(Left) Barra de Pan brings an authentic taste of Mexico to the Inland Empire. (Top Right) Decor fills the restaurant’s entrance in Corona, Calif. (Middle Right) Chef Lucy Silva and her daughter scan the menu for the week. (Bottom Right) Chef Lucy Silva plates a to-go order.
A Hidden Local Gem Celebrates Mexican Culture and Cuisine WORDS: IGNACIO DOMINGUEZ DESIGN: MADISON KIRKLAND PHOTOS: JOSSELYN GUILLEN
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ou don’t have to travel far to immerse yourself into a Mexican gastronomic paradise. In Corona, Calif., a home has opened its kitchen and yard for a traditional meal and experience. That home belongs to Chef Lucy Silva, who runs the restaurant Barra de Pan out of her kitchen. The name translates to “Bread Bar,” but its specialty reaches far beyond its warm, fluffy cinnamon rolls. Behind its small wooden gate, Barra de Pan is a cultural phenomenon for the Inland Empire. The smells of different traditional dishes from Mexico and the sounds of conversation and laughter welcome you into Silva’s vibrant yet intimate venue. What
may seem so nontraditional is, in many ways, traditional. It’s a re-encounter with the small town you visited on your trip to Mexico or that fonda from your pueblo that welcomes you as a family — the meals cooked in a home kitchen or heated just outside on an adobe stove. Barra de Pan embodies that and so much more, a place filled with nostalgia for what people once lived in their home countries. Now, the restaurant is a space to reconnect and remember their roots. Since 2020, Barra de Pan has been a hot spot in the Inland Empire for its homey feel and traditional Mexican dishes that transport you across different states of the
Mexican Republic in seconds. It has more than 50,000 followers on Instagram, where Silva posts the dishes live — they sell on the restaurant’s app in seconds. Silva was born in Tijuana, Mexico, which she still frequently visits, and it’s there where she had her first encounters with cooking, from helping her mom cook to learning from a neighbor. “[A]s a kid, I could see through the kitchen window, and I could smell, and I would just look. Then the lady would say, ‘Come, so I can teach you,’” Silva says. “She taught me how to make buñelos. I would go to her, and she would show me how to cook or how to make something. I guess since I was