The drive to Miami for a guava pastelito is over. Pinecrest Bakery, the Cuban bakery chain that grew out of a single Miami-Dade storefront in 2012, is now open at 9929 S. Military Trail in west Boynton Beach, its first shop in the Boynton Beach area and a long way north of the Miami neighborhoods where it made its name.

A Miami institution moves up I-95

If you have lived in South Florida for any length of time, you have probably seen the Pinecrest Bakery sign, the line at the ventanita, or a box of its pastelitos at an office party. The company opened its first store in Pinecrest, the village south of Miami that gave it its name, in December 2012. It has since spread across Miami-Dade, from Doral and Miami Beach to Homestead, and down to Key Largo, with a string of new shops on the way in Coral Gables, Brickell and downtown Miami.

Almost all of that growth has stayed well south of here. Boynton Beach is the outlier. On its own announcement, the company frames the move as a deliberate push north, and says it heard for years from customers who were making the trip to Miami just to scratch the itch for a pastelito or a proper cafecito.

That is a familiar story in Palm Beach County. A lot of the families in west Boynton, Lake Worth and the communities along Military Trail came up from Miami-Dade. For many of them, a Cuban bakery is not a novelty. It is the breakfast they grew up on.

Where it is and when it is open

The new bakery sits on South Military Trail in the busy commercial stretch west of I-95 that serves the neighborhoods between the Turnpike and Congress Avenue. The Pinecrest Bakery homepage now lists the Boynton Beach store as open and links straight to its ordering page.

That online ordering page shows pickup and delivery from 5:30 a.m. to 8:40 p.m. That early start matters. A Cuban bakery's best hour is the first one, when the pastelitos are coming out of the oven and the regulars are lined up for a colada on the way to work.

Many of the chain's Miami-Dade shops run around the clock. The company has not posted 24-hour service for Boynton, so plan on the early-morning-to-evening window until it says otherwise.

What to order on your first visit

The menu at Boynton mirrors what has made the Miami stores a habit for so many people. A few places to start:

Pastelitos. The flaky, sugar-glazed puff pastries are the reason most people walk in. The menu runs from the classics (guava, cream cheese, guava and cheese, coconut) to beef, chicken, ham and chorizo, with mango, pineapple and pistachio rounding things out. Buy them by the dozen if anyone else is in the car.

Croquetas. Traditional ham croquetas or the homemade casera version, by the piece or the dozen. They also turn up inside the croqueta preparada, a sandwich with ham, Swiss, pickle, mayo, mustard and croquetas pressed in Cuban bread.

The sandwiches. The Cubano, the media noche, pan con lechon, pan con bistec, a churrasco special and a Cuban-style smash frita topped with crispy potato sticks. There is also a breakfast lineup built around eggs, Cuban toast and café con leche, which is how a lot of Miami mornings start.

Coffee. Cafecito, cortadito, café con leche and the colada, the shareable shot of sweet Cuban espresso served with tiny cups. The ordering page also offers a café con leche carafe to go, which is the move for an office morning or a houseful of guests.

Party trays. If you have ever been to a South Florida birthday, baby shower or office meeting, you have met the party platter. Boynton offers the same trays of 25 pastelitos, croquetas or bocaditos, plus larger bundles that pair them with papas rellenas and coffee. For a lot of families, this is the real news: the tray for the next party no longer means a drive down to Broward or Miami-Dade.

The dessert case covers the Cuban bakery standards too, from tres leches and flan to torrejas, bunuelos and seasonal pies.

Why this one matters

Palm Beach County has its own well-loved Cuban spots, and none of them are going anywhere. What Pinecrest brings is something closer to a brand people already carry in their heads, the way transplants from the Northeast light up when a familiar pizza or bagel name shows up in town. For Boynton residents who grew up in Hialeah, Westchester or Kendall, this is a taste of home without the hour-plus drive each way.

It is also a sign of where the region's growth is pointing. A chain that spent more than a decade building almost entirely in and around Miami chose Boynton Beach as its step north, betting that the demand was already here. Judging by the company's own description of customers driving south for pastries, it was.

For anyone in west Boynton, Lake Worth Beach, Greenacres or the communities along Military Trail, the takeaway is simple. The next time the craving hits, or the next time you are on tray duty for a party, Pinecrest Bakery is a few minutes away, and it opens before most of the neighborhood is awake.