Edible Food Find: Butternut Bakehouse
Photos by Xana Turner-Owens
At Butternut Bakehouse, community has always been central to the vision. Originally from Malaysia, chef and owner Suzana Samad always wanted to bring an element of her culture to her newfound home in Boston. In Malaysia, food and community are almost synonymous. Samad describes feeding loved ones, sharing meals and gathering around food as hallmarks of Malaysian culture. Butternut Bakehouse has seamlessly incorporated these elements of Samad’s culture into the ethos of the business—it’s practically baked in.
Feeling homesick and jaded by her early career in banking, Samad began to pursue baking as a passion project on the side. With food as a central element of culture in Samad’s upbringing, cooking and baking helped her feel more connected to home as she began to navigate a new life in the States. While most Malaysian treats are steamed or fried, Samad gravitated towards more traditional French styles of pastry. Inspired by local businesses like Hi-Rise and Flour, her focus from the very beginning was on perfecting the croissant. Still relatively new to baking and without any professional training in French technique, she taught herself everything from scratch. Crowdsourcing amongst friends and family, she found over time that her most popular items were invariably byproducts of her croissant dough. Her morning buns and almond croissants remain fan favorites to this day.
After several years of research and development from home, Samad registered her business as an LLC in 2016 and began selling her pastries at local seasonal farmers markets. Cultivating her independence, she ran and operated her stand at each farmers market on her own, crediting assists from her husband and friends as integral parts of the building process. Unafraid to ask for help and learn as she went, Samad approached every stage of her business development with a can-do attitude, insisting that “if you can be a mom, you can be anything.”
Samad's tenacity and positive attitude continued to serve her throughout the process, eventually landing her a brick-and-mortar location just a few minutes away from her family home in Arlington. She and her husband built out the space almost entirely on their own, with the help of a few other local business owners along the way. On a Saturday in June 2019, just three years after turning her passion into a business, she opened Butternut Bakehouse with a line down the block.
Today, Saturdays are still Butternut’s busiest days. The counter is filled with an impressive array of pastries, and the space itself hums with morning greetings and warm hellos. The goal remains to perfect the classics while introducing a twist. Since Samad is always looking for new ways to incorporate a bit of Malaysia into her business, she introduces unique flavors like pandan and a traditional coconut jam called kaya to her baked goods. The menu boasts an extensive list of pastries; among them are cardamom swirls, both morning and afternoon buns and “cretzels” (croissant-pretzels, innovative genius).
Four years in, and despite many adaptations due to COVID, her business is thriving. Chief among her many successes is achieving her goal of creating a community space or, as she calls it, “a place to meet.” The sense of community that was central to Samad’s initial vision greets you the moment you walk in the door.
These days Samad is focused on expansion. Having recently signed a lease on a second location in Belmont, she’s excited to see her vision grow into new neighborhoods. If you’re searching for a new spot for your weekend pastries, Butternut Bakehouse offers a stunning selection of gorgeous, flaky, sweet and savory pastries—every bit as lovely as the communities they serve. If you go on the weekend, expect a line, but at Butternut Bakehouse, even the line is an opportunity to connect.
butternutbakehouse.com
787 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington
This story appeared in the Summer 2023 issue.
