Who We Are + How We Started
Colossus was founded in 2018 by Kristin Colazas Rodriguez, a pastry chef and baker (formerly of Petit Crenn SF, Outerlands SF, Octavia SF, Osteria Mozza LA) out of a small shared kitchen space in her hometown of Long Beach, CA.
Kristin, who had worked in Long Beach cafés throughout college at CSULB, dreamt of one day opening a café of her own, where the pastries were made fresh daily and changed with the seasons. After college, she decided to pursue this dream by working in restaurants and bakeries in Los Angeles and eventually San Francisco, to learn all she could about scratch baking and seasonal cuisine. She fell in love with bread in the Bay Area, and gained a particular appreciation for long-fermentation, stone-milled whole grain flours, and high hydration loaves, that were unlike anything she had even seen or tasted back home in Southern California. She quickly worked her way up in the Bay Area Restaurant scene and eventually found her way back home, where she started Colossus with pop-ups, a few wholesale accounts, and a presence at local farmer’s markets.
Today, Colossus spans 2 towns on either side of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Long Beach and San Pedro. We proudly use Camas Country Mill whole grain flour and extremely high quality and high fat butter from Elle et Vire and Tcho Chocolate in all of our pastries. While we have a core of classic pastries, we enjoy mixing up our offerings seasonally inspired by the farmers market.
We are most known for our signature croissant pastries, the most popular being our kouign amman (flakey croissant dough layered with butter, sugar, vanilla bean + a pinch of salt) and our seasonal danishes which change often with the seasons. Our breads are beloved by those seeking nutrition and flavor in their daily loaf.
A Passion for Sourdough + Whole Grains
Our bread is beloved by those seeking more nutrition and lasting quality out of their artisan bread. We are passionate about whole grains, a variety of grains, high hydration and long fermentation, and this is reflected in our bread offerings! All of our sourdough loaves contain organic whole wheat spelt, red wheat, + whole grain rye in addition to organic bread flour. We do not use bleached flours and aim to include as much whole grain flour and variety of whole grains in each loaf as possible while still delivering a light and approachable product.
All of our breads are free of additives and preservatives.
Why? Well, because we believe it tastes better and is better for you. We have a commitment to organic flours and source all of our flours directly from Camas Country Mill and Central Milling.
Coffee
Kristin’s husband, Nick Rodriguez, is our Head of Coffee and coffee roaster through his side project Penny Coffee Roasters. Nick is a coffee enthusiast and LA coffee scene -vet, having working for roughly 15 years in the LA coffee scene as a barista and manager in local shops and roasteries Rose Park Roasters, Paramount Coffee Project and Steelhead Coffee. Nick’s team at Penny Coffee Roasters roasts coffee for both of our stores while Nick holds it down at Colossus as our Operations Manager.
Food
The Kitchen:
Chef Jeff Paletz has crafted a full brunch and lunch and dinner menu, available daily at our Harbor San Pedro location, and coming soon to our Long Beach location, with our pending seating expansion.
Harbor, our newest and largest location, features an all-day kitchen and port-side patio seating. Chef Jeff Paletz has also crafted the savory menu here, offering a curated selection of our signature dishes: tasty egg dishes for breakfast and fresh salads and sandwiches on the lunch menu.
Dinner features our acclaimed sourdough pizza, fresh new salads and fun shareables, complemented by natural wine.
We offer Happy Hour DAILY at Harbor from 3-6 PM with discounted wine by the glass and small bites made for sharing.
Alma does not have an on-site kitchen, we do offer our classic croissant breakfast sandwich and yogurt bowls, which our made daily at our Long Beach kitchen.
Owner, Kristin with whole grain wheat berries in Tehachapi, CA in 2018. We would pick up fresh grain bi-weekly to mill for all of our breads and pastries.
Kouign amanns being made at LB, one of our signature pastries.
Our croissants are laboriously made from start to finish in our Long Beach open bakery space. It is a 3 day process that highlights the best butter from France and whole grain wheat flour from Camas Country Mill.
Both of our cafe locations are equipped with a full coffee bar. Coffee is roasted by our operations manager Nicholas Rodriguez. We proudly use Straus dairy, Califia Oat Milk and make all of our syrups and sauces in house.
Owner Kristin and Chef Jeff at Colossus’ newest San Pedro (Harbor) location, which features pizza and natural wine.