Jak’s Bakery

Bloomfield: 4310 Main St.

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Get Bulgarian baked goods in Pittsburgh’s Little Italy!

Zhelyazko “Jak” Latinov, who ran a popular bakery in his homeland, brought his bread-making skills to Bloomfield. Jak’s Bakery is located in the building next to Trace Brewing, making this one of the best blocks in town for carbo-loading.

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Jak and his American wife, Molly Freedman Latinov, met while she was on a Peace Corps mission in Bulgaria. He wooed her with a banitsa, a savory pastry made from phyllo dough filled with feta cheese and egg.

In 2013, they moved to Pittsburgh and started baking at the Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center in Homestead, the oldest and largest organization of its kind in the United States. For years, the couple sold ornate loaves and sweet treats at farmers markets and pop-up events throughout the city.

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

The Bloomfield brick-and-mortar opened in 2023. Although there’s no seating at Jak’s, the Latinovs offer classes that take patrons behind the scenes. Sign up for a bread-braiding lesson today and, who knows — you might meet a kindred spirit over a kozunak.

Anthos Bakery & Cafe

Castle Shannon: 3803 Willow Ave.

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Anthos Bakery & Cafe debuted in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, when social distancing was the norm.

Today, the Castle Shannon storefront is a popular gathering place for local Greeks. They come to enjoy yiayia-approved dishes and pastries such as the savory casserole pastitsio and loukoumades, fried dough balls with honey and cinnamon.

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

“It’s a joy for us to encapsulate what modern Greek food culture is about,” says Co-owner Jo Fragkou, who opened Anthos in 2022 with her husband, Master Baker Devin Atchley, and her brother and sister-in-law, Tassos Fragkou and Ellie Kousouli.

The Fragkous and Kousouli grew up in Athens and met American-born Atchley in New York City, where he was working at the legendary Amy’s Bread in Hell’s Kitchen. The family now dabbles in food from all over the globe, from European-style breads and French croissants to American breakfast classics and Greek twists on dessert favorites, such as the spicy feta danish.

If it’s all Greek to you, order a sesame ring called Koulouri Thessalonikis — a staple of the Athenian diet that Pittsburghers can only get in Castle Shannon.

Moio’s Italian Pastry Shop

Monroeville: 4209 William Penn Highway

They fry 1,000 cannoli shells a week at Moio’s Italian Pastry Shop in Monroeville.

Unless, of course, it’s the holiday season. Then they make five times as many.

Order the company’s signature item, and they’ll fill the shell on the spot with fresh ricotta and chocolate custard. This prevents the dessert from getting soggy in the display case.

“It’s the same way my dad and grandfather did it,” third-generation Owner Tony Moio says.

In 1935, Italian immigrant Raphael Moio opened the family’s first bakery in East Liberty. His son, Ralph Moio Jr., joined the business after serving in World War II and later moved the bakery to the Monroeville Mall Annex, where it thrived.

Tony took the reins of the operation in 1978 — after losing both of his parents. He was only 19. The tragic twist of fate turned out to be bittersweet. Tony met his wife, Meg, at Moio’s. The couple have been married for 47 years and have two children.

I got my first taste of Moio’s when the current location opened in 1991. As a longtime customer, I urge you to try a lemon-flavored pasticciotti and the sfogliatelle, layered pastries stuffed with baked ricotta cream and candied fruit.

And don’t forget to take the cannoli.

Steel City Chimneys

Food Truck

Jason Kelly and Meredith Minkus found their future in an ancient Eastern European pastry.

The married couple runs a food truck specializing in cylindrical desserts that Hungarians call kürtöskalács. In Pittsburgh, they’re known as Steel City Chimneys. And, let me tell you, these things are smokin’!

The scratch-made dough is hand-rolled onto wooden dowels and grilled on a rotisserie for 5 to 7 minutes, which caramelizes the sugar coating. The chimney is then covered with sweet or savory toppings.

“We don’t use crazy ingredients; the way it’s done is where the magic is,” says Minkus, a Western Pennsylvania native who is of Hungarian descent.

She discovered the delicacies while researching her roots. The couple took a break from their law careers to go on a tour of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Transylvania, where the chimney cake was born. (I bet Vlad called them “Impalers.”)

They took lessons from the local experts, had all the necessary equipment shipped home and launched Steel City Chimneys in 2016. Giving people a taste of their homeland makes Minkus feel more like Santa Claus than Count Dracula.

“I feel like I’ve gotten to know every Hungarian and Slovak and Czech person in the Pittsburgh area,” she says. “I watch their eyes light up when they say, ‘I haven’t had one of these since I was a little kid!’”

Pitaland

Brookline: 620 Brookline Blvd.

You can feel the love at Pitaland in Brookline.

Before stocking up on bread, prepared foods and sweets such as baklava, kanafeh and farina cake, many customers stop at the front office to hug a member of the Chahine family. The tight-knit crew has been running the Middle Eastern bakery since 1969.

In addition to feeding Brookline residents, Pitaland supplies at least 100 local restaurants with bulk ingredients, from dried chickpeas and lentils to spices. The company’s pita machine churns out 1,500 loaves an hour to keep up with demand.

Founder Youssef Zaidan “Joe” Chahine, who died last May, used to feed dough into the oven by hand.

Joe and his wife, Jocelyne, first visited Pittsburgh in 1974 on their honeymoon and, due to the ongoing Lebanese Civil War, stayed put. They saw a need for Mediterranean food in town and used family recipes to jumpstart the business. Over the decades, it’s become a community hub for Middle Easterners adjusting to American life.

Aleen Atencio and her siblings Danny Chahine, Joey Chahine and Donna Tweardy weren’t keen on the bakery business growing up, since it meant early mornings and work-filled weekends.

“But,” she says, “we eventually saw what a blessing it was and how hard our parents worked.”

Panadería Jazmin

Mt. Lebanon: 300 Beverly Road, Suite A

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

I get downright giddy when I visit Panadería Jazmin.

It’s hard to contain my childlike enthusiasm for sweets when I’m surrounded by some of the most eye-catching and delicious pastries in town.

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Opened in 2021, Pittsburgh’s first Mexican bakery (it’s a Mexican restaurant now, too!) sells gingerbread pigs called marranitos, colorful, shell-shaped conchas and cocodrilos (long, chocolate-filled treats that look like tiny crocodiles). I ordered an adorably bite-sized pineapple pie just so I could utter the words “pay de piña” — and don’t get me started on the rosca de reyes, loaves of sweet bread with baby figurines inside of them!

PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

In the fall, owners Jazmin Hernandez and Jose Flores celebrate Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) with traditional orange-flavored pan de muerto (bread of the dead) and grave lunch cakes, small, rectangular tres leches cakes topped with chocolate frosting, sprinkles and crumbs and served with a small shovel.

As a food editor, a sugar addict and a Graver, I dig it.