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#CatTravels: Why Porto’s is so popular

By Catherine Toth Fox • October 18, 2013 • #CatTravels, Food

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The only request I had for my LA pal Jay Terauchi was to take me to a few good bakeries.

So he took me to three.

One was a dessert boutique that had opened a month earlier, the other a Taiwanese cafe that specialized in bread.

But the last one was an established bakery with three locations in the Los Angeles area and a loyal following. It was called Porto’s Bakery & Cafe.

IMG_3974Jay warned me about this place: it wasn’t going to be the absolute best pastries I’d ever eat. But everything was good, the service is fast, and you can’t beat the prices.

And maybe that’s the recipe for a great bakery.

Here’s the story about Porto’s: Back in Cuba, Rosa Porta lost her job as a home economics teacher and began selling cakes from home to pay the bills. When the family moved to California, she continued to sell her home-baked cakes. It got so popular — there would be 15 to 20 cars a day driving up to the house to pick up cakes — she decided to open a tiny brick-and-mortar shop (just 300 square feet) in the Silverlake area in 1960.

Two generations later, the bakery has grown to three locations with a 52,000-square-foot production and distribution center in Commerce and hundreds of employees.

Rosa’s son, Raul Porto Jr., runs the bakery, which now features Cuban-style sandwiches, potato balls, meat pies, fruit tarts and other baked delights.

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And the price — well, you can’t beat it. Chocolate croissants are $1.60 each. A French baguette is $1.65. The apple strudel was 90 cents. And the meat pies are just 78 cents each.

It’s no wonder people were walking out with boxes and boxes of goodies. Not only are the baked goods tasty — I could have eaten six of those meat pies! — but they’re affordable.

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We ordered a bunch of different things, including the meat pie (shown above). I love the flaky crust and the savory filling with just enough to create a nice balance between the puff pastry and the meat inside. We also tried the chorizo pie (90 cents), which was a bit dry for me.

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The chocolate eclair (above) was just $1.60 each and the bakery didn’t skimp on the custard filling at all. There was really nothing wrong with this eclair except that I didn’t get a second one.

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But really the star of our afternoon was this mini tres leche cake (above). Just $1.95, this traditional “three milks bread” was everything it’s supposed to be: a buttery cake soaked in three kinds of milks (evaporated, condensed and heavy cream), so light and soggy and perfect.

I was full earlier — until I ate this. Suddenly, I was hungry again.

Porto’s Bakery & Cafe in Burbank, 3614 W. Magnolia Blvd. Hours: 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Phone: (818) 846-9100.

bakeryBurbankCatTravelseclairsHawaiiJay TerauchiLos AngelesPorto'sPorto's Bakery & CafePorto's Family BakeryTravelingtres leche
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About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

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5 Comments

  • Reply David Jackson October 18, 2013 at 12:36 pm

    WOW… that is some awesome looking food Cat. How did you manage to get out of there alive?

  • Reply Jay Terauchi October 18, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    Actually, JJ’s Bakery was an extra since the line was so long at Din Tai Fung, planning on going to Goodie Girl cupcakes, but found out that the owner/head baker and winner of Cupcake Wars was out of town. So we headed to Galco’s instead.

    I have to admit, you and your mom kept up. Next time, let’s see how many places we can hit in 12 hours?

  • Reply lisa October 19, 2013 at 1:00 pm

    I know you’ve just returned from L.A. but perhaps this list may be useful in the future. I know I now want to go to L.A> and live on pastries for awhile.

    https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-best-bakeries-20131019,0,7749349,full.story

  • Reply Dina October 22, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    How come you didn’t try their 2 most popular items? Cheese rolls and potato balls??? We went on our way home back to the bay last Sunday w 2 dozen of each, lol, among many other things! Next time I’ll have to try your choices!

  • Reply Sunny October 23, 2013 at 7:58 am

    Porto’s has been our favorite for many years. My brother lives in Glendale, so that’s the one we go to. We get the Cubano sandwiches, potato balls, and meat pies for the plane. Yum!

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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