La Monarca Bakery opened in Huntington Park in 2006 as a new-and-improved panaderia, helmed by two Mexican-American Standford grads who wanted to showcase superior Mexican pastries, cakes, and breads, all made from scratch, along with fair-trade Oaxacan coffee and ice-cream. After an expansion to The City of Commerce, La Monarca is spreading its wings to the Westside, with a forthcoming storefront in Santa Monica at Euclid and Wilshire due in November. Certainly this side of town has its Oaxacan bakeries, but La Monarca is sure to stand out with traditional goodies made daily using family recipes and entrusted to the hands of French-born pastry chef Alain Bour, who utilizes a 35-year residency in Mexico to lend authenticity to the output here. Expect tres leches cake, savory bocadillos of jamon y queso with jalapeno on artisan breads, fruit sorbet and classic ice cream flavors, cinnamon rolls, palmier, and dulce de leche empanadas free of artificial ingredients and full of pride (a rep tells us this location will not have ice cream). See La Monarca’s full menu online and look for an opening in mid-to-late November.
