The More the Merrier

HIPPOS & HASHBROWNS OPENS BRICK-AND-MORTAR BAKERY IN CASA VIEW

PHOTOGRAPHY TERESA RAFIDI

Beloved local, woman-helmed cottage bakery Hippos & Hashbrowns opened its own kitchen and storefront in May in the historic East Dallas Casa View shopping center. The shop is tucked into a corner suite with a window overlooking the center’s courtyard. Sandra Daniels, Hippos & Hashbrowns owner and head baker, looks forward to welcoming walk-in guests with treats—from fall’s favorites, like pecan pie muffins and pumpkin espresso Bundt cakes, to spring’s strawberry biscuits.

“I love that we’ll have a place where people can come and pick up,” says Daniels, who introduced her handmade, small-batch biscuits, nut-and-fruit-peppered crisps, seasonal muffins, and other goods, baked with

locally-sourced ingredients, at local farmers markets six years ago. “And we’ll be able to do things here that we can’t do at market. I want to be a place where people can come when they need a Bundt cake for a celebration or a tray of biscuits or muffins for a corporate meeting.”

The ample kitchen will also give Daniels and her growing team of bakers a full-time space to help meet the ever-expanding demand for Hippos & Hashbrowns staples and seasonal offerings. Now that products like the rosemary-raisin crisps, cinnabiscuits (uy cream biscuits with a buttery, cinnamon-sugar topping), and honey almond granola are shipping to Austin, Houston, and other cities across Texas, Daniels needs to move out of e Mix Kitchen, a shared commercial kitchen nearby, into one she and her team can access full-time.

“We’ve really needed to be in our own space,” explains Daniels, who is also preparing to expand Hippos & Hashbrowns by taking on corporate accounts. “We’ve needed somewhere that I am able to work all the hours I want. And it’s time. Never before have I had at market so many people week aer week ask me, ‘Do you have your own storefront?’ Everything is pointing to the fact that this is the time, this is the place, people are ready.”

And being able to open her kitchen bakery in East Dallas has a beautiful resonance for Sandra, whose own story and roots are deep in East Dallas. “As soon as I walked up to it, I thought ‘This is it,’” she says. “This cute little window and this courtyard space. Casa View is where we used to shop when I was a kid. My mother would bring me shopping for dance shoes at Sandy’s Dancewear. And you know how you have such a great community at the farmer’s market? Well, this courtyard here creates that. It creates a little community.”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Find Hippos & Hashbrowns every Saturday at White Rock Farmers’ Market as well as at Cita’s Salsa & Kitchen in East Dallas, Cox Farms Market in West Dallas, and 12 Whole Foods locations in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area. Select items also available by delivery throughout the state through Farmhouse Delivery and in the greater Dallas area through Coleman’s Home Delivery. To view a full menu and order Online, visit hipposandhashbrowns. com. And follow the kitchen adventures on Instagram and Facebook @hipposandhashbrowns.

Christine Switzer

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