CLEVELAND, Ohio -- You can order standard chicken, beef and veggie empanadas -- along with creative flavors like pizza, Asian and taco -- at the newly opened Half Moon Bakery in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood.
The eatery, located at 3460 West 25th St., opened Jan. 3 after more than five years of planning and construction.
But Half Moon Bakery -- named after the shape of its flagship bite -- offers more than flavorful empanadas. Tripletas and Cubans appear on its sandwich menu, too, with fries on the side. A few salads are available, including avocado chipotle and chicken strawberry. There is a large display of sweets on one side of the restaurant that includes cupcakes, fruit tarts, quesitos, cakes and more.
“We wanted to keep a simple menu,” said owner Lyz Otero. “I thought maybe we wanted to sell empanadas only, but when we added the sandwich in, it took us by surprise. When people come, they get an empanada, a sandwich and fries, and they always take a dessert also. It’s very difficult to say one thing is selling more than another one.”
Otero and her husband and co-owner Gerson Velasquez make the foods they’ve always enjoyed. Growing up in Puerto Rico, Otero learned how to cook from her parents, who worked in culinary instruction. Velasquez grew up in Guatemala, learning from his mother, who worked in catering.
The idea for the Half Moon Bakery business was born after a one-off lunch for Otero’s children in school.
“Every time they had an event at school, I was always offering food for them. One of the teachers really liked my food. She asked me if I was willing to do lunch for the teachers,” she said. “Because I needed the money and my husband was working two to three jobs at the time, I wanted to help out. I decided to do it.”
Word quickly spread about Otero’s lunches, and the husband-and-wife team started catering for local businesses and hosting pop-ups. They bought equipment, little by little, until they had enough to open a restaurant of their own.
They found available space at 3460 West 25th St., and initially were overwhelmed by the renovations the location needed.
“Everything was destroyed,” Otero said. “No flooring, no walls; you could see through the walls to the other space, you could see to the basement. You could even see the apartments upstairs. Everything was a mess.”
It took years to fix up the spot. Now, the interior is filled with sunlight from the glass front wall, with seating around the bakery section. On most mornings, Otero and Velasquez bustle behind the counter, stocking the glass display with freshly baked goods and prepping for the lunch rush.
Feedback has been good so far, Otero said. She hopes to extend to Half Moon to include a neighboring storefront in the future.
Beyond that, Otero has no plans for expansion. She and Velasquez want to stick to one restaurant.
“The only goal I have is that the place we’ve been planning for over five years, that it stays successful,” she said, “and that every time people eat, they love our food.”
You can find more information about Half Moon Bakery at the restaurant’s Facebook page.
For photos and videos on the extraordinary food and drinking scenes in Northeast Ohio, follow @DineDrinkCLE on Instagram.
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