Gemmae Bake Shop

Given the importance of pandesal in Filipino cuisine (I used to eat one every morning for breakfast as a child), I’d be remiss not to include at least one bakery in our guide to L.A.’s Filipino dining scene. This Long Beach bakery is simply one of the best, with coconut- and ube-stuffed versions of the pillowy dinner roll that arrived to the islands during Spanish colonization. You’ll also find multiple kinds of ensaymada (a cheese-topped sweetbread), mamon (sponge cake) and hopia—a tiny, mooncake-like pastry with Chinese roots. On the savory side, Gemmae Bake Shop also makes siopao—the Filipino version of Chinese steamed white buns—and chicken empanadas.