ROANOKE, Va. – Brunella Salazar-Gonti and Levi Buck have taken both their backgrounds and created some amazing desserts at Pastel.
Salazar-Gonti says, "We wanted to bring more of an international flare to Roanoke.”
She is from Peru, which has helped introduce customers to new flavors.
Buck tells us, “We do these cookies from Peru called alfajores, which are really delicate. They have dulce de leche in the middle.”
It’s a soft cookie with flavor that lingers. While this may be new to us, Salazar Gonti says, “Those [are] things that I grew up eating and bring me that feeling of warmth.”
That feeling of warmth is just a social media search away, which is how we first found out about them.
Buck says, “A lot of people that come in see us on social media. Once we get people to come in and try us out, we get ‘em hooked.”
This dynamic duo is social media savvy, setting up a shop on Instagram. One click, and you can marvel at all their creations and get them the next day. This kind of innovation has allowed them to not only survive, but thrive, during the pandemic.
They even posted this past weekend that they couldn’t take any more orders until today (Tuesday, 5/12/2020).
And for that, they’re thankful. Buck tells us they, “Really appreciate people being adventurous, people being fun, [and] that like to try the new things we’re doing.”
In a time when we feel isolated from one another, they’re thankful for the connection their food brings to you.
“We’re very happy and thankful for that kind of interaction and warmth that they bring to our business.”
Pastel is open from 11 to 3 Tuesday through Saturday, and they usually take care of deliveries and shipping after 3. They’ve even shipped across the U.S. in recent weeks.
For more takeout spots in our area, be sure to click here.