We visited Porto's Bakery, the best place to get Cuban food in Los Angeles

Porto’s Bakery & Cafe is a Cuban American bakery that was opened in Southern California in 1976 by a woman named Rosa Porto. Porto grew up learning recipes from her mother and started an illegal cake business in Cuba when Fidel Castro was in power to make money for her family. Once she arrived in Los Angeles, she baked and sold cakes to neighbors and Cuban immigrants. The family took out a small loan and started the bakery in 1976, and today they have five locations throughout Los Angeles. Porto's Bakery & Cafe is famous for its sweet and savory menu items, including the tres leches cake, sweet pastries like cheese rolls and guava strudels, Cuban sandwiches, and potato balls. The bakery is still a family-run business, with locations in Glendale, Burbank, Downey, Buena Park, and West Covina. Insider's Caroline Aghajanian visited the original Glendale location to get a glimpse of the magic inside the kitchen.

Editor’s Note: Insider visited Porto’s Bakery & Cafe in February 2020. All Porto’s locations are currently closed for dine-in service out of an abundance of caution, but are still offering curbside pick-up and nationwide shipping options. For more information, visit https://www.portosbakery.com and https://www.instagram.com/portosbakery/