Pastry Porn: A Peek Inside The New La Brea Bakery And Cafe

It's hard to believe there was a time when it was really, really hard to find decent bread in L.A. Nancy Silverton's La Brea Bakery changed all of that in 1989, and now, after 25 years of operation, they're reinventing themselves, opening their new location on La Brea and 6th Street in Mid-City.

The new shop will have some of the old classics, of course. But there are changes afoot too. They've not only rebranded their logo and signage, but added a cafe and new items to their grab-and go pastry selection. They massive bakery is soft opening today, with an official grand opening happening on Thursday from noon til 3 p.m.

In the pastry cases you'll see all sorts of familiar things from the OG La Brea Bakery, like parma braids, buttercups, and raspberry thumbprint cookies. But there are some new goodies too, which have been developed by Hourie Sahakian, the Culinary Innovations Manager who's helping consult and train up the staff for Silverton.

There's a new recipe for the croissants, a French toast rosette, Danishes made with ricotta filling, blondies, whole wheat brownies, orange pistachio cakes, and a mind-glowingly good savory rosette made with kale, red pepper, and feta cheese.

All of the pastries are baked on site, but the bread will still be made at the Washington Blvd. production facility, which shuffles off par-baked loaves across the country for distribution.

Other changes and updates include an enlarged space, which at 1800 square feet is 400 larger than the last La Brea Bakery. There will be no lines, which is a blessing because at one point in La Brea's history, their lines stretched on for blocks. (The L.A. Times did a really nice feature on the history of what's been called L.A.'s first real bread purveyor here.) Instead, they'll have several staff behind their long pastry cases taken people on a first come basis, checking them out with iPads.

And of course there's a cafe, where they'll be doing sit down service with items like wood-fired pizzas, burgers, salads, and of course desserts. They are currently applying for their beer and wine license, which should in theory come through in the next few weeks.

Between that and the fantastic pastries, there's definitely something worth toasting to.