Leonard's Bakery
{{Short description|Portuguese bakery in Honolulu, founded in 1952}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2015}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{infobox restaurant
|name=Leonard's Bakery
|image=File:Leonard's Bakery (4290322777).jpg
|established={{start date and age|1952}}
|slogan=Home of Malasadas and Pão Doce
|coordinates = {{coord|21.2849|-157.8133|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| current-owner = Leonard Rego Jr.
| previous-owner =
| chef =
| head-chef =
| food-type = Bakery
| dress-code =
| rating =
| street-address = 933 Kapahulu Avenue
| city = Honolulu
| state = Hawaii
| postcode = 96816
| country = United States
| other-locations = Yokohama, Japan
| other-information =
| website = {{URL|leonardshawaii.com}}
}}
Leonard's Bakery is a Portuguese bakery in Honolulu, Hawaii, known for popularizing the malasada. The fried pastry, slightly crispier and chewier than a doughnut and with no hole, is known as a cuisine of Hawaii. Though Portuguese immigrants brought the malasada to Hawaii at the turn of the 20th century, Leonard's opened in 1952 and brought it to a wider audience. Leonard's is a household name in Hawaii and is well known in the continental United States and internationally. A franchise location opened in Japan in 2008.
Background and history
{{multiple image |align=right |direction=vertical |width=200
|image1=Leonard's malasadas.jpg
|image2=Remains of a Leonard's malasada (2168130597).jpg
|footer=A box of Leonard's malasadas, and the remains of one}}
Margaret and Frank Leonard Rego Sr. opened Leonard's Bakery in 1952. Rego's mother had encouraged him to sell malasadas, a holeless Portuguese doughnut with a "crispier" outside and a "chewier" inside. Portuguese plantation workers brought the dessert to the Hawaiian Islands when they immigrated at the turn of the 20th century.
Leonard's is known as an "old-fashioned, plain-Jane bakery" that popularized pastries and desserts in Portuguese cuisine, like Portuguese sweet bread and pão doce meat wraps,
sometimes with a Hawaiian cultural borrowing like haupia, coconut, and guava filled malasadas.{{citation|title=DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Hawaii|publisher=Penguin|year=2015|isbn=978-1465443403|page=193|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X-jtBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA193}}
As of 2011, the bakery remains a family business owned by Leonard Rego Jr. whose own children participate in its operation just as he once did.
Andrew McCarthy of the National Geographic Traveler wrote that the bakery is an institution that "anchored" its neighborhood. In Hawaii, Leonard's is a "household name". Residents from the other Hawaiian islands often bring home Leonard's malasadas as an omiyage (souvenir gift). The fried doughnut-like item may be unique to Hawaii, but are well known both in the continental United States and internationally. The Honolulu bakery is a point of interest on at least one island tour. In 2012, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that the bakery sold over 15,000 malasadas daily, or over 160 million since its opening.{{efn|By comparison, in 2009, the bakery sold about 12,000 malasadas daily.}}
Rego Jr. opened a franchise location in Japan's Yokohama World Quarter Shopping Center in December 2008. The location only sold cinnamon and sugar malasadas at first, but later added malasadas with fillings.{{citation|title=Menu|publisher=Leonard's Japan|year=2013|access-date=May 12, 2015|url=http://www.leonardsjapan.com/menu|archive-date=March 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314194030/http://www.leonardsjapan.com/menu|url-status=dead}} Japanese investors Forest Inc. first asked Rego Jr. about licensing the brand in March 2008, and Rego Jr. felt that the timing with the Great Recession "couldn't have been more perfect". The deal was completed three months prior to the opening, and the owner flew in to train the staff for a week and a half. Rego Jr. plans to open more franchised locations in Japan and on the other islands of Hawaii. In 2009, the company employed 60 people between three stores (two in Oahu and one in Yokohama) and two Oahu food trucks.
Reception
File:Leonard's Bakery, Honolulu, Hawaii (4540006860).jpg
The bakery's malasadas were Foodspotting's top "Hawaii food find", and USA Today described the doughnuts as having become "a Hawaiian icon". Sunset recognized Leonard's for making the sweet a "Hawaiian classic" that is now served at Honolulu restaurants from drive-ins to Chef Mavro, "the city's classiest restaurant". Vinnee Tong of The New York Sun wrote that Leonard's was "a required stop for foodies and ... dessert addicts".
