OUR STORY

The Baker’s Table Restaurant was opened in 2018 by the husband-and-wife team of chef David Willocks and designer Wendy Braun.

Chef Willocks learned to cook in the farm-to-table mecca of Oakland, CA - where daily trips to the farmer’s market and weekly changing menus were standard fare. He worked in a huge variety of culinary settings - from cooking vegetarian feasts for 500 people at a Yoga & Meditation center, to scooping hundreds of pommes dauphin at a fast-casual French takeout joint. He found his true style while working at a restaurant group headed by a longtime disciple of Alice Waters - a pioneer of the local foods movement. It was there that he also dreamed of improving food culture in America by opening restaurant that could offer people a vision of what cooking in harmony with nature could be like.

Braun - a writer, teacher, and poet - was the head of Creative Writing at an arts high school in Cincinnati where she had been developing curriculum and inspiring youth for a decade. When the couple connected, it was clear that Cincinnati was the place for their future - a town full of opportunity and cheap rent. They got married and bought a house in Newport, Kentucky, where the idea to open a restaurant took shape.

After choosing a space in a neglected old restaurant space on Monmouth Street, Chef Willocks met an old baker named Jean Paul - who ran Paradiso Bakery in Anderson Township. He was growing ill, and Willocks purchased his hand-built, 25 year old baking table. To honor his tradition, Willocks decided to call the restaurant The Baker’s Table. During the buildout process, the couple put on pop-up events at their home, while family members painstakingly worked on remodels, building all the tables in the dining room by hand.

The premise of The Baker’s Table was simple: to open a restaurant that baked 100% of its own bread and only sourced its menu from local produce. Originally, the concept was to be daytime only - so Willocks could be home in the evenings with their newborn baby. Braun - not only a writer - had a keen eye for interior design and thoughtfully equipped the space with one-of-a-kind vintage pieces and artwork to tell the story of a handcrafted cuisine that stood the test of time.

The doors opened in December 2018 and the couple was fortunate enough to be named one of the Best New Restaurants in America by both EATER.com and USATODAY.com. With lines out the door and a waitlist hours long, they expanded in the fall by adding on dinner service to compliment the wildly popular brunch they had become so known for.

The team got four good months in before COVID swept over the world and changed the restaurant industry forever. In the years since, The Baker’s Table has steadily grown and progressed forward, gradually growing into an elevated dinner spot - with its signature 3 course prix fixe structure, and constantly pushing the boundaries of how a restaurant can live and practice sustainability in every choice it makes.

In Fall of 2024, Braun set out on her own to bring her vision to life by opening Monmouth St. Mercantile - a boutique lifestyle shop which finds its home in the historic building that used to be Baker’s Table Bakery.

We can’t wait for the next chapter!