SPOTLIGHT ON: Don Pan International Bakery

By Gary Nager

If you’ve ever driven by the Don Pan International Bakery, located in the Shoppes at New Tampa plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., just south of S.R. 56 (on the same side as Office Depot), but never stopped in for any of Don Pan’s delicious desserts, pastries, sandwiches, empanadas or café con leche, I hope this spotlight will convince you to finally stop in and enjoy some tasty Latin cuisine.

Don Pan is a small franchise that started in the Miami area, and eight of the current twelve locations are dotted up and down the east coast of Florida. There are two Tampa locations, both on N. Dale Mabry Hwy. (one in Carrollwood and the other in the South Tampa area), and the Wesley Chapel location is owned by Ricardo Perez, who is from Venezuela.

“All of these (pastry-style) sandwiches are what I grew up eating in Venezuela,” Ricardo says. “Everyone who tries them really seems to love them.”

Of course, Don Pan has empanadas in beef or chicken and pressed Cuban and other more “typical” Latin fare, but if you’re looking for a great ham and cheese sandwich, I recommend trying Don Pan’s cachitos instead. These Venezuelan delicacies have the ham and cheese baked into a tasty hoagie-shaped roll.

The items from Ricardo’s native country that I liked best, surprisingly (at least to me), were the cachapas, which are slightly sweet yellow corn pancakes, similar to (but sweeter than) arepas (which also are available at Don Pan). The cachapas are baked with a mild white cheese and I was told to try them covered with Don Pan’s unique shredded pork and then pressed (photo) and I’ll just say that I’m now hooked on ‘em.

But, Don Pan also has chicken puff pastries, cachitos without cheese, spinach strudel, as well as a great variety of sandwiches and other Latin “finger foods,” such as definitely different cheese “fingers.”

And, since it is still primarily a bakery, Don Pan also boasts a huge selection of a dozen or more cakes, cake slices and dessert pastries — from guava and cheese danish to different takes on tiramisu and Napoleons — that are well worth a try.

There’s even Venezuelan-style flan and tres leches desserts, plus truly delicious espresso, cafe con leche, marron (less milk than a con leche) and other coffee drinks and fresh fruit shakes. Don Pan’s breakfast specials start at just $3.75 and fast and delicious lunch specials start at just $4.95. Don Pan can even cater your next party.

So, stop in at Don Pan (1708 BBD Blvd.) any weekday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m., 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Sat. or 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sun. For more info, call 994-6734 or visit them on Facebook. — GN