Starbread Bakery
Bakery · Chula Vista ·
Bakery with popular señorita bread, donuts, and malasadas
Bakery with popular señorita bread, donuts, and malasadas
"I watched customers line up early before the official opening of San Diego’s first Starbread Bakery in Chula Vista, eager to buy fresh-out-of-the-oven Spanish bread, also known as señorita bread, the specialty of the famous Filipino bakery chain based in Northern California. The bite-sized pastries are baked in small batches to ensure peak freshness and are enriched with melted butter and sugar; at Starbread the señorita bread is sold in multiples from bags of 5 pieces up to boxes of 60 and is a fixture at Filipino family gatherings and parties. Open daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the shop also sells pandesal (Filipino rolls), cookies, cupcakes, croissants, and a variety of doughnuts that include Filipino-style bitso-bitso. Beyond the Spanish bread, its bestsellers are malasadas, the Portuguese fried-dough treat offered with tropical fillings like coconut, guava, mango, and pineapple. Area residents Paolo and Eleanor Seen and Jeff and Nikki Bangsal are overseeing Starbread’s San Diego expansion and plan to add coffee from a local roaster along with new items such as ube señorita bread and a savory version made with hot dogs, and they hope to open more stores in San Diego, possibly in Mira Mesa." - Candice Woo
"A Filipino bakery with a huge following in Northern California and the Bay Area, Starbread Bakery—named one of Eater SF’s standout Filipino spots in the East Bay—is headed for San Diego after beginning to franchise during the pandemic; the family-owned brand, which has recently opened branches in Anaheim and Las Vegas, will open its first San Diego outpost this May in Chula Vista. I learned the founders started baking their flagship señorita bread in the 1980s: also known as Spanish bread, it’s a cross between a dinner roll and a pastry that’s slathered with melted butter, sugar, and breadcrumbs, sold warm out of the oven and often purchased in large quantities for potlucks and family gatherings. Local couple Paolo and Eleanor Seen, who operate the Donut, Hello mini doughnut cart and catering business, are bringing the brand to Chula Vista and plan to stock a variety of doughnuts—including ube-flavored—and say offerings could expand to more señorita flavors as well as new items unique to San Diego locations." - Candice Woo
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