ICONS : A Match Made in Leaven

When Izzy Cohen decided to check out the new bakery on La Brea Avenue 3 1/2 years ago, he wasn’t exactly looking for a new job. He had retired in 1971 after decades of baking bagels, corn ryes, challahs and pastries in his own Pico-Robertson bakery.

But when the 76-year-old Cohen met 38-year-old Nancy Silverton, owner of La Brea Bakery, the flour started flying. He was impressed that she didn’t use mixes; she was interested in his advice on sourdough starters. He admired her moist, chewy potato bread. She yearned to learn the secret of great Jewish corn rye. Then she asked him to teach her how to make bagels, and they bonded in a serious way.

Since then, Izzy has been showing up every Sunday at 5 a.m. to handcraft about 30 dozen perfect little sourdough bagels for the cappuccino and latte crowd that starts lining up outside the bakery’s door at 8 a.m. He also likes to drop in a few times a week to fix the bread slicer and kibitz with Nancy.

Although Izzy prides himself on his own innovations (including, he says, L. A.’s first chocolate wedding cake), he thinks some of her ideas are over the top. Her sourdough challah with apples and saffron he considers “ridiculous” and her insistence on using only top-quality ingredients, then charging $8 for a loaf of bread also drives him crazy.

The bagel recipe was a compromise, though she took his advice on how often to feed the sourdough starter. The toppings, however, were another story. She suggested replacing ordinary onions with French shallots. Cohen put his foot down. “Definitely not,” he said. She listened.