A Collinsville bakery reopens, offers old-fashioned sweet, savory flavors, tamales too

Remember that sweet little family bakery in Collinsville I wrote about a few months ago?

You know, the one on Beltline Road with the pretty pink door. Where Yummy Donut Palace used to be.

Anyway, Azúcar, Old City Bakery, has new owners. And it recently reopened for business.

Collinsville residents Noemi Carrillo and Salvador Abeja, are the proud new owners of Azúcar, Old City Bakery.

A new adventure

Carrillo and Abeja invest in businesses and properties and try to keep an eye out for new opportunities.

When they decide to invest in a new venture, they try to keep things local, said Carrillo, and support the community.

One morning, she saw a post on the Azúcar Facebook page that the original owners were closing the bakery and were open to selling the business.

Carrillo had never been to the bakery but wanted to learn more about it.

She reached out and arranged to meet with owner Jeanetta Mitchem, who opened the business earlier this year with her daughters, Brooke Romero and Morgan Hurtado.

With an appointment set, Carrillo came from her office at Bakos License & Title in Collinsville, which she owns and where she works as an insurance agent for the state of Illinois, to meet with Mitchem.

Apparently the meeting went well because about 20 minutes later, the bakery was hers.

Incredibly excited about this latest adventure, Carrillo did admit there was that what-did-I-just-do moment.

But it didn’t last.

Carrillo and Abeja are always trying new things, and Azúcar is just the latest one.

Their other business investments include the aforementioned license and title service and some rental properties.

Abeja also works in construction.

They sell or rent out the houses they flip, according to Carrillo, which is fun because “you never know what you’re gonna find.”

And they’re parents too, so all-in-all they’re pretty busy.

Carrillo plans to keep the bakery much as it was under its previous ownership.

The décor is the same – the painting of the bull on a green couch that I really like is still there.

Even some of the culinary delights on offer will be familiar to customers who enjoyed them before.

Carrillo is able to do this with the support of family members, who offer to help.

“They support us so much,” she said, adding that they wouldn’t be anything without them. The family supports them in “every crazy adventure we take.”

Carrillo is working at the bakery with her sister-in-law and nieces.

They all work hard, putting in all their skill and knowledge to make the bakery the best it can be, according to Carrillo.

Bringing traditional flavors to the community

Upon entering the bakery, the first thing I noticed was the amazing smell of baked goods.

It didn’t have that oh-my-god-that’s-a-lot-of-sugar scent. The scent had more of a freshly baked bread with a touch of sweetness to it.

It was glorious and almost makes me wish I still ate dairy and eggs.

Carrillo is going for old-fashioned ideas and creating foods that honor both Latin and American tastes, as well as her heritage.

Many of the sweets are older, traditional recipes from her culture. Her family comes from north central Mexico, Abeja’s family from south central Mexico.

The bakery also has American traditional sweets, according to Carrillo.

On the menu are conchitas – or conchas, Spanish for “shell” – a Mexican sweet bread that gets its name from its seashell-like appearance.

Azúcar offered these under its previous ownership. At that time, they were supplied by Lilly’s Panaderia in St. Louis.

Today, conchitas are made in-house, said Carrillo, as are most of the goods available at Azúcar.

“We make pretty much everything from scratch,” she said.

A few items are outsourced because they currently lack the necessary kitchen equipment.

But they make as much as they can in house and use local ingredients whenever possible.

“We want to sell quality,” said Carrillo.

Azúcar’s other goods include turnovers (sweet potato, pineapple, and other seasonal produce), rice pudding, banana bread, zucchini bread, Spanish-style cheesecake, gooey butter cookies, cheese danish and the most popular item – bread filled with jalapeño and cream cheese.

Keep an eye out for other items that will soon be available, such as apple fritters, pound cakes (pecan and vanilla) and cornbread.

Carrillo said they also bring in tamales from her mom’s restaurant, La Esquinita Mexican Market and Restaurant, also in Collinsville.

With a new Starbucks getting ready to open a couple of doors down and a Scooter’s Coffee not too far from there, the drinks at Azúcar are pretty simple. (Which works for me. I take my coffee black, no sugar.)

There’s a tea station with a variety of teabags and a coffee station. Both stations have cream, sugar and sweeteners.

Boba teas, horchata and seasonal fruit-based refreshments are also available.

Carrillo said they might offer hot chocolate in the fall.

She doesn’t want to think of Starbucks as a competitor. Her hope is to complement the coffee company.

“They’ll have the coffee; we’ll have the pastries,” Carrillo said.

A bit of background

Azúcar, Old City Bakery originally opened March 17 in Collinsville.

The family business was owned and operated by Mitchem and daughters Romero and Hurtado. The bakery was a passion project for the women.

And for a while the business seemed to be doing well.

But in June, a Facebook post shared that the business was struggling.

“We have not been having the easiest of times recently & we have been faced with a tough decision,” stated the June 17 post. “We either close our doors or we get rid of donuts all together and put our focus more on our pastries and cakes.”

The post also stated that Mitchem is a cake maker. Cakes were the foundation for the business, and donuts were never part of the plan.

“We wanted to do cookies and our cakes and add in some Mexican treats and culture,” continued the Facebook post. “As we ran into obstacle after obstacle attempting to open the bakery to begin with, we were advised to add donuts to our menu. We felt as a bakery, we really had no choice.”

In the long run, the inclusion of donuts took time and resources away from the other goods the owners wanted to offer.

So donuts were dropped from the menu.

Then the bakery had to close due to illness, according to Facebook posts the following week.

On June 28, the decision to close was announced on the Facebook page. Included in the message was the offer of the business to anyone interested in owning a bakery.

Two days later, Mitchem, Romero and Hurtado made one last announcement.

Azúcar was sold to Carrillo and Abeja, who reopened the bakery on July 14.

“I wish them well,” said Mitchem of Carrillo and Abeja in a brief phone call.

Open for business … again

Carrillo said the mornings are busy, but people are still learning about the business.

She said they want everything they do here to benefit the community, the county and the state that have already given them so much. She wants to honor that.

“We’re so thankful,” said Carrillo. “Everyone’s welcome to our shop.”

About Azúcar, Old City Bakery

Azúcar, Old City Bakery is located at 410 Beltline Road in Collinsville. Hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Azúcar is currently accepting cash only until the point of sale system is set up.

For information and updates, call 618-223-1322 or check out the Facebook page.