George Gaitan takes South Side pride in his homemade sourdough bread, mainly because his customers do too.
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“They said, ‘I don’t have to go all the way to the North Side to get my bread,” recalled Gaitan. “We just knew we had a product not available on the South Side.”
Today The Ancestral Oven, which is at 4616 W. 103rd St. in Oak Lawn, has a noticeably dedicated following, after opening two years ago on Halloween.
But bakery owners Gaitan, the head chef/baker, and his wife, Holli Gaitan, who handles the business side, started out small.
During the pandemic, with extra time on his hands, Gaitan practiced his baking.
He was working at Sherwin-Williams but had enjoyed cooking ever since he saw his mother’s old Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook as a boy. His dad, who worked as a chef at a Fairmont Hotel and then in management jobs, made the craft seem important.
“It was a big thing in our house that the boys knew how to cook,” said Gaitan, who had an older brother, older sister and younger sister. “When everything shut down, I had a little more time to hone my craft.”
He began selling his sourdough bread at pop-up markets put together by Streetz Arts Alliance at area breweries and bars. As his bread gained popularity, he went on to sell at the Tinley Park Farmer’s Market.
“We took this slow, steady approach,” said Gaitan. “Customers knew me — I was the bread guy. When we opened, I had a pretty large customer base.”
Gaitan said making sourdough bread is not difficult. but it is very time-consuming. It takes three days, with day one mixing the starter, day two mixing dough and portioning it, and day three doing the baking.
“The end result is fantastic,” he said.
The menu at The Ancestral Oven also includes traditional American bacon, egg and cheese dishes but also influences from his childhood, such as chorizo con papas and huevos rancheros. There are also sandwiches, seasonal soups and pastries. He grew up in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and his mother was from Texas, while his dad’s family was from Mexico.
Gaitan, who has an associate degree in applied sciences from the Art Institute of Chicago, bakes from scratch, making mayonnaise, pickles and roasting chickens for stock used in his soups like cream of poblano, chili and vegetable lentil.
Though the business is hard work, Gaitan enjoys it.
“For myself, having the freedom to just do whatever I want,” he said. “We switch our pastry case every month, keeping up with seasonality and allowing the bakers to be creative. We work things through together. I think allowing the bakers to have a creative outlet is something you don’t really see in a lot of restaurants.”
It’s been a labor of love for Holli Gaitan, too.
“I’m especially proud of George because of how much of himself he has put into this business,” she said. “He has always been passionate about food and creative with flavors, but he has continued to learn, experiment and push himself.
“He has built the menu, developed the breads and recipes, and created the kind of food and experience that people are now coming back for.”
She added it’s important that it’s also a family business built into the Oak Lawn community. They’ve worked at it while raising their 9-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, who enjoy hanging out there.
Marilyn Standard, who has lived in Oak Lawn for 23 years and is a regular customer, said it was a welcome addition to the community. She first started coming there to take a break from shuttling her grandkids around about two years ago.
“Everything is so fresh here and the staff is very accommodating and they go out of their way to please people,” said Standard, who enjoys the chocolate-flavored pastries, scones and their Americano coffee. “George tries to incorporate different cultures and different styles of cooking.”
Standard also said Gaitan made customers feel at home, asking for feedback on food and sometimes a sample.
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“I’m a big fan,” she said.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.