Faedo’s Daily Cuban Bread

A two bagger!!! That’s what you get when you buy Cuban bread from Faedo’s Family Bakery in Seminole Heights…  A loaf of deliciousness that’s crunchy on the outside, delicate on the inside, and is three-foot long (hence the two bags).

Faedo Family Bakery, (I’ll call it Faedo’s for short) is located right on Florida Ave. A perfect location for taking a morning walk to get some bread or donuts, and Cuban coffee for breakfast (Spaddy’s Mobile Café is next door). At least that’s what my husband and I like to do.

But Cuban bread and donuts* aren’t all you can get at Faedo’s. The bakery also produces Kaiser rolls, specialty breads, guava pastries, cheese pastries (one of my favorites) and more. The bread at Faedo’s is so good, many Tampa restaurants buy and serve it.

Faedo’s provides bread to: The Front Porch, Trips Diner, Arco-Iris, El Gallo, West Tampa Sandwich Shop, Sulphur Springs Sandwich Shop, and Joyces Sandwich Shop. So if you are grabbing a sandwich at any of these great restaurants, there is a good chance you’re eating bread from Faedo’s.

Faedo’s has been making amazing Cuban bread for 40 years! It was started by Mauricio Faedo, and until recently, the bakery was called Mauricio Faedo’s Bakery. Now Faedo’s is run by Mauricio’s two daughters, Michelle and Melissa.

“My father learned to make Cuban bread from an uncle of his that had a restaurant on Armenia, which back in the day was called Faedo’s Bakery,”

Michelle told me.

You can tell that Michelle and Melissa are close they sometimes finish each other’s sentences. When I asked about the bread, they told me… in concert… interchanging words, “The bread doesn’t have any preservatives… it’s not made with lard, we don’t use lard, lard is horrible for you… if you have any questions about in the ingredients, take the bag and it has exactly what’s in the bread.” Because the bread doesn’t use any preservatives… you have to eat it in a day or so. Or, you can freeze it.

Why is there a palm frond on top of each loaf? “It just opens the bread while its baking” – Michelle

Michelle says that one of the things she likes most about the Seminole Heights location of Faedo’s is that it “has become like a community, people are walking the streets”, it is “becoming a small South Tampa”. “A customer once said that the area reminded her of Boston.” says Melissa.

I asked Melissa and Michelle’s about their future plans. “We going to give it a face-lift, my family was very old school… we’re trying little by little to change things, but keep it still traditional,” Michelle noted. “A historic feel but looking even better,” Melissa added. I’m personally looking forward to seeing the unique touches these ladies add. Thanks Melissa and Michelle for the great interview and for letting me be on site to capture it.

*Melissa let us know that the donuts actually come from Hole in One Donut.