Daryll B.
Yelp
¡Como pan caliente! I learned is Spanish for "like hot bread." Well, the bread and baked goods that are turned out by Flor Blanca Bakery & Café has me fiendishly craving hot bread. This is one of the trickier reviews I have written so it requires a bit of a deep dive. If "you ain't go time for all that," here is the skinny: plenty of bread, baked goods, fresh cheeses (like Oaxaca) at a reasonable price. All served by a friendly bilingual staff in a place that is clean. Self-service is accomplished by grabbing a tray, load it with baked goods from the display case on the side, pay at the front where they box it up for you. Most items are under a buck or two. Not too sweet and always fresh. Four stars, easy. Sapiophiles read on because we are going deep!!!
Prince George's County Maryland has been a major beneficiary of the immigration patterns of Latinos to the D.C. area. Over the past two decades too many "traditional" bakeries shuttered. Customers only recourse was to depend on inferior bakery departments at grocery stores and big box purveyors. Within the past decade I began to notice the emergence of numerous "Mexican Style" bakeries in the area. That style name can be a bit deceptive because none of the bakeries go by that designation, you just have to be in the know. I can typically tell by the majority Latino clientele that may frequent the location or by the Spanish sounding name of the bakery. However that is it inexact Method. If you are unsure ask. My foodie senses and the scent from the wondrous aromas of freshly baking bread which emanated from those bakeries piqued my interests. Having grown up in Washington D.C., I fondly remember the smells of freshly baking bread emanating from the Wonder Bread factory on Georgia Avenue, right off the campus of Howard University, they had me mesmerized and wanting some damn plain white bread. With those memories triggered by similar smells emanating from store fronts in PG County, in 2010, for the first time I went into a "Mexican Style" Latino bakery. There seemed to be hundreds of breads, cookies, buns, cakes, and treats that patrons were piling onto cafeteria trays. There were no titles, no descriptions, and no prices (not even in Español). Folks seemed to just know and I was lost. So, being the greedy adventure that I am, I just grabbed what looked good and prayed that the prices were not too expensive. I got almost 10 things for under $8. I was like "wait, what???" All these baked goods for so little money!!! Of course gormandizing (bonus SAT word kids) me went back up in an edacious (double bonus SAT word) manner to gorge. What I recall is that the baked goods I foraged were very good, but that they were not at all sweet. Some had a sweeter taste than others, but even those that were colorful or topped with a sprinkle of sugar were non-cloying moderately sweet by my sugar addiction American standards.
What I later learned was that most of what was sold was more like daily bread. In Mexico wheat bread is Robin the Boy Wonder to corn tortillas' Batman. While tortillas are typically homemade, bread is almost exclusively bakery bought and done so on an as needed basis to ensure freshness. The breads are intended for eating with savory lunch or dinner foods, not a smorgasbord of diabetes inducing sugar porn. My eyes deceived me because I just knew from the looks it would be sickly sweet, but alas on the palette they proved to be just good bread. Research revealed that sweeter breads and goods are eaten for breakfast or as part of a ritual snack time called "merienda" (a smaller meal eaten in the evening after dinner...not dessert...with coffee or hot chocolate). Side note, I have now adopted "merienda" as my own in honor of the Maya and Aztec cultures that the Spanish conquistadors tried to exterminate. It is the influence from the Spanish and French why so many of the breads looks like baguettes or brioche.
To add to my confusion about Mexican bakeries they are divided by ones that specialize in cakes and ones that specialize in breads. Most in the D.C. area, like Flor Blanca, do both. I only know the name of one of the breads, manteconcha, but I do not mind just grabbing what looks good to me. Also the freshly made cakes and cheesecake are exceptional as well. This place has a section that sells Latino food from steam trays which I have not yet had an occasion to try. But, like the Terminator I will be back!!!
Upon further reflection, I should have just asked an employee or another patron what was what, but I was afraid because I only hablo un poco de español. I wrongly assumed I would not be welcomed or that they did not speak English. I Internalized that self-induced fear and I learned that it was so wrong to do so because I was welcomed with open arms by everyone I encountered.
The selection and prices make this find an absolute deal. I recommend that you put your insecurities aside, ask a lot of questions, and enjoy some good baked goods.
