There’s been no slowdown to the enrichment of the Charlottesville food community. The latest addition is a Filipino bakery. While some have dabbled with Filipino baked goods in Charlottesville, Kalye 80’s is the first bakery dedicated to them.
Natives of the Philippines, the two couples behind the bakery — Mark and Dawn Cabase and Oscar and Erin Capuras — met in Charlottesville but share fond childhood memories of “kalye” (street) bakeries where neighbors gathered and children stopped for bread on the way home. “We wanted to recreate that sense of warmth and belonging here in Charlottesville, especially with the growing number of Filipinos here,” said Dawn. The name Kalye 80’s reflects both the time of their shared memories – the 1980s – and the place – the street.
Leading the baking is Oscar, who is turning a lifelong passion into a business, sharing with Charlottesville his love of traditional Filipino baked goods. Mark, meanwhile, a nurse by trade, plans to draw on those skills for a caring mindset in serving the bakery’s guests, making sure that the service matches the quality of Oscar’s creations, like Spanish bread, pandesal, ube pandesal, choco german, monay, torta, puto, crinkles, ensaymada, and turon.
But, the vision is more than just baking bread, says Dawn. “We want to build a community space where bread tells stories, sparks nostalgia, and builds cultural connections.” And so, while Oscar and Mark will run the bakery daily, Erin and Dawn are helping whenever family time allows. “Even the children get to witness what it looks like to build a dream from scratch, making it a true legacy,” said Dawn…