One pastry perfected first. Everything else earned its place after.
In Portugal there are bakeries that make one thing and make it perfectly: the nata factories, where the ovens never stop and the pastry never changes. Pastelaria Adega was built the same way, by pastry chef Jessica Carreira, from the same family behind Michelin-recognized Adega, with the same standard in the case as on the table.
The case had more than one thing in it from the first morning: malassadas, breads and the seasonal bakes were there beside the nata. The nata is what people came for first, and the malassadas grew right behind it, light, airy, rolled in sugar, best within a minute of being handed over. The case has grown since, with flavors the old country never tried, the pumpkin nata among them, and the bakery travels to the farmers' markets at Japantown and Walnut Creek. Ask anyone behind the counter what Pastelaria is about, and the answer is still the nata.
