LA Bakery offers delicacies from around the world

They call it choclava - a twist on the Greek favorite baklava - and it's to die for.

LA Bakery, which will host a grand opening on June 15, offers a wide variety of pastries and other delicacies, including baklava, Danish pastries, croissants, eclairs, cream puffs, coconut delights, papillons, fruit tarts, scones, pies, muffins, cupcakes, quiche, coffeecake, wedding cakes, birthday cakes, breads, salads and hot and cold sandwiches.

"I love it; it's much more fun than engineering," said Ali Arbabha, who owns the bakery with his wife, Leila Tavakoli.

"We bake with love and we bring love and energy to all our baking," he said.

The couple has been in business as the Shirini Shop for three years at a different location but recently moved to 220 W. John St. (formerly Molly's Catering.)

The food preparation kitchen will not be open to the public after the grand opening, but Arbabha said that they are opening a storefront just to the west of the building and eventually hope to offer outdoor seating on the back patio.

Arbabha, who has a master's degree in civil engineering, worked in Reno for four years before being laid off. He said his wife used to teach pastry-making overseas to coffee shops and restaurants, so they put their heads together and decided to go into business for themselves.

As the Shirini Shop, they primarily did wholesale baking and delivered to about 40 stores in California cities like San Jose and Sacramento, but it became too demanding, so they decided to do something in Carson City.

"We thought, let's take it another step, so we started advertising, and that was the turning point," he said.

Arbabha said that they pride themselves on making almost everything from scratch, and even offer wheat-free, vegan and diabetic products. And they also brew low-acid coffee.

"People can order online, and we can ship anywhere," he said.

Free delivery is offered on orders of more than $25, but for smaller orders, delivery is $10.

"My wife does all the baking, and I make the cream fillings. It's a lot of work, but we're trying to be really organized so we aren't overworked, and we don't think of people we hire as employees - they're part of our family," Arbabha said.

"Think of us as a neighborhood bakery, not a commercial bakery, because we're really a made-from-scratch bakery," he said.