Best Ethnic Bakeries (2024)

Type of Eats: German

Wolfgang Büchler came to Washington, D.C., from Heidelberg, Germany, and has since created a town-favorite among customers in the D.C. area. In the early years, customers not used to European-style breads complained about the “staleness,” but these days that staleness is what makes Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe distinct. Using German-imported flour, their breads are a favorite item, along with the German pastries, bienenstich, strudels, and marzipan. Heidelberg is also known for great cakes and decorating for special occasions.

2150 N. Culpeper St., Arlington, VA; (703) 527-8394; heidelbergbakery.com

Type of Eats: Swedish

Holy cardamom! Chicago's Swedish Bakery is too good to pass up. The coffeecakes they create aren't just tasty, they're beautiful. You almost don't want to disturb the beauty with your fork, but then you realize what wonderful tastes are on the plate in front of you. On the subject of beauty, check out the cakes they make for weddings, parties, and special occasions. Come in for a quick treat to taste the bakery's variety of Swedish cookies.

5348 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL; (773) 561-8919; swedishbakery.com

Type of Eats: Czech

West, TX, has a large population of people with Czech heritage, which becomes apparent when you drive around and see places like a lovely bakery known as Czech Stop. Its menu boasts a large variety of kolache, tiny pastries with fruit filling surrounded by puffy dough.

I-35, Exit 353, West, TX; czechstop.net

Type of Eats: Brazilian

This place has a reputation for creating Brazilian pastries that are so good that even natural-born Brazilians seek out the treats. Desserts include cookies, pastries, pies, and flan with flavors of the tropics. Try the sweet and savory casadinho de goiaba, a guava cookie!

1260 Powers Ferry Rd. SE, Marietta, GA; (770) 818-0088; brazilianbakerycafe.com

Type of Eats: Kosher

If you've got a hankering for knish, Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery is the place to go. Their menu spans from the simple knish to the gourmet variety, and they even offer BBQ knish for the summer months! But that's not all. You're sure to find a few more comfort food dishes, including kugel, latkes, and matzo ball soup.

137 East Houston St., New York, NY; (212) 477-2858; knishery.com

Type of Eats: Salvadoran

Saladorean Bakery is one of Seattle’s best. With the restaurant connected, many customers come in for a post-meal treat and are never disappointed. The bakery is full of treats: sweet bread; empanadas filled with guava, leche, and pineapple; cookies with apricot or mango jam; donuts; and pumpkin turnovers. The fan favorite: Tres Leches Cake.

1719 SW Roxbury St., Seattle, WA; (206) 762-4064; thesalvadoreanbakery.com

Type of Eats: Italian

Open 24 hours a day, Bova's Bakery is a great spot for a late-night pastry craving. With a friendly, college atmosphere, the bakery is known for its assortment of cookies, cakes, and pastries as well as for its affordability. The family-owned bakery serves breads, cannoli, sfogliatelle, biscotti, and cakes, as well as some hot meals, like pizza and calzones.

134 Salem St., Boston, MA; (617) 523-5601; bovabakeryboston.com

Type of Eats: Korean

Just shy of 11 years after the first Tour Les Jours doors opened in Korea in 1997, the one-thousandth store opened. The rapid expansion is a testament to how much people enjoy this French-Korean infusion bakery. The U.S. locations are found in Georgia, Texas, and California. This one, situated in Houston, TX, is located inside the Korean supermarket Super H mart and has a small seating area for customers. Traditional French pastries and traditional Korean pastries coincide wonderfully here — if you'd like, you can have a baguette and tofu sweet mame bread in one sitting!

Inside Super H Mart, 1302 Blalock Rd., Houston, TX; (713) 647-9400; touslesjoursusa.com

Type of Eats: Turkish

Taskin Bakery not only caters to restaurants throughout the North Jersey area, it also has a following of customers looking for authentic Turkish treats. The bread is made fresh daily with no sugar added and can be made organic upon request. For fans of Turkish bagels, simit, these are the best around. Customers can also find acma, pohaca, and borek pies with spinach, cheese, potatoes, or green lentils. As for treats, the bakery serves beautiful baklava, sekerpare, and kadaif, which is hard to beat. Everything is fresh out of the oven, definitely making Taskin Bakery a must try.

