To say that L.A. is a concha town would be an understatement. We eat, sleep and breathe the famous pan dulce, accessible anytime from a panaderia or a supermarket bakery case.
Many in the Latino community have a personal connection to the shell-shaped treat, like my colleague and How to LA host, Brian De Los Santos, who has many concha-related memories he shared with me on a recent themed episode of the podcast.
Like how his family would get their pan dulce every time they’d visit his tios in South L.A. The panaderia was within walking distance, and cafecito hour would commence. The act of breaking bread via conchas was a way to connect with family and friends and share stories about Mexico.
You can find images of conchas everywhere, from stickers, keychains and Mickey Mouse ears (like the ones we got our daughter at Disneyland) to a pair of iconic Adidas shell-toe sneakers festooned with their likeness.
Pan dulce — sweet bread — comes in all shapes and sizes, with roots in Spain from six hundred years ago. While other Latin American countries have their spin on it, Mexicans made it their own, and today conchas are ubiquitous in LA.
Brian and I visited three of our favorite places — traditional, commercial and artisanal — to offer a sense of what's available in the city.
Along 42nd Street and Broadway in South L.A. is where you’ll find Coatzingo, named after the small town in Puebla, Mexico, where owner Delia Flores Estevez is from.
Entering the brightly lit and friendly panaderia, you’ll find rows of tall bakery racks lined up next to cases filled with different pan dulces, some of which may be enticingly unfamiliar. Grab a plastic bucket and a pair of tongs, and you can choose what to take home to your heart's content.
Delia's mother made bread in the neighborhood for almost 30 years and conceived many recipes for the pan dulce. Today some long-standing employees have worked for the family since the beginning, and the bakery still acts as a central hub for people from Puebla looking to get a taste of home.
On one rack are two main recipes, a traditional recipe, made with vegetable oil, and Delia’s mom’s recipe, made with lard. The conchas come in different sizes, from the regular small and medium to a large that's almost as big as a round birthday cake.
You’ll find other concha cousins on the next shelf rack, like tunas, which resemble cactus fruit, completely covered in white and pink cookie coating.
Other pan includes cemita roja, similar to a large brioche bun topped with a dusting of finely ground pink sprinkles. Next is a puro, a long cylindrical shape with the pan dulce dough wrapped around its center, similar to a burrito, then topped with a cookie topping that's made with sugar and shortening (or lard), similar to what you find on a concha.
Biting into each pan dulce is a memorable experience, like a warm hug from a good friend you haven’t seen in a while. Delia’s family bakery is devoted to preserving this particular style of pan dulce, and we’re lucky enough to get to try it.
4242 S Broadway, Los Angeles, 90037
Hours: Monday 6:30 am-7:45 pm, Tuesday-Sunday 7:30 am-7:45 pm
Growing up in Whittier, in the late 80s and early 90s, we’d visit the Gigante grocery store in nearby Pico Rivera on weekends. It was my earliest exposure to a Mexican market, with its brightly-lit aisles, butcher counters filled with different parts of animals I’d never seen on display, and the panaderia section with colorfully decorated birthday cakes from popular children’s cartoons. The place honestly had it all.
We’d always visit the pan dulce section, where we used the large metal trays and tongs and explored the cases affixed to the wall. I remember filling the brown paper bag with various choices, conchas being one, getting them home, and enjoying them with a glass of juice or milk.
Visiting Vallarta today is a similar experience, and as luck would have it, a Vallarta has opened down the street from where my parents still live.
First, you need to choose among the colors — pink, white, brown, and yellow. Everyone has their favorite color of concha, although in most cases, the colors don’t affect the flavor. These conchas are on the sweeter side in flavor and have a soft texture, making them perfect for dipping into a cafe de olla or horchata.
While some might dispute purchasing mass-produced pan dulce from a larger grocery store instead of a mom-and-pop panadería, I feel they, too, have their place in the concha conversation.
They’re a great addition to a potluck and for bringing into work to share with coworkers, sharing your culture as you do. Mexican (or Latino) supermarkets have you covered, with some delightful offerings.
Various locations throughout California, such as Anaheim, Burbank, Downey, East Los Angeles, Pasadena, Palmdale, and Whittier. Check out their website for a list of their locations.
If you are a resident of Long Beach, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the artisanal panadería near the Retro Row area on 4th Street.
Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino’s bakery, which began as a cottage operation in the kitchen of a craftsman-style house nearby, has bloomed at their current location since August 2020.
The small storefront is influenced by both old and new world styles of baking, blending flavors and ingredients to create something so wholly unique that it’s rumored to have made some move to the city to be close to the artisanal pan.
The sourdough concha is the perfect example of Enciso’s handy work at the baker’s bench. First, you notice the weight of the concha, which feels quite dense, due in part to the three days it takes to make it. Yet, when you take your first bite, you’ll be transfixed by the light airiness of the dough, with an added crunchy topping of cacao encapsulating the bulbous pastry, making it one of the best bites in the area.
Address: 2710 E 4th Street Long Beach
Hours: Wednesday-Friday 8 am-4 pm, Saturday-Sunday 8 am-2 pm, Closed Monday and Tuesday
