Two bakers who honed their crafts at Michelin-starred restaurants in San Francisco are bringing pastries and sourdough bread to a new bakery in Oakland.
Estevan Silva, a former longtime bread baker at the three-Michelin-star Quince, and Melissa Chou, ex-pastry chef of the one-star Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown, will open a shared bakery this spring at O2 Artisans Aggregate, a West Oakland industrial park home to small businesses and artists. The 2311 Magnolia St. bakery will serve drinks from San Francisco’s popular Grand Coffee, which opened a roastery at O2 last year.
For years, Chou ran her Grand Opening popup on weekends out of Mister Jiu’s, where fans lined up for her pineapple buns, burnt honey pie and other Chinese-style sweets. Silva’s baked goods have been more elusive, unless you managed to snag a batch of blue corn conchas or milk bread at his periodic popups. In West Oakland, Chou will sell pastries, while Silva will offer creative sourdough baked goods, from Korean salt bread to Japanese shokupan made with heirloom grains…