Zamora has worked as a chef at restaurants across Dallas, but her dream was Nena Postreria, a bakery and cafe inspired by recipes from Zamora's mother. Reyna Margarita, who passed away in 2022 after a battle with cancer, taught Zamora many of her signature desserts and influenced her career. Zamora planned to use proceeds from her mom's estate to open the pastry shop on Bryan Street in East Dallas, and when we spoke to Zamora in late 2023, she had launched a GoFundMe to push the bakery across the finish line.
While build-out slowly progressed, Zamora picked up a gig developing new menu items at Coupes in Oak Lawn and collaborated with other restaurants for a series of Nena Postreria popups. But between family disputes over the funds from her mom's estate and an investor who suddenly backed out, Zamora found herself out of money. In June, she was forced to pull the plug on the Bryan Street venture.
"The shop thing sucks," Zamora told the Observer in a text message after her announcement. "People just suck in general."
Out of options, Zamora went back to what she does best — hustling. Nena Postreria sold savory pupusas at Doublewide in June and has been baking bread for a series with fellow pop-up artist Tejas BBQ+Tacos. There was a Nena Postreria sheet cake dessert special served up at AllGood Cafe. In July, Zamora found a spot in Deep Ellum to sell Nena Postreria pastries for the time being: Amor y Queso.
"The important thing was to get some money coming in," Zamora explained during our recent visit. "A lot of Sarah [Carlock's] business is preorder, so letting us in the space on the weekends catches some of the traffic and helps us both out."
The appeal of two woman proprietors helping each other out isn't lost on Zamora. Carlock and Zamora, along with private chef Mollie Guerra, plan to use the Amor y Queso space as part of an effort called the Comadre Collective supporting their individual entrepreneurial ventures and providing exposure for other minority-owned small businesses.
For all of the negativity that surely accompanied losing out on her planned brick-and-mortar, Zamora's passion for baking hasn't been dampened. Her enthusiasm is hard to miss from the moment you step in the door.
"Hey! Do you like tres leches?" Zamora asked as we strolled into the shop on a recent Saturday just after lunch. "You have to try this one!"
"This one" is a chocolate tres leches ($6) that borders on sublime. Zamora blends coffee into the three milks that soak the cake. Even though its chocolate and coffee flavor shines, the texture is textbook tres leches, light and airy. An almost too-ripe strawberry added a fruity twist, and Zamora's icing work is exquisitely gorgeous.
Zamora also talked us into trying the Dirty Tejana ($4), a blend of sugar-cane Dr Pepper, coffee and lime. We were admittedly suspect, perhaps scarred by our own Jordan Maddox's experience with pickled Dr Pepper earlier this year. The Dirty Tejana, on the other hand, goes down easy, with no weird mouth-feel later. Your humble author is about to make a statement that will certainly result in a flood of hate mail from native Texans, but he stands by it nonetheless: regular Dr Pepper is simply too sweet to drink on its own.
Zamora uses the cane sugar stuff, which doesn't taste as artificially saccharine as regular Dr Pepper. After being cut down with the coffee and the acidity of the lime, the sweetness is tempered perfectly, with a flavor that can most accurately be described as caffeinated non-alcoholic Fernet. We drank the entire thing while enjoying our tres leches cake in the shop without hesitation. We also took home a four-pack of jumbo assorted cookies ($12), while promising ourselves that we wouldn't eat them all in one evening. Promises are made to be broken, yeah?
A quartet of jumbo cookies from Nena Postreria that we took home, and promised ourselves we wouldn't eat in one sitting. Oops.
Chris Wolfgang
"I love baking bread, and I'm in a shop full of cheese, so sandwiches seem obvious," she says.
In the meantime, she's also collaborating as much as possible with other local chefs. In July, Zamora signed on to partner with Peja Krstic of Mot Hai Ba as he revamps the former Boulevardier in Oak Cliff into Pillar, an American-style bistro. Zamora is working with Krstic on the menu and tells us the new restaurant is looking at an October opening.
The timing will work well, as Zamora expects holiday baking orders to roll in via Nena Postreria's website (hungry customers will soon be able to preorder during the week for pickup in Deep Ellum.) Holiday orders have been historically lucrative for her, and Zamora hopes that when the holiday season wraps up, she can start looking for the next home for Nena Postreria. The residency at Amor y Queso is just another step in the process.
"I didn't just want this brand to die," Zamora said. "I know I can make this happen."
Nena Postreria (inside Amor y Queso), 2932 Main Street #102. Saturday - Sunday, 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
