Some of the most sought-after pastries at San & Wolves Bakeshop are gushing with ube, slathered with fresh salted caramel or showered in shaved cheddar — they’re Filipino, and they’re vegan.
After years of pop-ups, partners Kym Estrada and Arvin Torres opened their long-awaited storefront along the 4th Street corridor in Long Beach this month.
House-made butters, sweetened condensed milk, ube halaya and other from-scratch ingredients are the building blocks at San & Wolves, which serves freshly baked plant-based Filipino classics such as buko pie, pandesal, bitsu-bitsu and ensaymadas, as well as newer takes on Filipino flavors such as ube Pop-Tarts and pandan cinnamon buns.
Estrada, who has been vegan more than half her life, joked, “I don’t even know how to crack an egg.”
The sunny bakery sells out of its sweets nearly every day of the week, with a line that often trails down the block.
“Seeing it where it’s at right now, it almost doesn’t feel real,” Torres said. “Whenever someone wants to try our pastries, or they come back, it’s a very proud moment for me, and it’s just really cool to put people on Filipino pastries. And then for the [customers] that are Filipino, they’re super-hyped on it and the fact that it’s vegan.”
Estrada began recipe testing a vegan version of pan de coco, a sweet-savory bun filled with ube and coconut, nearly a decade ago. Torres, who wasn’t vegan at the time, recalled it tasted just like the non-vegan versions of his childhood, and it became the first item on their pop-up’s menu.
Estrada started with monthly appearances in 2017 in New York City, and when the duo moved to Long Beach in 2019 to be closer to their friends and family, they resumed San & Wolves — which gained scores of new fans through appearances throughout L.A. at Filled Market, Besties and more.
Frustrated that they couldn’t keep up with the demand for their products, regularly selling out before everyone in line could get a taste, they began to plan a bricks-and-mortar bakehouse — something Estrada thought she’d never do.
“I always thought I didn’t want one, because I just felt like it was unattainable,” she said. “It’s a lot of money, it’s a lot of work.” But they attended business classes, attained a business coach and began searching for a space. They renovated a former framing store all through last year, and now ample natural light streams onto shelves of blueberry cornbread bibingka, weekend-only doughnuts and other items.
The bakery allowed them to amp up production; now it takes around five hours to sell out, as opposed to the hour or two of their pop-ups. Most of their menu is reprised from the pop-ups, but a new item in the cold case — mustardy egg-salad-like chickpea sliders on pandesal — is the first of new savory items to come.
They also now sell coffee: Los Alamitos-based Teofilo, which sources all its beans from the Philippines.
Estrada hopes that those just discovering the rainbow of Filipino flavors, hues and textures found at San & Wolves will encourage others to seek out some of the region’s more old-school Filipino bakeries too, such as United Bread & Pastry or Valerio’s. And as much as they’re excited about appealing to new and younger audiences, both Torres and Estrada want to remain accessible to older generations of Filipinos; all of their cashiers speak Tagalog, and they value their feedback.
“I think having their approval — Filipino elders’ — is very validating for myself,” Estrada said. “I would say the majority of our customers are Filipino, which feels really good to hear because they’re the ones that have some sort of comparison of what they’re eating. We just want their respect.”
San & Wolves is located at 3900 E. 4th St., Long Beach, open Tuesday to Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. or until sold out.
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