As the owners of Salvadorean Bakery & Restaurant like to say, “There is nothing better than the flavor of our land.”
For nearly 30 years, the popular Seattle spot has been providing its community with a taste of El Salvador. Sisters Aminta and Ana Elgin founded the family business in 1996, coming from their home country with the big dream that the people from El Salvador who live in the surroundings of Seattle could find their traditional meals and share in the country’s customs will all of the American and Hispanic public.
Over the years, the business has expanded the business and also offers Hispanic products from Mexico, Central and South America. Cousins Alex and Robert have taken more responsibility with the day-to-day operations as well, bringing youthful energy and an eye for innovation to combine with the bakery and restaurant’s traditions.
“We’ve been trying to modernize the business,” Robert says. “A lot of the Latino bakeries and restaurants you see are stuck in the 90’s/2000’s.”
“We try to stay fresh and updated,” Alex adds. “We’ve been trying to get some new flavors implemented. We’ve got the mango tres leches, that’s a newer thing we do. We’d like to do some more flavors, maybe try some matcha tres leches. We’re experimenting with a Korean fusion pupusa.”
The pride of Salvadorean Bakery & Restaurant is its pupusas. These thick, flat, hand-made flatbreads or griddle cakes from El Salvador are made with cornmeal or rice flour and are usually stuffed with ingredients like cheese and beans. It’s the national dish of the country, and the owners wanted to make it a special emphasis on the menu.
Another big seller for the bakery is its tres leches cakes. There are a variety of flavors on the menu, including guava, Oreo, Rompope, piña colada, chocolate raspberry and many more. BakeMark has been a big help to the bakery in that regard, supplying the cake mixes (in addition to flours and fruit fillings for other products) and working with its staff to fine tune these flavors.
“The pastry chef will be in town and will work on something we’ve been cooking up, or maybe help us actualize some of the ideas we’ve been wanting to implement,” Robert says.
As the community has grown around Salvadorean Bakery & Restaurant, the business has looked to meet the demands of its people. Breakfast is pretty popular on the weekends, but each day has a lunch and dinner rush, while shoppers will come throughout the day for snacks and pastries.
The bakery sees Halloween as a significant opportunity to make its guests feel at home.
“We’ll have seasonal decorations for Halloween, and spooky-looking products,” Robert says. “For Halloween and autumn, I’ve been wanting to implement pumpkin spice.”
Salvadorean Bakery & Restaurant specializes in yema bread. This soft and fluffy sweet bread has an egg custard filling that is especially comforting during the autumn months.
