culture@dailylobo.com
Mean, angry bread has arrived in Nob Hill — but in the best way possible.
Mean Bao bakery is an Asian fusion bakery named after the Chinese word for bread, “mian bao”. The bakery’s mascot is a piece of bread with an angry face because, according to the owners, they make a “mean” bread.
After Sarah Lim married her husband, Andy, the couple traveled through Taiwan and Indonesia. She sampled all kinds of fare from small local bakeries, such as bo lo bao buns filled with creamy vanilla custard and sweet milk rolls, reminiscent of a French croissant.
“I would try some of the things there and say, ‘Oh, this is so good!’” she said. “And we don’t really have anything like that here in Albuquerque.”
This passion for Asian pastries is what prompted the pair to open Mean Bao bakery in Nob Hill. The bakery style is called “Asian fusion” because it offers both traditional Taiwanese goods, such as its namesake bao — filled buns that are either sweet or savory — and American treats with a twist, such as green-tea cookies. The shop has been open for one month and Lim said business has been good so far.
“I think there’s a good market, not just with the Asian community, but with everybody,” she said. “I think it’s something that’s going to be universally well-liked.”
Mean Bao offers a large variety of treats that change from one day to the next. The store has themed-sweets days, such as Terrific Tart Tuesdays and Green Tea Thursdays. For those interested in a nontraditional bar scene, there are cocktail-flavored cupcakes on Fridays. Lim said the bakery’s eclectic nature will do well in Nob Hill because of the area’s diverse clientele.
Bob Woltman, a retired curator for the Albuquerque Museum, became a baker almost seven years ago. He said his job at Mean Bao has provided him with a creative outlet.
“When I retired, I decided after a couple of years I was frittering away too much time,” Woltman said. “I was always kind of interested in baking, so I saw this and thought it might be fun.”
Woltman said he likes that the bakery offers customers a different kind of product that they won’t be able to find anywhere else. He also said employees get to be involved in baking a variety of things, whereas at his former bakery job he was only allowed to make large quantities of the same type of cookie or muffin.
Lim said her employees’ creativity is crucial to the bakery’s success and that she encourages them to come up with new ideas as often as possible.
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One of the bakery’s goals is to be involved with the Albuquerque community. Lim said that at closing every day, leftover pastries are donated to fire stations and homeless shelters. They also send donations to local projects such as Hops and Harvest.
“We want to be something that’s community-minded,” she said. “I want people to know that some of the dollar they spend here is going back out into Albuquerque.”
Mean Bao Bakery
3409 Central Ave. N.E.
Sundays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
Tuesdays – Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
Fridays – Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Closed Mondays
(505) 908-9188
meanbao.com
