La Especial Bakery — Restaurant in San Benito

Some foodie experiences make you feel like you're back in time. That describes La Especial Bakery to a T. Built in 1940, this bakery has been serving pan dulce to the city of San Benito for over 70 years. Its baking methods are timeless, and its bread is top notch. It's probably the best bakery I have ever been too.

When you walk into La Especial, there is a vibrant energy that accompanies the delicious smells of freshly baked bread. My family and I went to this bakery three times during the four days we were in San Benito, and each time there was a line of customers waiting to order bread. With such a rich history in San Benito, everyone in town (and in the surrounding towns) knows the quality of baked goods at La Especial.

During our last visit, my family and I had the incredible fortune of meeting the owner, which included a tour of the bakery. We were able to see the oven that was built in the 1940′s that is still used to bake bread everyday. The owner's father built the oven when he first opened the bakery. It's made out of bricks, and can fit up to 30 turkeys during Thanksgiving (to give you a sense of scale). We also saw the modern ovens that are used to cook barbacoa. Customers can bring in raw barbacoa, and the bakery will cut, season, and cook the meat. They had about 10 trays of barbacoa cooking in one of the ovens when we toured through the kitchen.

On a personal note, it was really cool for my family to see this bakery. My Grandmother used to buy bread here when she was a child growing up in San Benito in the 1940′s. She would tell us stories about how much this small Texan town (located 15 minutes from the border of Mexico) had changed over the years. Despite that, it's incredible to see something that has stood the test of time. Not only has La Especial lasted - it has truly thrived. It reminds me of simpler times - before cell phones and internet. Before microwaves and the onslaught of American fast food chains. La Especial reminds me of the rich history of San Benito, and offers an opportunity for the next generation to create memories of their own.

I wish there were more food establishments like La Especial Bakery. They're not concerned about expansion plans. They're not too busy to carry on a conversation with customers. They've found their niche and have stuck to it. They build relationships with the people that walk through the door, and do their very best to produce the highest quality bread possible. There's something comforting in knowing that businesses like this still exist. I can only hope that the next 70 years will be just as prosperous for this bakery as the last 70...

Asked for Santa cookies and pecan lady fingers, ordered a week in advance, then today when we got there the order was not ready because they put Thursday the 24th so we had to go back later in the afternoon so they could make them since they put the wrong dates. So we went back and they did not put pecans in our lady fingers, we asked if they could please make them, and they said no because they need a three day in advance for the order! Hello, we gave them a week, it was not our fault they made a mistake, so now for their mistake we had to take them without pecans since no one could help because they insisted they needed three days after they had more than 3. So we paid and left with everything in a bag, well they ended up charging us 4 dozen and only put 3, and when we saw our "Santa" cookies that was an even bigger disappointment than the pecan problem. What was supposed to be Santa was just a red blob, no face, no hat, no white it in it at least to try to make it look like santa. Just a red blob that wasnt even shaped like him. Wow so disappointing. No one helped and we still paid for all this and had to go find another bakery to help us because this was...

I have always come to this bakery because the bread is good and it is not expensive, but their customer service is terrible. I paid and my total was $24. I gave the cashier $25 and she gave me my change with no receipt. I then came out of the bakery thinking what I had bought and I felt she had over charged me. I then went back to the store and asked for a receipt. It turns out she had charged me $4 over. I then told her you need to pay more attention to what you are doing. I then get out of the store and call and I speak with a man’s called Joe and he tries to excuse the cashier and is very rude. I tell him if you are the appointed person there and you talk to your customers like that what can I expect from the workers. I was so mad that I hanged up on him, but I can guarantee you that this will be the last time I step into this bakery. I don’t know where all the nice people that were working...