Frommer's calls it a "Honolulu landmark",{{citation|title=Where to Eat on the Big Island|publisher=Frommer's|url=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hawaii-the-big-island/793920|access-date=2015-03-07}} and The Huffington Post lists Leonard's malasadas alongside poke, Spam musubi and shave ice as "must try" Hawaiian cuisine experiences. It is also profiled in Mimi Sheraton's critical food book 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die, and John T. Edge's Donuts: An American Passion.{{Clear}}
See also
Notes and references
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite web|url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Jun/15/bz/hawaii906150308.html |access-date=November 15, 2014 |title=Bakery sweet on franchising |last1=Hall |first1=Taylor |date=June 15, 2009 |work=Honolulu Advertiser |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426040013/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Jun/15/bz/hawaii906150308.html |archive-date=April 26, 2012 |url-status=live }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.honolulupulse.com/2013/08/five-0-redux-ono-for-five-0-grinds/ |access-date=November 15, 2014 |title=Five-0 Redux: Ono for 'Five-0′ grinds |last1=Burbridge |first1=Wendie |date=August 3, 2013 |work=Honolulu Pulse |publisher=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415094354/http://www.honolulupulse.com/2013/08/five-0-redux-ono-for-five-0-grinds/ |archive-date=April 15, 2014 |url-status=live }}
| last = Kam
| first = Nadine
| title = Taste of NYC
| work = McClatchy - Tribune Business News
| location = Washington, United States
| date = July 20, 2011
| id = {{ProQuest|878058112}}
}} {{closed access}} {{subscription required|s}}
| issn = 0747-0932
| volume = 30
| issue = 8
| pages = 12, 52–53, 55–56, 60
| last = McCarthy
| first = Andrew
| title = Aloha, Honolulu
| work = National Geographic Traveler
| date = December 2013
| id = {{ProQuest|1477434989}}
}} {{closed access}} {{subscription required|s}}
| issn = 0039-5404
| volume = 210
| issue = 6
| page = 50
| last = Salkever
| first = Alex
| title = Malasada magic
| work = Sunset
| date = June 2003
| id = {{ProQuest|203292858}}
}} {{closed access}} {{subscription required|s}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2012/12/21/business/some-food-for-thought-about-hawaiis-bakeries/|title=Some Food for Thought about Hawaii's Bakeries |last=Sigall |first=Bob |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |date=December 21, 2012 |via= }}
| pages = 1
| last = Tong |first=Vinnee
| title = Eating Through Honolulu
| work = The New York Sun
| access-date = November 15, 2014
| date = November 5, 2004
| url = http://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=4DPY-X4S0-TWCX-R3DD&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true
|via=LexisNexis
}} {{closed access}} {{subscription required|s}}
| title = Defiant doughnut survives diet trends
| work = USA Today
| last=Sell |first=Shawn |page=5D
| access-date = November 15, 2014
| date = March 11, 2005
| url = http://www.lexisnexis.com/lnacui2api/api/version1/getDocCui?lni=4FNW-6TF0-010F-K0RW&csi=270944,270077,11059,8411&hl=t&hv=t&hnsd=f&hns=t&hgn=t&oc=00240&perma=true
|via=LexisNexis
|quote=Everyone in town knows about Leonard's malassadas, sugarcoated balls of fried dough, Portuguese in origin, that have become a Hawaiian icon.}} {{closed access}} {{subscription required|s}}
{{citation|title=Nothing 'mal' about malasadas|newspaper=Honolulu Weekly|author=Wanda A. Adams|date=July 4, 2012|url=http://honoluluweekly.com/food-box/2012/07/nothing-%e2%80%98mal%e2%80%99-about-malasadas/|access-date=March 6, 2015|archive-date=September 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908055818/http://honoluluweekly.com/food-box/2012/07/nothing-%e2%80%98mal%e2%80%99-about-malasadas/|url-status=dead}}
{{citation|title=Former food critic turns entrepreneur with tour for hungry, adventurous visitors|author=Nina Wu|date=September 11, 2005|newspaper=Pacific Business News|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|publisher=American City Business Journals|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2005/09/12/smallb1.html}}
{{citation|title=Sweet Treats in Honolulu|work=Honolulu Magazine|author=Martha Chang|date=December 8, 2011|url=http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/December-2011/Sweet-Treats-in-Honolulu/}}
{{citation|title=Lei-ing down the law in Hawaii|newspaper=New York Post|author=David Landsel|date=March 5, 2013|url=https://nypost.com/2013/03/05/lei-ing-down-the-law-in-hawaii/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140902171542/http://nypost.com/2013/03/05/lei-ing-down-the-law-in-hawaii/|archive-date=2014-09-02}}
{{citation|title=Five places not to miss in Honolulu|author=Alan Gibbons|newspaper=Orange County Register|location=Santa Ana, California|date=September 26, 2013|url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/museum-528218-honolulu-tropical.html}}
{{citation|title=Six food fantasies you must experience in Hawaii |author=Scott Podmore|date=October 7, 2012
|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=Sydney, Australia|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/travel/feasting-on-culture-in-hawaii/story-e6frezk9-1226489188721}}
{{citation|title=10 Foods You Absolutely Must Try In Hawaii|work=Huffington Post | author=Landess Kearns | date=March 4, 2015 | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/23/hawaii-food-bucket-list_n_6738518.html}}
{{citation|author=Bill Granger|title=A taste of the tropics: Bill Granger's Hawaiian feast|newspaper=The Irish Independent|location=Dublin, Ireland|date=March 7, 2015|url=http://www.independent.ie/woman/a-taste-of-the-tropics-bill-grangers-hawaiian-feast-26891716.html|author-link=Bill Granger}}
{{citation|author=Mimi Sheraton|title=1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List|page=274|publisher=Workman Publishing|year=2015|isbn=9780761141686|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTKNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA274|author-link=Mimi Sheraton}}
{{citation|title=Donuts: An American Passion|author=John T. Edge|publisher=Penguin|year=2006|isbn=9781440628641|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qP1TmIfv3_oC|author-link=John T. Edge}}
}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{official website|http://www.leonardshawaii.com/}}
{{portal bar|Companies|Food|Hawaii}}
{{good article}}
Category:1952 establishments in Hawaii
Category:Bakeries of the United States
Category:Food and drink companies established in 1952
Category:Food trucks in the United States