. Aparicio: Rubberneckers is at 18 Wooster Street. Both run through October 31. The Drawing Center at 35 Wooster Street shows its benefit exhibition, The World Is The Work, from October 7 through 11. Online bidding closes at noon on October 14, and a ticketed gallery party runs from 6 to 9 p.m. on October 13. Along Broadway and its cross streets, the SoHo Broadway Initiative and the Horticultural Society of New York have replanted the planters for fall with celosia, marigolds, ornamental beets, strawflowers and dusty miller.
RYE also pours coffee from 8 a.m. Since September, a $15 quarter loaf from Lafayette Street or a $15 sandwich from Spring Street has been an easy breakfast or lunch in SoHo.
New openings like these are part of how James Weiss NYC follows SoHo block by block. A sourdough bakery taking a corner storefront also says something about how the street is changing. If you're thinking about how SoHo's changing ground floors affect a home you own or are considering, we'd welcome the chance to talk. Request a private consultation.
