Jake Watston
At Cashiers Celtic Table, the soda bread earned its place the old-fashioned way: customers kept asking for it.
What began as a special a few days before opening quickly became too popular to retire, so co-owners D’Arcy Adams and Jacque Babac made it part of the regular menu. Now it arrives warm from the flat top, sliced thick, its buttered edges lightly crisped, served with butter and jam alongside the Irish plates.
The bread traces back to a recent trip to Ireland, where Adams and Babac moved through pubs and kitchens, paying attention to the details that don’t always make it onto a recipe card.
“We had it everywhere we went in Ireland,” Adams says.
Back in Cashiers, those impressions shaped the way Celtic Table came together: rooted in Irish tradition, but not bound to it.
Adams describes the loaf as a Southern cousin to the brown soda bread he ate in Ireland – lighter, softer, and a little more forgiving. There’s no yeast and no long rise, just flour, buttermilk, and a quick hand to bring it together. It’s baked daily, then sliced and finished on the flat top with butter, which gives the edges that crisp, golden finish while the center stays tender.
At the restaurant, it shows up in a few different ways. It anchors the full Irish breakfast at brunch: eggs, beans, bangers, Irish bacon; and it turns up alongside other dishes where something warm and substantial is needed. It’s also found its way onto the menu as an appetizer, a quiet acknowledgment that people don’t necessarily want to wait for it to arrive with something else.
That kind of evolution is typical of the place. Now open for lunch Wednesday through Saturday at Noon and brunch on Sunday beginning at 11:30 A.M., Celtic Table has settled into a rhythm that feels both considered and easy.
Midday might mean a Reuben burger – corned beef ground with Swiss and sauerkraut on rye – or one of the more traditional plates that nod directly to their time in Ireland.
The soda bread, though, is the through line. It started as a special, stayed because people asked for it, and now arrives the same way every time – hot, crisp at the edges, soft in the middle. It doesn’t need much explanation once it hits the table.
Celtic Table Soda Bread
Courtesy of D’Arcy Adams
Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
1 large egg
4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
Butter and jam, for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with oil.
In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter, fork, or your fingertips until the pieces are about pea-sized.
Pour in the buttermilk mixture and gently fold until the dough becomes too stiff to stir.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, shape into a loaf and knead briefly—about 30 seconds—just until the flour is incorporated. Add a bit more flour if needed.
Transfer to the prepared pan and score a line down the center.
Bake 45–55 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through (an internal temperature of about 195°F). Tent loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly.
To serve in the Celtic Table style, slice thick and sear on a buttered flat top or skillet until the edges are crisp. Serve warm with butter and a good jam.
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