La Estrella Bakery
Location: 5266 S 12th Ave/Photo by: E. Torres
La Estrella Bakery is a family owned bakery business in Tucson that has locally operated since 1986. Antonio and Martha Franco opened the first Estrella Bakery on South 12th Avenue, to be exact: 5266 S 12th Ave Tucson, AZ 85706. Since then, two other locations have been opened. The Mexican bakeries are very popular in the south-side and have played a cultural role in Tucsons history. Since the first bakery was initially opened, the Franco family has been able to run their operation to grow allowing them to employ various family members, produce a variety traditional Mexican pan dulce, and even tortillas, menudo, and more. The La Estrella logo on the first panaderia, opened on La Doce, is painted on old winter white paint, and consists of the name La Estrella Bakery in sky blue. The rest of the outside of the store consists of the theme: white and blue. There has also been a mural painted during the first stage of last years COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The mural consists of Aztec gods, the sun, the people, as well words of encouragement for the south-side community. Where the first bakery being opened is history for the reasons aforementioned, but also for being located on La Doce. La Doce, which is 12th Ave was involved in La Doce Barrio Foodways Project, that was a yearlong project that revealed the importance local knowledge and food heritage to community health, cohesion, and potential for future community-based economic development and local governance.
On December 15th, 2015 Tucson, Arizona became the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy designated in the United States. Early 2021, 35+ restaurants and food artisans got certified by the Tucson City of Gastronomy. The restaurants and artisans were all locally owned and independent. They choose the restaurants based on resilience during the pandemic, and how they support Tucsons local food economy that takes care of their employees, give back to the community and keeps food heritage alive. These certifications are to bring more customers to the unique local businesses to help them survive independently. Under the Food Artisans category, La Estrella Bakery can be found! In addition, there are also about 900 articles on Google that involve the bakeries, including, local Tucson journalism, iHeart, New York Magazine, The New York Times, and more.
Before the Franco family created the panaderia, La Estrella, they learned how to make pan dulce while working at El Rio Bakery by the guidance of their uncle, Sabino Gomez. About half a century later, the Franco family was able to buy El Rio Bakery's old building, that now operates as their third storefront.
The other location is:
100 S. Avenida Del Convento Tucson, AZ 85745
This location is actually merged within Mercado San Agustin Public Market. The "Mercadito" is also considered a traditional historic site in Tucsons culture for its unique design, area of location, and small local businesses within.
And the most recent location:
901 N Grande Ave Tucson, AZ 85745
This location was opened more to the north and west of Tucson, as the history of this panaderia deepens within Tucsons roots. This location was opened this year, 2021 on a Saturday. The opening was considered "grand" and Ellice Lueders, Tucson food writer, did a piece on the opening. She described the components of the opening. Azteca dancers were there, a significant part of Mexican culture, dancing and bestowing blessings on the new location. The new location also offers "a break in the squat skyline of single-story buildings, revealing the ancient Catalina Mountains to the north" (Lueders, 2021). Community made the grand opening more historical, as a lot of Mexican Chicanx Tucson people enabled culture. Justicia Para Todos, had a tent where people were able to decorate cookies with frosting, the DJ booth effortlessly switched from Spanish to English music, mariachi was there, and a lot more went on.
Pan dulce!/Photo by: E. Torres
La Estrella separates their menu into two different categories on their website: the "Savory Menu" and the "Sweet Menu." Everything the bakeries bake are from the Francos family recipes fresh each morning, and they are able to custom each item to order. La Estrella has some of the best tortillas in Tucson. Tortillas are a large part of Mexican culture, and they are a form of Latin flatbread that is used to wrap various food items. The tamales are also traditionally Mexican made. Fun fact: the Mesoamericans ate tamales as early as 8000 BC to 5000 BC and used them as portable foods. A part of the Franco family is incorporated into these foods as they follow traditional family recipes with the flavor of Jalisco, a culturally important state in Mexico and where I assume the families roots are.
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Savory Menu |
Sweet Menu |
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Mexican Bread and Rolls
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Pastries
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Tortillas
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Cookies
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Tamales
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Donuts
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Menudo
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Traditional
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Inside Location: 5266 S 12th Ave/Photo by: E. Torres
The panaderias are open everyday from 6AM-6PM, except on Sundays they close at 1PM. All of the bakeries have high ratings, all between 4.7-4.9, almost at five stars! When you walk into the bakery on 12th ave you instantly see culture and history in both the bread and the store itself. Creativity and overall folklife is displayed live at the store by the stores features, the bread, and cultured employees. The most popular breads being hung on the wall; Tri polvorones, conchitas, puerkitos, and cuernos. When visited, the bakery is usually full, because as aforesaid, it has become very popular and traditional over the years. Its true that Tucson Mexican bakeries have loyal customers, that allows community to be created. Two languages are usually being spoken at the same time, Spanish and English; people asking about the flavors of the bread, sometimes they question the history, and the stores history too. Inside the stores are also other Mexican food essentials, such as chips, drinks, and candies. But of course you can only smell the aroma of the sweet bread when entering the stores.
The Franco family and their panaderias, La Estrella, has earned an article on The Washington Post, titled "Day of the Dead calls for Pan de Muerto. Watch how one bakery makes it." by Daniela Galarza. The article mentions La Estrellas importance and significance on Tucsons Hispanic communities largely celebrated, Dia de los Muertos. The article honors the family Franco Estrella's bakery 35th anniversary of baking Pan de Muerto and the symbolism it now represents in Tucsons history.
Sources:
La Estrella Bakery Inc pastries and Cookies Menu: Tucson AZ. La Estrella Bakery Inc Pastries And Cookies Menu | Tucson AZ. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.laestrellabakeryincaz.com/pastries-and-cookies.
Lueders, E., & Popat, M. (2021, October 27). La Estrella just expanded to Tucson's west side. here's what you missed at the grand opening. This is Tucson. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://thisistucson.com/eat/la-estrella-just-expanded-to-tucsons-west-side-heres-what-you-missed-at-the-grand/article_52690386-f401-11eb-b1a5-fb5acd5a9527.html.
Tucson Arizona. LocalWiki. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://localwiki.org/tucson/Mercado_San_Agustin_Annex.
La Doce Barrio Foodways. Southwest Folklife Alliance. (2019, April 12). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://southwestfolklife.org/la-doce/.
Galarza, D. (n.d.). Search. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/search?query=tucson+la+estrella&btn-search=&facets=%7B%22time%22%3A%22all%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22relevancy%22%2C%22section%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22author%22%3A%5B%5D%7D.
Sterner, M. (2021, February 2). 35+ restaurants & Food Artisans get certified by the Tucson City of gastronomy. Tucson Foodie. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://tucsonfoodie.com/2021/02/02/tucson-city-of-gastronomy-2021/.
About Tucson City of gastronomy. Tucson City of Gastronomy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://tucson.cityofgastronomy.org/about#:~:text=On%2015%20December%202015%2C%20Tucson,Creative%20Cities%20Network%20(UCCN).
Ernesto Portillo Jr. Arizona Daily Star. (2017, November 1). Neto's Tucson: Bakery the Star of a documentary on Mexican treats, so much more. Saddlebag Notes. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://saddlebagnotes.com/laestrella/netos-tucson-bakery-the-star-of-a-documentary-on-mexican-treats-so-much-more/article_4175edc3-bac2-5ad3-9501-6276ece54022.html.
