The heady aroma of fried chicken and waffles perfumes the midmorning air of the Blossom Market Hall in San Gabriel. At 10 a.m., most of the other vendors are still dark, but behind the counter at Baking With Ish, Ishnoelle Richardson and his husband Jeff have been at their new stall in the market for hours, preparing waffle and pancake batters and dozens of pieces of fried chicken.
“I just really needed people to try my fried chicken,” says Ishnoelle, who first opened his bakery at the market in 2023. He’s known best for his pandemic pop-up turned bricks-and-mortar bakery, with a pastry case full of ube-infused pies and pandesals brimming with more ube and melted cheese. But after moving from his 110-square-foot space in the market to a larger, adjacent stall in April, he’s using the extra square footage to serve breakfast.
“I went to school for savory, so I’m not just baking sweets,” he says. “I love fried chicken, and I’ve been making it since I was a kid. I might as well share it.”
Born in the Philippines, Ishnoelle spent his childhood at the hips of his aunt and grandmother in the kitchen. He moved to the United States as a teenager and pursued a career in entertainment, but he always longed to reconnect with the years he spent cooking alongside his family. After attending Le Cordon Bleu and various stints at L.A. restaurants, he mined the familiar flavors of the Philippines (and his mother’s recipes) to launch his own bakery during the pandemic…