Bella Vista Bakery brings a taste of Venezuela to Miami

By Art Jacobson, Miami's Community Newspapers Online

Leonardo Orma, manager of the BellaVista Bakery/Café, says that sandwiches are available made with a many different kinds of bread. In Venezuela, bakeries and cafes operated by the Malventano family have been popular for more than 40 years. For much of that time, Marco Malventano and Hiroshi Harada have been good friends.

Both now live in Miami and have brought a tasty part of Venezuela with them. They are partners in the Bella Vista Bakery/Cafe, at 10455 NW 41st St., a favorite place with Doral residents and workers for buying baked goods, coffee, lunch, dinner and light refreshments

It all started in 1999 when they purchased a factory formerly used by the Andalusia Bakery chain near the airport. In addition to serving wholesale customers, they opened a small retail shop. Word spread quickly about the delicious breads, cakes, pastries and other items available. At the same time, the partners noticed how rapidly Doral was growing and decided to open a larger retail store there. The result was Bella Vista Bakery/Cafe.

Martha Palacio shows off one of the luscious cakes, plus the many breads, pies and pastries available at the BellaVista Bakery.

“When we planned this store, we had no idea that Doral would become such a popular place to live for people from Venezuela,” said Harada. “We realized that the area had a lot of potential and that it was attracting people from many different countries. We are pleased that we decided to locate here and that people in the area like what we have to offer.”

The 3,100 square foot bakery/cafe has several well-decorated retail and food service counters, plus tables and chairs spread throughout to form intimate and cozy dining areas. The focal point is a colossal bakery counter where patrons may choose from a broad assortment of breads, cakes, pies and pastries.

Although they don’t have all items available all of the time, Bella Vista features 20 different kinds of bread. Among them are rustico, French, campesino, sweet, cheese, guava, baguettes and corn. The most popular is rustico, a European-style bread that has a hard shell crust and is soft on the inside.

The bakery produces cakes in more than 40 different flavors, including charlot, fruit, dama real, Napoleon, St. Onore, Mont Blanc and strawberry. Harada says their chocolate, caramel, mousse and cheesecakes are the best sellers and that they are available in four sizes priced from $11 to $60.

“We make so many different kinds of pastries, it’s hard to count them all; there’s certainly more than 100,” he said. “We have European, Italian, French, and Latin pastries in both sweet and salty varieties such as tequeños, pastelitos, pizzitas, mil hojas, cannoli, tiramisu, tarts and bignets. We also sell pies in six flavors.”

But that’s not all. Bella Vista offers a buffet at lunchtime with a wide variety of hot and cold entrees, including chicken, beef, pork and fish, plus vegetables and salads. You may also choose from deli sandwiches of all kinds, plus cachitos, a European delicacy popular in Venezuela made with strudel dough and filled with ham, cheese, apple, meat, chicken, guava and other scrumptious ingredients.

Bella Vista is also one of Miami-Dade’s premiere wholesale suppliers of bakery goods to hotels and restaurants. Among its customers are the Holiday Inn, Hyatt Regency, Hilton, Eden Roc, Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza, Wyndham, and Renaissance hotels. It also serves many of South Florida’s most fashionable restaurants, such as Mezzaluna, Rosinella, Grill Fish, Gastronomia, Fratello, Ludos, Sports Cafe and Cafe Bola.

At the same time, Bella Vista caters breakfast and luncheon meetings for companies and organizations around Doral and provides catering services for several airlines.

The Doral store is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.  Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

For more information, call 305-718-6668.