Chinese-Founded Bakery Opafe Lands in Pittsburgh's South Side, Drawing Crowds for Matcha Croissants and Pork Floss Pastries
Opafe, a bakery blending European baking with Asian flavors, has opened in Pittsburgh's South Side, bringing new energy to the neighborhood's commercial streets. The bakery opened on October 22 at 2720 Sidney Street in the South Side Works area; its founder is Andy Qian, founder and CEO of the Opal Group. Alongside traditional croissants and chocolate breads, the shop offers Asian-inspired items such as matcha chocolate croissants and pork floss pastries, as well as lifelike fruit-shaped desserts, and has quickly gone viral on social media. The shop also serves Vietnamese coffee, fresh fruit teas and house-made matcha drinks. Open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., it has drawn lines of customers soon after opening. The South Side Works area where Opafe sits is still developing, with some storefronts vacant; the bakery's opening has brought more foot traffic to Sidney Street and introduced visitors to this part of the South Side. Chinese food in Pittsburgh has kept evolving in recent years: Squirrel Hill's Chinese restaurants are known for authentic Sichuan cooking, Chinese chef Wei Zhu was a James Beard Award semifinalist, and the Chinatown Inn downtown, run for decades by the family of Chinese American actress Ming-Na Wen, is the last surviving landmark of Pittsburgh's Chinatown history. Founder Andy Qian says he hopes to turn an ordinary coffee stop into an experience, letting customers feel the fusion of Eastern and Western flavors amid the aroma of fresh baking. Industry observers say the energy of Chinese entrepreneurs in Pittsburgh's restaurant and bakery scene is adding new color to the city's diverse food map.
(Source: USA Today)
Source: USA Today
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 匹兹堡南区工厂区（图：Wikimedia Commons，CC0） / The SouthSide Works area of Pittsburgh (Wikimedia Commons, CC0)
