Andre Guerrero Transforms Butter Tart Bakery [CLOSED]

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Bakery Los Angeles

Andre Guerrero has reached an agreement to lease Butter Tart Bakery. He plans to transform the Glassell Park bakery into a breakfast and lunch spot and use the space to help supplement two of his other restaurants: The Oinkster and marché LA. The hope is to re-open on October 24 with a revamped pastry roster, a new coffee program, a small breakfast menu and operational control from sons Fred and Max.

Guerrero and his sons inherited all the brand-new equipment from previous owner Karena Higgins. Given that, they don’t have to do much with the space. Instead, they’ll focus on revamping the menu, beginning with the coffee program. “We’re really focusing on having amazing coffee,” says Guerrero.” To accomplish that, he’s sourcing beans from Intelligentsia’s neighborhood roasting facility and invested in a new espresso machine, the “Rolls Royce of machines.” Butter Tart will feature a brew bar, where every cup is ground and brewed to order using a pour-over drip system.

For breakfast, Guerrero plans to offer a tight menu that includes options like corned beef hash and Anson Mills heirloom grits with “spoon tender” bacon confit and poached eggs. His goal with breakfast: “keep the menu limited to focus on really great stuff.”

Marché LA pastry chef Jan Purdy will handle the pastries and bread baking, She’ll bake all the cupcakes for The Oinkster and may even create some new site-specific flavors. Purdy will make all the potato and cheese rolls for marché LA, and some bread will be available for purchase at Butter Tart. You’ll also find tarts and cakes. Think walnut caramel tarts, fig tarts with frangipane and brown butter tarts, to name three.

Guerrero is even talking about having monthly market dinners featuring chef friends.

Update: Heirloom LA ended up with the Butter Tart Bakery space instead.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

Blog Comments

I live up the block from Butter Tart and have been wondering what in the world is the deal with it being closed for several months. I loved its local neighbor flavor. It was frustrating that the hours were strange and that not all the menu items were always available. But the egg tarts, scones, and coffee cake were amazing. I am sad that Karena won’t be there anymore. I always enjoyed chitchatting with her. But I am overjoyed that A. Guerrero is taking over the space. I am a big fan of both the Oinkster and Boho. I can’t wait for it to reopen later this month.

I will miss Karena, Gizelle and the rest of the crew, but hopefully some will return, it was a greeat find in our neighborhood, the coffeecake,WOW, plus the other wonderful pastries, a neighborhood jem. Glad to hear of the re-opening under Guerrero, look forward to the new menu and hopefully a great local bakery for some great bread and pastries.

And please continue making the Butter Tarts – they were the best! I’ve missed them over the past month!

If Purdy or any of the Guerrero’s see this, please continue to make Karena’s coffee cake. It is the best I’ve ever had, and has gotten me to go out of my way over to Butter Tart more than once.

The b/f and I used to visit this on the weekends since it’s right down the street from us. We were wondering why it hasn’t been open for the last few months.

I’m kind of bummed… Karena is actually our next door neighbor. She is the sweetest lady. Her red velvet cupcakes are actually the best in LA (no one knew), and her banana pudding is amazing.

That said, I’m excited to see what Andre does with the space. The Oinkster is a local favorite as well.

Karena’s bacon maple tarts and coffee cake were both really good. I’m not exactly sure why her concept didn’t catch on, but Version 2.0 sounds promising. It’s hard to argue with Anson Mills grits and bacon.

oh this is very very good news! this is so close to my house, i might just be here every other day. butter tart was pretty good, but their scope was too limited. I’m glad guerrero is making use of this space in a better way. i’m excited about the new coffee program too.

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