[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]n the age of concha burgers, it was only a matter of time until it was surpassed with something inherently smokier and more functional than a sliced-standard concha merely stuffed with a burger patty.
Behold La Monarca Bakery’s bacon concha: a concha layered with a bacon bit-laced version of the traditional streusel cookie crust topping that forms the seashell-like of its namesake design. (In Spanish, this streusel cookie crust is called pasta.)
The Mexican-owned panaderia quietly launched the sweet and savory concha at all 12 of their locations around Los Angeles County a month ago, but it was brought to the TACO’s attention last week by our own El Random Hero, Erick Huerta, who tried it first. According to his experienced pan dulce palate, “it tastes exactly how you think it would taste.”
“I like them as a novelty, on par with bacon donuts. It isn't something I'd get all the time, but I'd grab one or two along with all the other bread I'm getting,“ Huerta says. Although he does wish the conchas would have more bacon in it to have the bacon flavor even more pronounced. “The ones I had only had three to four pieces of bacon on it, but maybe because they were mini conchas.”