Though Mendocino isn’t the cheapest or the most well-rounded spot when it comes to food choices, I believe our small little seaside village has more personality and charisma than anywhere else. Personally, my favorite spot to eat terrific food for an affordable price is the Garden Bakery. The Garden Bakery is a small family run business in Mendocino that has father, mother, and children all working to keep it successful.

The Garden Bakery mainly focuses on mexican cuisine while putting their own flare and pizzazz on traditional dishes from all around the world. When I asked the head chef if make everything in house and with their own recipes, he answered, “ Yes, of course, many are my mother’s recipes but over time I have grown to change them for in our opinion for the better”. Since they do mexican style dishes, when I go in with my friends, we all order Burritos or Quesadillas. My favorite is the Burrito. When I asked a random 10 people about what they thought was their favorite, 7 of them answered with a Burrito. As I said they put their own twist on other dishes, for example a chicken pot pie. Though it does not necessarily fit in with their theme of mexican cuisine, their Pot Pie is by far one of the best I’ve ever had. That’s saying something, since I have been to the original Marie Callender’s Restaurant.

Past just their lunch options, they are called Garden BAKERY for a reason.  Personally, I feel that the highlight of the Garden Bakery isn’t the entrees, but the pastries and breads. When I asked the chef if they made all their pastries and breads in house, he responded with “ Yes, of course. Everything is made from scratch here in house and some things we only make on specific days for our true customers who know we have our once-a-week pastries.” One of their  “once-a-week pastries” are their esteemed conchas. Conchas are a mexican sweet bread with a sugary crust on top that, when eaten fresh, melt like butter in your mouth and make wednesdays a must for the Garden Bakery. As I previously stated, for entrees they added their own variation of a chicken Pot Pie and they did the exact same thing with a Jewish style dessert known as a rugelach. Since my heritage is Hebrew, I have had my fair share of Rugelach- and this, again, is of the best. However, Garden Bakery doesn’t get as much business as myself and others believe it deserves. One reason for a lack of business is possibly the location. You may be wondering why its called the Garden Bakery and it boils down to it’s pretty much in its own little Garden. It has small seating arrangements. The Garden Bakery isn’t shown a lot of attention in comparison to bigger bakeries like the GoodLife Bakery, which is on the main stretch of Mendocino. When I asked if they would like to change their location, the chef responded with “ We wouldn’t change our location for any other in Mendocino” . This just goes to show the heart small businesses have in Mendocino, and it shows tourists that we like what we have and don’t need any big corporations infecting our small community built on families. However, Garden Bakery doesn’t get as much business as myself and others believe it deserves. One reason for the lack of business is the location.

Overall for me and many others at the MHS, Garden Bakery is a great lunch option for taste alone but when you add the small prices, great people and pastries to the mix it makes it levels higher. 10/10.