La Estrella Y Familia Bakery — Restaurant in Dallas

This is my all-time favorite bakery or panaderia in Dallas. How much do I love this place? This is the ONLY place I buy my pan dulce in the Dallas area.

The negative: The place is old, kind of dumpy-looking. There is limited parking in the adjacent parking lot. You can no longer park in front.

The positive: Where do I start? This is a family owned business. I remember stopping here for a bag of pan dulce with my Mom back in high school when we were visiting family in the area. Then we would drive home to East Dallas/White Rock Lake area. Mom wouldn't let us eat until after dinner. We washed dishes so fast on those nights. That was back in the 70's!

They have a good assortment of goodies from little "wedding cookies" to fresh bread rolls, "bollilos" sold individually or often pre-bagged.This is not the place to stop if you are watching your sugar or fat but their Mexican treats are SOOOOO good. This is the place I go when I am in the mood for pan dulce or want a special treat for overnight guests.

So stop in, grab a tray and serve yourself. Then go home and enjoy after dinner with a cup of tea, milk or hot chocolate.

Things to know: This bakery is just down the street from the Trinity Groves area. It's easy to get back on Stemmons Freeway, I-35 or I-30.

Looks like I am driving into Dallas today. Maybe they will have fresh "piedras" for me to enjoy after dinner...

La Estrella sells both traditional sweet Mexican pastries (pan dulces: conchas, galetas, empanadas de frutas) and savory items (tacos, tortas, quesadillas)

Meat options: bistec - steak cabeza - head costillas - rib al pastor - pork w/ pineapple tripa - beef tripe (@ surcharge) lengua- beef tongue (@ surcharge)

Tortilla options: maiz - corn harina - flour (@ surcharge)

Prices are very affordable: less than $2 for a street taco (with corn or flour tortilla) and $4 for a torta or quesadilla. For takeout, they provide two big containers of salsa, a side of spicy marinated cucumbers, and a bunch of cilantro and onions. Although it's not anything fancy, it is a solid taco at a very good price. And the people are nice :) Note: no vegetarian options, although you can always get pastries!

My order: I got the bistec and al pastor tacos on maiz and harina, and while all combinations are great, my favorite is probably al...

I'm a very upset client :( I went yesterday 1-5-2014 to buy the kings bread ( la rosca de los 3 reyes) & the lady (cashier) said they were freshly made so I purchase the $20 one . Well today we tried cutting into the bread & it was super hard it broke my heavy duty knife it was such an embarrassment in front of my guest. Literally the kings bread was hard like a rock. Did not expect this from a highly recommended bakery we had to dip soak our bread into the hot chocolate that was the only way we could eat it. No bueno not good :( I will not be purchasing from here anymore there so-call Roscas de Reyes ( the kings bread) . But I will have to say haven't had any issues with their sweet bread ( pan dulce ) is good. Just stay away from La...