Tall Shadow Bakery: Sourdough and more in East Van

Tall Shadow Bakery got its start under a market tent. Long before it had a shop of its own, bakers Cass Helps and Dayle Kennedy were setting their creations at farmers markets around Vancouver, from Riley Park to Trout Lake, with bagels, baguettes and soft pretzels alongside the loaves. The bakery now has a brick-and-mortar home on East Hastings, and those four walls have given it room to grow the menu with seasonal pastry, a coffee bar and breakfast and lunch served at the tables.

Two Teams, One Storefront on Hastings

The bread soon travelled beyond the market stalls, as restaurants around Vancouver started ordering from Tall Shadow Bakery for their own customers. One of the first wholesale accounts was Dachi, a few blocks east of where the bakery now stands on Hastings. Over the following years, the two teams grew close, and when the bakers shared their dream of a shop of their own, the idea of joining forces with Dachi co-owners Miki Ellis and Stephen Whiteside came up naturally. The four of them became partners and built the bakery together, the bakers bringing the bread and the restaurateurs their experience running a small business in the neighbourhood. It fits the way this group tends to grow, by backing people they love on projects that stay in Hastings-Sunrise.

A counter rescued from a friend’s restaurant

The room was built by hand. The Tall Shadow bakery team made the banquettes themselves, and the counter came from a friend’s restaurant that had closed, pulled out by the partners and reinstalled in the bakery. What came out of that is a decor that Miki Ellis describes as “cottagecore”, with large sacks of flour in plain sight, mugs stacked on shelves and a wall of bread to the left of the door, so the loaves are the first thing that greets you on the way in.

The space has also become a place where the community and neighborhood feel at ease. Over the course of the day, that room gathers with regulars that come often, newcomers, remote workers with laptops, parents with toddlers and retirees in no hurry to leave. Since it’s opening in 2023, the team at Tall Shadow bakery has mostly grown rather than changed, and the owners count that stability as the real heart of the business.

Heirloom grain from the Creston Valley

All bakers will tell you, the best creations starts with the flour. Tall Shadow bakery works with organic, locally milled grain, family-run, certified organic mill in the Creston Valley, in the Kootenays, that stone-grinds heirloom and ancient grains. It brings an amazing flavour to the bakery’s creations, and the team has a sense of belonging to a small, circular local economy.

A core set of loaves comes out of the oven every day, joined by rotating breads that change with the day of the week. The sourdough focaccia and the ciabatta are among the favourites. For anyone who prefers to take a loaf home ready for the toaster, the bakery has a slicer.

Pastry follows the seasons. When peaches and corn are at their peak, they end up together in a polenta cake; heirloom tomatoes go into a savoury danish with ricotta. The cookie case covers the classics, starting with a chocolate chip cookie that has its devotees on the team, and the colourful sprinkle cookies and seasonal pop tarts have been part of the Tall Shadow Bakery’s identity since its market days.

Toast, Coffee and a Loaf for the Week

The café side runs on breakfast and lunch items, including a toast menu built around produce from local growers, some of it bought at the same markets where the bakers got their start. The core of that menu barely moves, with a few rotating features around it. Coffee comes from Modus, a long-time partner of the bakery.

This stretch of East Hastings is lined with independently owned storefronts, and Tall Shadow bakery has settled into it as a daily stop for the people who live nearby, whether they come for the week’s loaf, a coffee with a friend or a cookie for the little one. 

Written by Marie-Françoise Malo
Photography by Tall Shadow Bakery

Updated on November 09, 2026

Make a suggestion