{"id":633,"date":"2018-07-23T15:08:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T22:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=70958"},"modified":"2018-07-23T15:08:14","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T22:08:14","slug":"this-authentic-filipino-bakery-has-been-serving-long-beachs-westside-community-for-25-years-heres-how-it-all-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/this-authentic-filipino-bakery-has-been-serving-long-beachs-westside-community-for-25-years-heres-how-it-all-began","title":{"rendered":"This authentic Filipino bakery has been serving Long Beach\u2019s westside community for 25 years, here\u2019s how it all began"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A current photo of the original Gemmae Bake Shop in Bacoor, Cavite in the Philippines. Photo courtesy of Catherine Tolentino.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearly 40 years ago in a small province outside of Manila called Cavite, a line of hungry people gathered near a modest food stall where they waited, peering through its windows and tapping on the glass, to buy pandesal, a Filipino bread traditionally eaten for breakfast.<\/p>\n

They waited for Prescilla Tolentino, then 25, to open Gemmae Bake Shop, the first of the budding entrepreneur\u2019s 13 locations established throughout the Philippines over the next decade.<\/p>\n

In 1990 Prescilla had closed all but the original shop in Bacoor, Cavite, and moved to Long Beach\u2014her older brother was already living on the westside. Three years later, she opened Gemmae Bake Shop in a strip mall at 1356 W. Willow St.<\/p>\n

Tolentino moved to the U.S. in pursuit of a better life for her and her family, feeling that there were more opportunities here for running a business, as well as more opportunities available for her children to pursue their own dreams.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BgFDTPpF83S\/<\/p>\n

Twenty-five years later, Gemmae Bake Shop still operates out of the same location, using the same family recipes, while Tolentino, now 64, is training her 32-year-old daughter, Catherine Tolentino\u2014who grew up in the store\u2014to run the shop so Tolentino can soon retire.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom made up the name [Gemmae] because she wanted something really unique, something that people would ask questions about,\u201d Catherine said. \u201cSo she took her zodiac sign, which is Gemini, and her birth month, May, and she combined them together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemmae specializes in traditional Filipino foods, including pandesal, which is baked fresh every day.<\/p>\n

[easy-image-collage id=70960]<\/p>\n

Top:\u00a0Joanna Della serves daing na bangus, fried fish, at Gemmae Bake Shop. Bottom:\u00a0Pepper steak and rice served at Gemmae Bake Shop. Photos by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely what makes us stand out is that all of our breads and pastries are handmade,\u201d Catherine said. \u201cYou can definitely taste the difference in the finished product. A bread that\u2019s machine-made versus a bread that\u2019s handmade, there are certain things that humans can do that machines can\u2019t necessarily do. We\u2019re very conscious about that and I think our customers appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While pandesal is the bakery restaurant\u2019s anchor product, it\u2019s actually baking cakes where Tolentino\u2019s passion lies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandesal, that\u2019s our daily necessity in my country,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I have to have that, it\u2019s like a bait, and then second is the cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Catherine Tolentino tends to the counter as she and her mother, Prescilla Tolentino, own and operate Gemmae Bake Shop. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A passion that has been passed down to her daughter who says her favorite confection to make at Gemmae is “sans rival,” a cake with a crunchy texture, made with layers of chopped cashews in meringue, and buttercream.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story of that cake, I believe, is originally cashews were expensive in the Philippines, so it was something that people would only eat during the holidays,\u201d Catherine said. \u201cI really like making our sans rival because it\u2019s different and it\u2019s so good I always end up snacking on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their least traditional offering perhaps is a seasonal “ube cheesecake,” combining what is considered a very American dessert with a purple sweet potato native to the Philippines.<\/p>\n

The shop doesn’t just serve up sweets.<\/p>\n

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Hipon Sitaw Kalabasa, shrimp, longbeans, and squash at Gemmae Bake Shop. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Traditionally, adobo is pork immersed in a stock made with vinegar, garlic, peppercorns and soy sauce, but the Tolentinos prefer making a variation called adobong puti, or white adobo, which replaces the soy sauce with sea salt.<\/p>\n

For newcomers to Filipino cuisine, Catherine recommends trying their pork or chicken adobo, lumpia, a savory fried snack similar to an egg roll usually eaten with a sweet and sour sauce and pancit, a stir-fried noodle dish.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also dinuguan, or pork soaked in pig\u2019s blood resulting in a chunky, almost black, stew that\u2019s not for the faint of heart. Other foods include a Filipino breakfast staple, daing na bangus, marinated and fried milkfish and pork afritada, a dish resembling menudo.<\/p>\n

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Catherine Tolentino tends to the counter at Gemmae Bake Shop. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of Catherine\u2019s favorites is kare kare, oxtail cooked in a creamy peanut sauce and served with mixed vegetables on white rice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just really creamy, really comforting,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything really like it in other cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the family-run eatery has survived for a quarter-century with a regular clientele the Tolentinos consider family\u2014including their staff, most of who have been working there for a decade or more\u2014in January Gemmae underwent an expansion and an interior makeover, and over the past couple of years has seen an 8 percent increase in sales.<\/p>\n

Catherine says their growing popularity is a sign of the times, but she has made it a point to generate new business by reaching out to a younger crowd, as well as different nationalities.<\/p>\n

[easy-image-collage id=70959]<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s that a lot more people are becoming familiar with Filipino food,\u201d Catherine said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s been an uptick of Filipino chefs coming up and creating their own restaurants. A lot of them are in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

She referred to LASA, a Los Angeles-based pop-up-turned-restaurant owned and operated by second-generation Filipino-American brothers, which was recognized as a 2018 Food & Wine Restaurant of the Year. There\u2019s also local Chef AC Boral who hosted Rice & Shine last year, a series of pop-ups held in partnership with local food promoter Dine LBC highlighting Filipino dishes with a contemporary twist.<\/p>\n

There was also the inaugural Long Beach Filipino Festival in May where, when the food lines became too long, attendees migrated a half mile from Silverado Park to Gemmae to eat before returning to the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a second Filipino fest in here,\u201d Catherine said.<\/p>\n

IN PICTURES: Inaugural Filipino Festival Draws Thousands to Silverado Park<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n