Alhambra has long been a gateway to one of LA’s most vibrant food corridors. Now, Pinecone Bakeshop adds a new reason to make the stop.
Pinecone Bakeshop + Cafe opens July 18 at 116 W Main St, bringing seasonal fruit tarts, cakes, and coffee to the San Gabriel Valley from pastry chef Joyce Hsieh.
Joyce is a Taiwan-born, LA-based pastry chef and Le Cordon Bleu graduate who spent years in professional kitchens, most notably at Milo + Olive, where working with California farmers and market produce shaped how she thinks about fruit, seasonality, and restraint. During COVID, she started baking from her in-laws’ kitchen under the name The Hangry Bakery, eventually building a following through pop-ups and sales at Yang’s Kitchen in Alhambra.
At Pinecone, every tart crust is made with Tehachapi Sonora wheat from the Tehachapi Grain Project, and the menu changes with what’s in season. Opening highlights include a peach Earl Grey tart with stone fruit from Andy’s Orchard or Regier Family Farms, a mango sticky rice tart with Valencia Pride mangos from Wong’s Farms, and a banana miso caramel cream tart with miso caramel, Ceylon cinnamon, and crème fraîche chantilly.
The space is designed for lingering rather than laptop camping, with 31 seats, real plates and silverware, a full coffee program featuring Counter Culture Coffee for espresso, rotating pour-overs from local and seasonal roasters, and a see-through kitchen that offers a view of the baking process. Designed by ORA, the bakery transforms a narrow storefront into a warmer, skylit cafe wrapped in reclaimed Los Angeles pine.
Pinecone is named for Joyce’s late grandfather, whose name includes the character 松, meaning pine. He was the only other person in her family who worked with flour, and the shop is, in part, her way of carrying him forward.
