Pan dulce is the sweet bread that anchors Mexican and Latinx cuisine and its people in culture, tradition, nostalgia and history. In Mexico, pan dulces like, coricos, marranitos, and conchas are served with coffee as a breakfast ritual.

Panaderias are often in abundance and punctuate blocks and neighborhoods, their presence forming core memories. For Diego Hernandez of La Pana Bakery, which is named after a slang term for panaderias, "pana," growing up baking inside of one was a way of life for him and his family in Oaxaca, who came from a family of bakers. Now Hernandez infuses French pastry into his menu at Pana with Mexican techniques. Many panaderias in the United States pay homage to family, like Raquel Goldman’s Norte 54. Or are family-run, like Delicias Bakery and Some, who lead the way for vegan pan dulce, reconnecting vegan eaters to traditions lost to milk and butter. These bakeries often aim to use whole, quality, seasonally and locally available ingredients as a more responsible practice, like Gusto Bread, which also leans heavily on Indigenous Mexican ingredients.

Panaderias, and contemporary American pan dulce, is heralding a new era of sweet breads, one that establishes place, geographic location and seasons. And in the same breath, ushers in flavors unique to location, and bespoke to the baker.

Chicago, Illinois

Pan Artesanal is what happens when French pastry and Mexican culture collide in flour and butter. Owned by sisters Lizette and Marisol Espinoza, this panaderia is stocked with regulars like conchas and pan de rancho, to pastries with a twist like croissants filled with chile relleno, cheesecakes inspired by Gansitos, and even slices of cake layered with duvalin-like fillings. Pan Artesanal sells Marisol’s pan dulces from open to sell-out. So when visiting this Chicagoan panaderia in the neighborhood of Logan Square, make sure to stay up-to-date on offerings via its Instagram.

Brooklyn, New York

Nestled in Brooklyn neighborhood Crown Heights, chef-owner and operator, Eric See brings to New York a taste of his home state, New Mexico in the shape of his lauded cafe, Ursula. His burritos may be the most coveted item on See’s menu, variations delight eaters with hash brown and green chile, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice to not try his repertoire of pastries. With a background in pastry, his sweets shine with a sparkle that nods to technique, culture and pride. From rose water conchas to arroz con leche, and lavender-pecan Mexican wedding cookies, See’s pan dulce treats are sure to delight.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

There aren’t very many panaderias that will slice their pan muerto in half to sandwich in Nutella, whipped cream and fresh fruit — but Panadería Jazmin in Mt. Lebanon, Pittsburgh jumps to the cut. It’s not the first pan dulce they cut open to stuff. In fact in September they sliced open a Mexican flag-colored concha to fill with chicken mole. Owners Jose Flores and Jazmin Hernandez originally hail from Toluca, Mexico, and always dreamt of having a pananderia, which opened its doors in September last year — on Mexican Independence Day. Hailed as Pittsburgh’s first panaderia, this business began by word of mouth, and from such demand, has grown into a nook of fresh artisanal pan dulces that are at once classic offerings and creative spin-offs.

Atlanta, Georgia

Known cariñosamente (affectionately) as Atlanta, Georgia’s "concha lady," baker, recipe writer and one-woman shop of At Heart Panaderia, Teresa Finney launched her pop-up and microbakery in 2020 during the pandemic with a pan dulce staple: conchas. Her creative approach to flavor combinations, like chocolate beet root sugar and pistachio and raspberry, vividly represent geographical location through seasonal and local ingredients that have set her conchas apart, and have made her a star. Her menu also features pecan alfajores dusted with raspberry sugar, and savory empanadas with fillings like mushroom tinga and papas with pinto beans. Finney has also started taking custom cake orders this year. Her cake menu is seasonal and she dresses them up with florals, whimsical piping, and sometimes even topped with a baby concha (per request). Follow her on Instagram for pop-up updates, or send her an email to place your orders.

Austin, Texas

This Texas-based panaderia serves pan dulces made with whole and organic ingredients inspired by founder Mariela Camacho’s experience growing up Xicana in the U.S. She got her start in Seattle in October 2017, baking to raise funds to help victims of natural disaster in Mexico, and in 2019 moved to her hometown of Austin, Texas. She uses Sonoran flour for her sweetbreads, and makes all the traditional pan dulces with locally sourced ingredients. Her offerings span from guava-cream cheese empanada, pistachio tres leches, perfectly shaped marranitos (pig cookies), pomegranate bejeweled doughnuts and oso (bear) claws that use a masa madre starter filled with peach and almond. Like her website reads, "Our work is rooted in social and environmental stewardship through a radical lens and the belief that our tiny but mighty operation can make a difference in our currently inequitable food system." Pick up some pan dulce during her Saturday 'Pan Pari' pop-ups, order custom cakes and boxes here, and stay updated on Instagram.