103 Hazel St., Paterson, NJ; (973) 278-9555; taskinbakery.com

Type of Eats: Cuban

Karla Bakery gets its recipes from family history. Three brothers in Cuba crafted recipes for pastelitos, pasteles, empanadas, croquettas, and more before and while separated during political turmoil. When they reunited, deliciousness ensued. The recipes were so wonderful that one brother, Benny, even got to bake a birthday cake for U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Benny's son opened Karla Bakery with his family's recipes in 1989, and it's been heaven on earth (in the form of pastel de queso) ever since.

6474 W. Flagler St., Miami, FL; (305) 267-9000; karlabakery.com

Type of Eats: Ethiopian

This Ethopian café offers a different range of baked goods than most other bakeries. It caters to people with special dietary needs — vegans, sugar-free, gluten-free, and those who celebrate the Ethiopian fasting season, Toseme. With no animal products, Dama Bakery has six different cakes for vegan folks, as well as cookies. Sugar-free and gluten-free cakes can be made by request. Just want a regular cake? Not to worry! Dama also creates delicious cakes suited for everyone else. Stop by for a perfectly brewed espresso beverage or Ethiopian breakfasts like chebchebsa or kinche. Customer favorites include the fruitcake, raspberry or apricot jam cookies, and the dark chocolate cake.

1505 Columbia Pike, Arlington, VA; (703) 920-5620; damapastry.com

Type of Eats: Armenian

This Middle Eastern bakery is a family-run gold mine. With its small, cozy ambience, this joint has a variety of authentic baked good favorites, such as khachapuri (Armenian pizza with cheese and a sunny side up egg in the center), maneesh sandwiches (herby spread, tomatoes, olives, onions, and zaatar cheese), boreg (cheesy, potato, mushroom, spinach, ham, or basturma turnovers), and baklava (phyllo dough with nuts, cheese, and sugar). Whether you're eating in or taking out, this spot is sure to have enough flavors to please everyone.

1132 N. Allen Ave., Pasadena, CA; (626) 791-3280

Type of Eats: Greek

Sure, Greek pastry shops usually offer baklava. It's often even great baklava. We'd be hard-pressed to find many that out-do Artopolis, though, which offers six different kinds for the true enthusiast. This pastry shop doesn't stop there. It brings a taste of Greece right into Astoria with melt-in-your-mouth kourabiedes, walnut sugar cookies.

2318 31st St. Astoria, NY; (718) 728-8484; artopolis.net

Type of Eats: Mexican

When you walk into this authentic Mexican bakery, you feel like you are walking into a shop in Mexico. With over fifteen different baked goods as well as a variety of cakes, Rosales Mexican Bakery does a great job showing off their creations. Customer favorites are conchas (Mexican sweet bread), flan, churros, and the fruit empanadas. Not only are the reviews for Rosales Mexican Bakery great, but the website is full of pictures of the mouth-watering food — so drool on!

Panaderia Rosales, 2636 W. 32nd Ave., Denver, CO; (303) 458-8420; rosalesbakery.com

Type of Eats: Italian

Fortunato Bros. is situated in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's a wonderful example of an Italian bakery that makes you feel like your own Italian mother is whipping you up something delicious. Customers aren't shy about revealing their Fortunato addictions, many touting it as having the best cannolis and cannoli cream cake filling in NYC.

289 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn, NY; (718) 387-2281

Type of Eats: Chinese

Described as “the closest-to-grandma’s bakery,” Mon Hei Chinese Bakery is a favorite among Seattle folk. With breads, cakes, moon cakes, wedding cakes, tarts, cookies, and turnovers, this bakery has a lot to offer. Customer favorites include co*cktail buns, pineapple buns, rice cakes, custard egg tarts, and BBQ pork buns.

669 S. King St., Seattle, WA; (206) 624-4156; mh-bakery.com

Type of Eats: Vietnamese

Hear us out, folks. Their báhn mì is just perfect. Báhn mì is made on "french bread" that's become a staple for many Vietnamese. We don't know how they do it, but their báhn mì sandwiches go for only about $3. Their dessert prices are also miraculously cheap, like the steamed banana cake with coconut sauce that sells for $1.25. They also sell meat pies and typical vietnamese buns and moon pies.

14207 Chef Menteur Hwy, New Orleans, LA; phone; dpbanhmi.com