Belwood Bakery's Northridge Location Turns 2

It's 7:45 a.m. on a Wednesday and already a steady stream of customers walk in, ordering various pastries---an assortment of muffins, danishes, croissants, breakfast sandwiches, and made to order coffee drinks. Behind the counter, two employees cheerfully greet newcomers and regulars with a smile as they deliver each order. The kitchen staff quickly whip up breakfast sandwiches. No one waits more than ten minutes. Speedy service delivered with friendly smiles is Belwood's trademark.

Lupita Barrientos, a regular, walks out with a large coffee and an apple turnover in white paper bag. "This (apple turnover) is the best. The crust is so flaky and the filing is not too sweet. I've never had a bad pastry here. The coffee is nice and strong."

The morning rush begins and the doors of Belwood Bakery's second location in Northridge opened only fifteen minutes ago.

Family run and owned, Belwood Bakery's main location is at Brentwood Village. Founded by five brothers in 1994, Belwood Bakery, originally known as Bel-Air Bakery, served mainly baguettes, breads, croissants, danishes, and an exclusive selection of cakes, all made in the traditional French style along with techniques learned by the brothers in Vietnam. Over the years, Belwood Bakery added muffins, macaroons, and hot and cold sandwiches to its arsenal of baked goods. Their bestsellers include ciabatta bread and the Bahn Mi sandwich, a Vietnamese sandwich marrying French ingredients (baguette, pate, jalapenos and mayonnaise) with native Vietnamese ingredients (cilantro, cucumber, pickled carrots, and daikon).

In May 2014, the Tran brothers decided to open up a second location in Northridge, on the corner of Parthenia and Tampa. David Tran, one of the brothers, along with his nephew, Derek Tran are the main bakers of this location. Derek also oversees the daily operations of the Northridge location. Like their parent location, all goods are made fresh everyday from the breads to macaroons to the cakes and pastries lining their display cases.

Derek, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, helped run and manage the Brentwood location before taking the reins at the Northridge location.

"We (the family) all put blood, sweat, and tears into our work. Going to work with family is a definitely a blessing. I've always loved working with food and working in the kitchen. I take real pride in feeding people. I love making people happy, especially if they are enjoying my food. It's a very satisfying feeling," shares Derek when asked what he liked best about working at Belwood.

Belwood Bakery in Northridge celebrated its second year of operations last May. In those two years, the bakery has established itself as an important member of the community by attracting a regular crowd of customers and by collaborating with the various schools and churches in the surrounding areas. They also provide wholesale breads to sandwich shops around the San Fernando Valley and Santa Monica area.

"We take care of our community, anything we can to do our part, and they take care of us. That's the beauty of being a family owned business.", said Tran.

The Northridge location offers Derek and his team a chance to be creative in the kitchen and to develop more products for customers to enjoy, such as the "Crookie", a delectable combination of a chocolate croissant with an oreo cookie filling.

"Honestly, I love this place. I love going here because it's more of my baby. I take a lot of pride in this place. My father and his brothers started the other location---they developed it to the bakery that it is today. So, this location presents an opportunity to show what the next generation can do---to expand, to build the Belwood name for the family, and to create more."

Belwood Bakery is located at 8735 Tampa Ave., Northridge, CA 91324. In addition to baked goods, they serve hot and cold sandwiches, salads and a variety of drinks including tea, coffee and smoothies. For more information, visit their website at belwoodbakerycafe.com.