Louisville, Kentucky

From Oaxaca to Louisville, Diego Hernandez uses the knowledge of pan dulce he learned from his family’s panaderia to make sweet bread pastries with a European flair. Head baker Hernandez co-owns the bakery and coffee shop with chef Francisco Garcia and Josh Gonzalez (who also co-own Foko, a Mexican restaurant). This panaderia is a walk-up window with hand-painted lettering that honors the personal touch boasted in Mexican businesses. The offerings are a streamlined menu with pastries like lechilla doughnut, a cinnamon sugar-coated doughnut filled with Oaxacan vanilla custard, to blueberry scones and roll de canela con lechilla — the shop’s version of cinnamon rolls. Aside from pan dulce, they also serve up burritos and have a coffee menu with cortados, cafe cubano and a drink called, sassy abuelita — espresso with abuelita hot chocolate. Yum. Follow them on Instagram for menu updates and place pick-up orders here.

Long Beach, California

Gusto Bread, located in Long Beach, California, is a pan dulce haven built by Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino who started baking out of their homes. Inspired by Indigenous Mexican ingredients, techniques, and a wood fire oven named EmmyLou, they opened their doors in 2020 with all the classic panaderia offerings, and have become well-known for a pastry dubbed The Nixtamal Queen. This sweet is a caramelized French pastry known as kouign-amann, pre-dating the croissant, that is fused with nixtamalized masa madre and sourdough starter (the starter is a Gusto Bread specialty). Other daily offerings include loafs, flatbreads, baguettes, bolillos, pan de maiz (cornbread) and biscuits. And in its to-go fridge, goodies include seasonal jams, butters, salsa negra and a plethora of other artisanal goods.

Don’t forget drinks either. There’s oatxata, which blends oats, cinnamon, rice and cane sugar (a play on 'horchata") and xocolatl (the nahuatl word for chocolate), a vegan stone ground cacao hot chocolate. The shop also serves panaderia classic, café de la olla. It’s no wonder Gusto Bread is so warmly embraced by the maiz-loving community of southern California and beyond. Follow them on Instagram for updates!

Los Angeles, California

Located in neighborhood Highland Park, Delicias Bakery and Some has been a staple to its community for 30 years. This family-owned panaderia has boasted traditional ingredients for the majority of those three decades, but it wasn’t until the youngest of the family, Roxanne Sanchez, went vegan, that the bakery got a new life. It started introducing vegan options slowly, starting with agua frescas and 99 cent jackfruit and mushroom tacos, testing the waters while it tested pan dulce recipes. Finally in 2018, the panaderia debuted its veganized concha, and its online following took off. While the shop isn’t fully vegan, this panaderia works to bridge generational and dietary gaps. Delicias also offers all the classics like marranitos, elotes, sweet empanadas and bolillos, as well as a growing savory vegan menu heralded by Sanchez that includes molletes, tortas and even queso fresco. Follow on Instagram for updates, and order online or swing by in-store for a touch of nostalgia.

San Francisco, California

Nopal alumn, Raquel Goldman started baking contemporary Mexican pastries during the pandemic. By that fall, Norte 54 — which is named after the street her grandmother lived on in Mexico City — was up and running, making pan dulce rooted in nostalgia with a penchant for quality ingredients and modern spins. Goldman makes buñuelos, peach lime tres leches cake and her version of the Gansito that she calls, "el poli cake," just to name a few. Her menu is in constant rotation and changes with the season, so it’s best to keep up with her offerings on Instagram.

Santa Ana, California

This vegan panadería, Soy Concha, located in Santa Ana, California, is the stuff of plant-based dreams. From cuernos, to polvorones, smiley face cookies, gansitos and roscas de reyes, owners and bakers Earvin and Kathy Lopez believe going vegan doesn’t mean having to give up Mexican culture – and this panadería serves as testament to that. For folks who can’t make the drive, the shop offers nationwide shipping and restocks its shipping inventory every Wednesday at 12 p.m. until sold out. Follow Soy Concha on Instagram to keep up with its arrays of one-of-a-kind vegan pan dulce.