La Stella Patisserie

Nice place to go to they have fresh corn tamales and this Spanish pastry with beef stuffing in them daily. These are the two items I come here to buy the tamales is always sold out when I get here they are very delicious and good value $ 3. Great service and they have lots of Italian breads to choose from the homemade pizza is quite good but very greasy and cheesy. I’ll he going back more often need those tamales !!!

La Stella Bakery has been in this location for over 25 years. Originally it served the local Italian community and over the years the Jane and Sheppard area changed demographics. The bakery changed accordingly and is now serving the local latino community.
They still make authentic italian bread, italian and latino pastry and also has authentic food staples.
Christmas time is a wonderful time in the bakery as the shelves are full of important treats that make excellent hostess gifts or items for the table.
A smart foodie can always grab a fresh baked bun, have some cold cuts sliced before your eyes, throw in a connoli or two and you have the freshest $ 4 lunch ever.
They also have a churrasqueira hot table with empanadas, tamales and chicken and rice. I grabbed a couple of Tamales and they were tasty. I still not sure if you eat the leaf wrapper or not but the doughy corn filling by nature is kind of bland. I always splash some hot sauce on it.

From prepared foods to dry goods, this place carries a lot of Italian products and pastries. I don’t mind it for the most part but the rotissorie chicken we ordered one time was atrocious.

Best Espresso in the City.
Hands down. You can have your popular little College street haunts, and yeah, I like’em too, but if you are serious about espresso… and I mean, «Mulholland Drive», get down on your knees and TESTIFY *serious* about your espresso, this is the place.
Once they made me an espresso that was so thick that the stir stick stood upright for two whole seconds before falling.
I *poop* you not. After downing that, I ran the Boston Marathon, the Iditarod and then ran so fast that the rotation of the Earth reversed, and pulled us all into a backwards time loop, went back in time and prevented New Country from ever being invented.
Okay, I lied about those last couple of things, but the stir-​stick thing?
True story.
Once I went in and asked to speak to the owner — I wanted to tell him that I thought they had the best espresso in the city. Three tough looking guys came out asking who I was and what I wanted. I told them that they made the best espresso in the city. They thanked me and then watched me from a back room.
I’m not sure what the point of that story is, but it happened, so it’s here.
Seriously, though. Good Espresso.