PanPan: The Hidden Mexican-Japanese Bakery Drawing Crowds in Arlington

Laura Molinar started out selling her baked goods on the fly. “I would set up wherever they would let me,” she says. For years, she baked in her home kitchen, then would pop up in Deep Ellum or the Bishop Arts. Cupcakes or cookies dominated the menu, often with Japanese kawaii influences.

It was by chance that a customer told her about a bakery space in Dalworthington Gardens. The current tenant needed someone to take it over, and she was starting to consider a more permanent arrangement. She was busy and couldn’t have a conversation at the time while manning her pop-up. Her mom got his card, but then she lost it.

“So we have no idea where it is, so we just head down to Dalworthington Gardens and found it,” she says. It was the only bakery in the 2-mile-wide town within Arlington.

By that time, she knew she wanted to focus on baking Japanese milk bread while also incorporating her own Mexican roots. Now she had the space to do it.

Mexican Soul X Japanese Style

Molinar opened her bakery in August 2024. Doubling down on pan, meaning bread in both Spanish and Japanese, it has the perfect playful name. PanPan is a mix of cultures: Milk bread marries conchas. Inside, Japanese mini figurines are lined up over pitchers of horchata mix.

After getting the space, Molinar, who is just 22 years old, took time to refine and master her recipes. Then, after opening, she focused on employee policies and procedures. It was only after everything was running smoothly that she started using social media to promote her business. Soon, the lines began snaking from the register to the door. Two years later, with more than 20 employees and a satellite kitchen to keep up with demand, that long line persists.

Her father, Raul Molinar, says “Lau-ita,” the youngest of five kids, has always been driven and has a competitive streak. He’s not too surprised by her early success. He’s had to learn and grow along with her; one day, she went to him with a problem at the cafe. He offered her a solution, but she stopped him. “I don’t want you to solve it for me. I just want you to listen,” he recalls her telling him. It was a hard pill for this protective father to swallow, but he heeded her request. Her family continues to support her in the cafe, some working for her, including her mother and a sister.

Milking It

Milk bread is the base for everything at PanPan.

“People will say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve never had a concha that wasn’t dry.’ It’s made to be dipped in coffee, so it’s usually kind of dry. But milk bread is different. It has natural fat and sugars, and tangzhong, which we make in-house. This Japanese roux releases hydration in the dough throughout a period of time,” she says, adding that the method is very specific to Japanese baking techniques and something she worked hard to master.

The Nutella concha, the most popular item, is the perfect demonstration of this. When torn apart, slightly spongy bread reveals a soft ribbon of Nutella. It’s nowhere nearly as dry as a traditional concha.

A pastry case lines the back wall at PanPan. Tongs and trays are on the left. Plain milk bread, flavored conchas and buns are replenished throughout the day. Many pastries are topped with matcha, but there are also other options like Oreo and dulce de leche. Individually wrapped slices of milk bread sit atop the case. Traditional items, such as Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls, sit next to Japanese shio-pan stuffed with Nutella.

Nothing I’ve tried has been too sweet. There’s a nice balance to everything.

The Drink Menu

The café always has a handful of people milling about waiting for their custom-made drinks (although never for more than a few minutes, in my experience). Baristas are always friendly and seem to be having fun. “I tell them … with urgency, but we never rush,” she says, which is a great way to describe the pace behind the counter.

The cafe’s drink menu, with a full lineup of lattes and matchas, seems to draw in more people than the pastries do. The PanPan Latte ($6.25) is made with homemade honey and cinnamon syrup. Other lattes include dulce de leche, cinnamon rolls, tres leches, horchata and Mexican mocha. The most popular drink is a Mango Sticky Rice Matcha. She says the key ingredient is a house-made mango puree. It’s only available when mangos are in season and has a “secret ingredient that makes it amazing.”

The ceremonial-grade matcha has its own section on the menu: matcha latte, horchata matcha, banana cream matcha and a Banderita Matcha with homemade strawberry puree and matcha foam, is served with a mini flag.

The space is worth seeking out in Dalworthington Gardens, though given the pace of things at the café and Lau-ita’s ambition, we might be seeing more cafés around North Texas. For now, she says, she is basking in the space here.

“I think it’s so beautiful,” she says of her little cafe. “And I really do think that everything is so intentional, down to the size. Because in Japan and in Mexico, everything’s kind of this size or even smaller.”

She’d like to expand to more locations to deliver the experience to more people, but will do so carefully. A calm space is important.

“I know sometimes that can flip on its [expansion] head and it can turn into an overstimulated and crowded new scene because there are so many people in a tight little space,” she says. “But it’s really important for the concept to be able to keep growing in small spaces.”

PanPan Cafe and Bakery, 2110 Roosevelt Drive, Dalworthington Gardens, Sunday Closed; Monday – Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.