Helms Bakery in Culver City, reimagined by chef Sang Yoon, serves up a mouthwatering mix of comforting bites and fresh pastries in a historic locale.
"Sang Yoon’s decade-plus effort to open an all-day cafe and bakery has finally come to fruition, opening in November 2024 to big crowds that have mostly settled down. The idea is to offer fresh pastries, breads, and prepared foods throughout the morning and into lunch so that there’s always something new to enjoy. Most flavors will hew to classic American, touching on international influences here and there like gimbap. The sandwiches and hot plates are the best move for lunch, tender but thick-cut pastrami smoked in house and placed between two pieces of house-baked bread. Carb fans should raid the pastry area for sweet and savory specialties, like croissants and pies, to share at the table. Eating here is a real choose-your-own-adventure, potentially a little headspinning but that’s half the fun." - Matthew Kang
"Chef Sang Yoon’s ambitious bakery opened in early November. It’s quite an operation at 14,000-square-feet, that includes an outdoor patio, cafe, prepared foods areas, and exposed cooking spaces so that visitors can see the staff preparing a wide selection of cakes, cookies, sourdough country loaves, baguettes, cheese, charcuterie, and rolls. Try the fantastic cherry pie with three kinds of Michigan cherries, Cherry Heering liqueur, and wine." - Mona Holmes
"Sang Yoon, the restaurateur behind Father’s Office, has finally opened his magnum opus, the long-anticipated Helms Bakery in Culver City. The bakery has been in progress since 2012 in the former historical wholesale bakery space. Luckily, Helms was well worth the wait with an impressive lineup of comforting cafe foods like fried chicken and chicken pot pie, gimbap to go, rich cakes, and of course, an outstanding croissant." - Rebecca Roland
"After 12 years of development, chef Sang Yoon (Father’s Office) finally opened the long-awaited Helms Bakery. With a team led by executive chef Nanor Harboyan and head baker Jacob Fraijo, Yoon reimaged the historical space into a new daytime cafe, bakery, and shoppy-shop with plenty of pastries and bread, alongside heartier dishes like fried chicken, pastrami sandwiches, and chicken pot pie. Make sure to check out the freezer section which is fully stacked with ice cream options, including pints from Thrifty. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest" - Rebecca Roland, Matthew Kang, Mona Holmes
"A reopening that was literally decades in the making." - Eater Staff
