The one and only Elmwood Pastry Shop
Elmwood Pastry Shop is a family-owned European-styled bakery located in West Hartford Connecticut. The bakery is one that has been around since 1948, and is a local staple in West Hartford.
At the bakery, there is endless options for one’s sweet and or savory tooth. Their food items are baked fresh on a daily basis. Any remaining food at the end of the day gets donated to local charities in and around West Hartford.
Faces behind the direct operation of the bakery
The current owner is Richard Winalski Jr. Richard took over the bakery from his father, Richard Winalski, in 1980. Richard Winalski Jr. has been running the business smoothly ever since, and has no plans of letting the bakery go in any time soon.
Bouncing back from a tragedy
In August of 1999, there was a fire that spread through the plaza Elmwood Pastry Shop is located in. The fire started in an electrical outlet of an adjoining jewelry store.
The fire spread through the jewelry store, and quickly burned away nearly fifty years of memories within Elmwood Pastry Shop. The bakery was completely gutted due to the damage.
The rebuilding of the bakery was one that took a year to complete. Elmwood Pastry Shop reopened its renovated doors in August of 2000.
Friendly faces of the bakery
There are are fifteen employees currently at Elmwood Pastry Shop. Peter Sweeney and Erik Youngstrom were two individuals who were willing to discuss their time at the bakery.
Both Peter and Erik are seniors at Conard High School, located in West Hartford Connecticut. Peter Sweeney has been an employee at the bakery for almost two years, while Erik Youngstrom has worked there for approximately eight months.
When asked how he discovered the bakery, Erik Youngstrom explained, ” I have been familiar with the bakery since I was young. On Saturday or Sunday mornings my parents would always pick up donuts from Elmwood bakery for my family, so I have always liked their food, especially the donuts.”
Peter Sweeney explained that his Dad grew up in West Hartford, so it’s been a known place for his family to get pastry items for as long as he could remember. “My Grandpa would always take my Dad and his brother to the bakery. When I told him I applied to work at Elmwood bakery, he thought it was pretty cool. He comes in to visit, and gets a kick out of seeing me behind the counter.”
Delicious menu items
Elmwood Pastry Shop has a wide variety of food items to enjoy. They have bagels, breads and rolls, cakes for all occasions, cupcakes, donuts, pastries, pies, sandwiches, as well as soups and salads.
A popular, and hard to get item that you can find at Elmwood Pastry Shop is Limpa Bread. Swedish Limpa bread is a rye bread with a delicate, sweet flavor and just a hint of orange. It is similar to Hawaiian bread – not too sweet but just right.
There is also fresh coffee that is always available. Anyone’s sweet or savory tooth can be satisfied when indulging in the bakery.
Donuts and racetracks are the bakery’s most popular food items. Following those items, cupcakes and cakes are often in high demand.
Their special honey glazed donuts are made with a recipe from the 1939 World’s Fair. The Winalski family were the people who brought the recipe to Connecticut, and made it into the delicious menu item that still continues on today.
Achievements within the bakery
Elmwood Pastry Shop was proud to be apart of the infamous 2018 Connecticut Donut Trail. The Donut trail is a map containing a series of places with the best donuts in the state.
They get an immense amount of recognization for their local services and the items they continuously provide.
Holiday Time
Some of the busiest times at Elmwood Pastry Shop include Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. A lot of popular seasonal items include, Angel Wings, Pies (Pumpkin or Creme Pies), and Bobka breads, which come as either chocolate, raisin or cheese.
A few other busy times during the year consist of Valentines Day, lots of cakes and last-minute dessert runs for significant others, St. Patrick’s Day, for homemade Irish Soda bread, and Mother’s Day, for beautiful cakes and cookies.
Come visit Elmwood Pastry Shop!
Elmwood Pastry Shop is located at 1136 New Britain Ave, West Hartford Connecticut. Their business hours are Monday through Saturday, six in the morning to seven at night. On Sunday’s they’re open six in the morning to five at night.
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