Our Story: A Family Baking Tradition
Max & Lucy's Baked Goods is part of a family baking story that began in Dumaguete, continued in Manila and eventually found a new home in Los Angeles. It is a story of skills shared across generations, recipes made for family and friends, and traditions carried forward in new ways.
Family roots in Dumaguete
Our story begins with Trinidad “Trining” Teves-Sagarbarria, Don's grandmother and the founder of Sans Rival Cakes & Pastries in Dumaguete.
Beyond building a beloved bakery, Trining shared her baking knowledge with her daughter-in-law, Mary Ann Demandante Sagarbarria—Don's mother. Under Trining's guidance, Mary Ann developed the skill, discipline and attention to detail that would shape her own baking journey.
House of Silvanas begins in Manila
When the family moved from Dumaguete to Manila, friends and relatives knew that Mary Ann had been trained by Trining. They began ordering cakes and pastries from her, and in 1978, House of Silvanas was born.
Among the many desserts Mary Ann made, her silvanas became the most popular. With their crisp meringue layers, creamy filling and delicate crumb coating, they became the product most closely associated with the business.
What began with orders from people who knew the family grew through personal recommendations and a reputation for carefully made Filipino desserts.
A later chapter in Los Angeles
The family's move to Los Angeles came years later. Mary Ann brought the House of Silvanas tradition to Southern California and continued the business there with Don's sister, Kay.
Around 2012, Mary Ann retired and sold House of Silvanas to Sans Rival Cakes & Pastries. Don's parents moved back to Dumaguete, and Kay went with them. The baking molds and proofer used by House of Silvanas were left with Don and Mike in Los Angeles.
For years, the equipment sat unused in their garage—a quiet remnant of the family's baking history.
A new bakery in Dumaguete
After returning to Dumaguete, Kay opened Dough & Oven, creating a bakery of her own. Although Dough & Oven and Max & Lucy's are independently operated businesses, the family's baking tradition remains collaborative. Kay, Don and Mike continue to exchange recipes and ideas across the distance to this day.
How Max & Lucy's began
In 2019, Don Sagarbarria and Mike Zuñiga brought the old House of Silvanas equipment out of storage. Using a recipe from Mary Ann as a starting point, Mike began making ensaymada to share with friends and fellow musicians.
He tested and refined the dough while friends offered honest feedback about its softness, sweetness and balance of butter and cheese. The molds and proofer that had spent years in the garage became part of those early experiments.
What began as a personal project gradually grew through word of mouth. By 2020, more customers were ordering boxes for their families and sending them to loved ones around the country. Max & Lucy's grew from small-batch production into a serious bakery business—and equipment once stored away became a tangible link between its beginning and the generations of baking that came before it.
Our home in Mission Hills
Today, Max & Lucy's is a permanent brick-and-mortar Filipino-American bakery at 15411 Lassen Street in Mission Hills, Los Angeles. It is independently owned and operated by Don and Mike.
Ensaymada remains at the heart of the bakery, joined by silvanas, cheese rolls, pandesal, Food for the Gods, lemon squares, loaves and other Filipino and Filipino-American baked goods.
Max & Lucy's, Sans Rival Cakes & Pastries, House of Silvanas and Dough & Oven are independently operated businesses. Their connection is personal and familial: generations of baking knowledge, a shared respect for the craft and a continuing exchange of recipes and ideas.
Explore Max & Lucy's Ensaymada or visit us at our Mission Hills bakery.