13 April 16 - 22, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents A Sweet Mix A bakery in Dalworthington Gardens is a cultural bread basket. BY LAUREN DREWES DANIELS L aura Molinar started out selling her baked goods on the fly. “I would set up wherever they would let me,” she says. For years, she baked in her home kitchen, then would pop up in Deep Ellum or the Bishop Arts. Cupcakes or cookies domi- nated the menu, often with Japanese kawaii influences. It was by chance that a customer told her about a bakery space in Dalworthington Gardens. The current tenant needed some- one to take it over, and she was starting to consider a more permanent arrangement. She was busy and couldn’t have a conversa- tion at the time while manning her pop-up. Her mom got his card, but then she lost it. “So we have no idea where it is, so we just head down to Dalworthington Gardens and found it,” she says. It was the only bakery in the 2-mile-wide town within Arlington. By that time, she knew she wanted to fo- cus on baking Japanese milk bread while also incorporating her own Mexican roots. Now she had the space to do it. Mexican Soul With Japanese Style Molinar opened her bakery in August 2024. Doubling down on pan, meaning bread in both Spanish and Japanese, it has the per- fect playful name. PanPan is a mix of cul- tures: Milk bread marries conchas. Inside, Japanese mini figurines are lined up over pitchers of horchata mix. After getting the space, Molinar, who is just 22 years old, took time to refine and master her recipes. Then, after opening, she focused on employee policies and proce- dures. It was only after everything was run- ning smoothly that she started using social media to promote her business. Soon, the lines began snaking from the register to the door. Two years later, with more than 20 em- ployees and a satellite kitchen to keep up with demand, that long line persists. Her father, Raul Molinar, says “Lau-ita,” the youngest of five kids, has always been driven and has a competitive streak. He’s not too surprised by her early success. He’s had to learn and grow along with her; one day, she went to him with a problem at the cafe. He offered her a solution, but she stopped him. “I don’t want you to solve it for me. I just want you to listen,” he recalls her telling him. It was a hard pill for this protective fa- ther to swallow, but he heeded her request. Her family continues to support her in the cafe, some working for her, including her mother and a sister. Milking It Milk bread is the base for everything at Pan- Pan. “People will say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve never had a concha that wasn’t dry.’ It’s made to be dipped in coffee, so it’s usually kind of dry. But milk bread is different. It has natural fat and sugars, and tangzhong, which we make in-house. This Japanese roux releases hy- dration in the dough throughout a period of time,” she says, adding that the method is very specific to Japanese baking techniques and something she worked hard to master. The Nutella concha, the most popular item, is the perfect demonstration of this. When torn apart, slightly spongy bread re- veals a soft ribbon of Nutella. It’s nowhere nearly as dry as a traditional concha. A pastry case lines the back wall at Pan- Pan. Tongs and trays are on the left. Plain milk bread, flavored conchas and buns are replenished throughout the day. Many pas- tries are topped with matcha, but there are also other options like Oreo and dulce de leche. Individually wrapped slices of milk bread sit atop the case. Traditional items, such as Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls, sit next to Japanese shio-pan stuffed with Nutella. Nothing I’ve tried has been too sweet. There’s a nice balance to everything. The Drink Menu The café always has a handful of people milling about waiting for their custom-made drinks (although never for more than a few minutes, in my experience). Baristas are al- ways friendly and seem to be having fun. “I tell them ... with urgency, but we never rush,” she says, which is a great way to de- scribe the pace behind the counter. The cafe’s drink menu, with a full lineup of lattes and matchas, seems to draw in more people than the pastries do. The PanPan Latte ($6.25) is made with homemade honey and cinnamon syrup. Other lattes in- clude dulce de leche, cinnamon rolls, tres leches, horchata and Mexican mocha. The most popular drink is a Mango Sticky Rice Matcha. She says the key ingredient is a house-made mango puree. It’s only available when mangos are in season and has a “secret ingredient that makes it amazing.” The ceremonial-grade matcha has its own section on the menu: matcha latte, horchata matcha, banana cream matcha and a Bander- ita Matcha with homemade strawberry puree and matcha foam, is served with a mini flag. The space is worth seeking out in Dal- worthington Gardens, though given the pace of things at the café and Lau-ita’s ambi- tion, we might be seeing more cafés around North Texas. For now, she says, she is bask- ing in the space here. “I think it’s so beautiful,” she says of her little cafe. “And I really do think that every- thing is so intentional, down to the size. Be- cause in Japan and in Mexico, everything’s kind of this size or even smaller.” She’d like to expand to more locations to deliver the experience to more people, but will do so carefully. A calm space is important. “I know sometimes that can flip on its [expansion] head and it can turn into an overstimulated and crowded new scene be- cause there are so many people in a tight lit- tle space,” she says. “But it’s really important for the concept to be able to keep growing in small spaces.” PanPan Cafe and Bakery, 2110 Roosevelt Drive, Dalworthington Gardens, Sunday Closed; Monday - Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. ▼ REVIEW CAFFE LUCCA CHARMS BUT WE DO HAVE ONE BONE TO PICK WITH THE NEW SICILIAN SPOT. BY COURTNEY E. SMITH T hat former Dallas Cowboys head coach, Jason Garrett, is a co-owner of Caffe Lucca has garnered it a lot of attention, but I don’t like sports and don’t care about that. I’m here because the other owner, Julian Bar- sotti, has two Michelin-recognized Italian restaurants in the city, the eponymous Bar- sotti’s and Nonna, the latter of which earned a Bib Gourmand distinction. By any mea- sure, Barsotti knows Italian food. Caffe Lucca does something different than Barsotti’s other ventures by focusing on Sicilian food, and drawing on the island’s ex- posure to the Mediterranean. There are North African, Greek, French and Turkish influences, even stretching as far as Lebanon for wine and the Spanish phenomenon Pi- casso for its artistic influence. That tracks not just for its southerly location, but be- cause every clan in Europe conquered Sicily at least twice before Italy finally drew it into the fold for good. Meanwhile, in Dallas, I was trying to conquer the host stand at this restaurant. The small dining room was packed out when I arrived at around 7:30 on a | CITY OF ATE | ▼ Dish Lauren Drewes Daniels Laura Molinar mixes Japanese and Mexican baking styles at PanPan. Courtney Smith The star of the show: busiate, here served al ragu della nonna Siciliane. >> p14
