Best Thing We Ate This Week: Pastelito at Bayou Bakery

By Olga Boikess

David Guas, chef/owner of Bayou Bakery, traveled to Havana with his Cuban-born father to rediscover his culinary heritage. Their journey was chronicled in a recent Food and Wine magazine article. When we read the mouthwatering descriptions and photographs of his Cuban specialties, we couldn’t wait to try them. So, we headed to his Arlington eatery on a Wednesday, the day it features a Cuban sandwich and a very special pastry called pastelito.

The robust pastry is served as an anytime snack with coffee. We ordered one of the cafe's well-made Counter Culture coffee drinks and dug into the flaky puff pastry turnover. It is filled with just the right amount of guava and cream cheese. The creamy cheese contrasts with the tart/sweet guava paste and the sugar crisped, rich pastry shell. This is a snack that could fuel an entire morning or afternoon’s activity.

1515 Courthouse Rd., Arlington VA; 703-243-2410.