La Pana enlivens Logan Street

By Forde Womack

Logan Street has been a hub to the Shelby Park, Germantown and Highlands area for some time. The opening of the Logan Street Market has given businesses growth and centered a small community around it. One shop, Foko, that at one point was inside the market has moved into the building next to their old home, replacing what was once the Tim Faulkner Gallery. In the same suite, there’s a new shop that also had its place in the market, and is co-signed by Foko.

La Pana is what happens when you mix French and Mexican confectionery and coffee. The owner, Diego Hernandez, is from a town in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and later would train to become a pastry chef in Europe, traveling over different countries to learn to be a patissier.

After years of honing the craft, La Pana was born. Modeled after a trend of bakeries in Miami, La Pana started as a window bakery on the side of Logan Street Market.

“It’s one of the more common ways of getting bread, pastries in Miami,” said Jackie Almanza an employee and baker. Almanza has worked at La Pana for a year and has enjoyed the move.

“Business has been pretty consistent, but I’m not sure if people know we’ve moved over here just yet.” Almanza said. “They’re currently renovating the upstairs portion as a dance studio, it’ll be interesting to see what comes of that.”

The cafe’s menu features an array of coffee and pastry items. One of their specialties is the “Sassy Abuelita” which blends espresso, milk and Oaxacan hot chocolate, which gives the drink a distinct, cinnamon-like sip every time.

La Pana’s confectioneries is everything you’d find in a cafe and then some. The blueberry scone is dense and has a nice icing drizzle to decorate the blueberries speckled in throughout. Another popular item, brought to the store by Almanza are their empanadas; their best seller is the one with cream cheese and guava filling, but they also feature ham and cheese and chorizo and cheese fillings for a more savory morning. The star of the show, however, is the Rol De Canela, which has the crunch and flake of a croissant but has a cream filling softening each bite.