Jennifer Arellano and Kian “Arellano” Ahmadian with their baked pandesal in Long Island City. Photo via Arellano Pandesal on Facebook
June 27, 2025 By Paulina Albarracin
Arellano Pandesal, an online Filipino bakery renowned for its distinctive pandesal—a bread roll that serves as a breakfast centerpiece—is sweetening up Western Queens with delectable pastries that blend Filipino tradition with NYC modernity.
Founders Jennifer Arellano and Kian “Arellano” Ahmadian started the bakery to share the Arellano family recipe, which was updated to broaden its appeal among Filipino Americans and bread enthusiasts. Arellano aimed to honor her familial roots by connecting customers with her culture. Operating as an online bakery, the baking is done at the premises of Even Tinier Drumsticks, a shared commercial kitchen in Long Island City.
Each pastry is hand-rolled and baked with organic ingredients, offering a healthier alternative to starchier counterparts. The growing popularity of pandesal is a testament to the diverse food selections that thrive in the borough.
A fresh batch of pandesal in Long Island City. Photo via Arellano Pandesal on Facebook
Since November 2024, the bakery has been regularly featured at pop-up events, held on Saturdays at Alewife Brewing from 1 – 4 p.m. and on Sundays at Fifth Hammer Brewing from 12:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. This month, Arellano Pandesal is enjoying a weekend residency at the Unisphere Café, a cozy café run by the August Tree Inc. at the Queens Museum. The next pop-up event is scheduled for Sunday, June 29 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A strawberry milk unswirly, made with organic strawberry jam swirls and strawberry white chocolate glaze, at the Unisphere Cafe in the Queens Museum. Photo by Paulina Albarracin
The menu features beloved staples like the strawberry milk unswirly (or ensaymada), three cheesy unswirly, sweet vanilla unswirly, cinnamon unswirly, chilly crisp unswirly, pandesal box loaf, and the Barako Choko, a brownie mixed with Philippine coffee.
Four distinct unswirly flavors, Chili Crisp, Sweet Vanilla, Cheesy, and Strawberry Milk, from Arellano Pandesal in Long Island City. Photo via Arellano Pandesal on Facebook
A new addition to the flavorsome lineup is the pandesal bagel roll, a chewy dough pastry baked in the style of an NYC bagel. The five flavors are classic, chocolate, everything, blueberry, and sesame as a nod to the five boroughs.
Growing up in Woodhaven, Arellano, who called herself a “secret baker,” had an innate talent for baking and enjoyed refining her mother’s pandesal recipe. To enhance her skills, she interweaved her family’s Filipino heritage into the baked goods. Arellano added that this process reignited her passion for baking, which she had previously set aside due to her family’s career expectations.
A Barako Choko brownie, one of their dessert items, on display at Long Island City. Photo via Arellano Pandesal on Facebook.
Arellano Pandesal aimed to be the first distributor of pandesal in the Big Apple, inspired by the scarcity of NYC-made Filipino bread. “Since I was born in New York City, most of the pandesal that you could purchase was actually made in New Jersey,” Arellano said. “We aspired to be the first supplier of premium, high-quality pandesal.”
In the process of baking, Arellano shared that she prefers enriched dough made with yeast (with the exception of sourdough). The dough is blended with butter, milk, yogurt, sour cream, and other organic ingredients of the baker’s choosing. This combination yields succulent treats, such as cinnamon-flavored buns.
Arellano chose Long Island City as the baking grounds for pandesal due to her background as a Queens native. “I think it is a very underloved borough,” Arellano shared. “I believe that contributing to the businesses that are proud to be from here benefits Queens.”
Working alongside her husband, Arellano values the opportunity to incorporate life lessons from her past experiences. Bringing her whole self to the role is a satisfying endeavor, one that cannot be fulfilled by a traditional job, despite the high costs of business ownership. Arellano noted that the autonomy of being an owner and handling the problem-solving is worth the entrepreneurial pursuit. “If you like testing out new ideas all the time, then definitely pursue your own business,” Arellano shared.
Arellano further advised aspiring business owners to identify their inspiration for starting a bakery and channel that into the products. “I think having a really strong story for why you’re doing this will help you power through frustrating moments,” Arellano said.
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