Natali Carrera
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Jenny Rivera has a natural knack for baking. Her friends and family have benefited from her skills with a spatula and mixer for years, and when the opportunity presented itself last fall for Rivera to have her own bakery in a great location, she took it as a sign it was time to go all in and share her talents with the greater Fresno community.
Rivera’s new bakery, BooBoo Bean Bakery and Café, has been open just over two weeks, but the cozy space—whose name comes from her son’s nickname and her chihuahua, Lulu Bean—has already attracted a steady stream of regular customers.
BooBoo Bean Bakery and Café is now open at Pavilion West
A peek inside BooBoo Bean Bakery and Café
BooBoo Bean offers a variety of pastries and cookies, including specialty Italian items such as the Chimelli, a twisted, mildly sweet cookie with a hint of citrus, and the Italian Wedding Cookie, which is sweeter, dense, chewy, and drizzled with a light, lemon-y glaze. Rivera’s massive croissants look mouthwatering in the bakery case, and her butter toffee samples prove her skill at not just baking, but candy making as well.
Rivera’s Italian Wedding Cookies (center) are among her best-sellers.
An Italian specialty baked good: the Chimelli
On her Facebook page, Rivera claims to be on a mission to “perfect the cupcake,” and during my family’s recent visit to Boo Boo Bean, it seems many patrons feel she’s already achieved that, as cupcakes were flying out of the case due to demand. A steady stream of customers flowed in and out of the café the entire time I was there, which was a little over an hour on a Saturday afternoon.
BooBoo Bean makes delicious crisp-on-the-outside, dense-on-the-inside homemade waffles that are served right off the griddle and piled high with your choice of sweet or savory toppings. According to Rivera, the Cookie Butter Waffle is a best-seller.
The waffle my son and I enjoyed
My husband, who’s following a low-carb diet, enjoyed the crust-less fritata
In addition to baked goods and waffles, BooBoo Bean offers a variety of salads, sandwiches, and wraps. The Harvest Apple Salad is a customer favorite, as is the savory and lightly spicy Angry Tri-Tip Sandwich.
My son’s Angry Tri-Tip Sandwich (plus bacon, because, well… he loves bacon)
BooBoo Bean also offers coffee and espresso beverages, including familiar favorites such as flavored lattes, mochas, and frozen, blended frappes. The signature drink offering, the Boo Boo Bean Latte, features a homemade lavender-honey syrup for a unique and delicate flavor.
Prices at BooBoo Bean are very reasonable, with artisan-quality baked goods starting at just $1.50. There’s also a loyalty card—each coffee drink earns a stamp, and the 11th drink is on the house.
If you’re looking for a great new place to enjoy a pastry and coffee with a friend, or a tasty lunch made with care, you can visit BooBoo Bean in the Pavilion West shopping center on the southwest corner of Bullard and West in northwest Fresno.
You can also learn more about BooBoo Bean by following them on Facebook and Instagram.