Elmwood Pastry 70 Years “Being Sweet To You Is Our Business”
It's the 70th anniversary of the Elmwood Pastry Shop of West Hartford, 2018.
Elmwood Pastry Shop is all about people and delicious pastries, regional specialties, donuts, fresh-baked breads – lunch and soups too. Stop by and see why they are celebrating 70 years of business. Left to right – Diane Winalski Ozycz sister, Edward Pilon, Richard Winalski, Jr., owner-baker, Linda Harry; Nilsa Perez, manager and foreground, Theo Wilmes, loyal patron.
“It all began in 1948, here at 1136 New Britain Avenue, Connecticut – started by my father, grandfather, and my uncle,” recalled owner-baker Richard Winalski, Jr., who took over the business from his father in 1980.
“They had a pastry shop on Park Street in Hartford and then started their own bakery here – making a complete line of specialty pastries traditions from almost every country in Europe. They had French, Swedish, Polish, Italian to name a few. The original location was a block from where the Elm Theatre used to be in Elmwood, Connecticut. We were there before the Elm Theatre but when it opened they took all the parking spaces on Friday, Saturday and Sundays, so my father had to move over to a building that was being built in 1955. In 1968 my father put in a luncheonette. My sisters were all involved, and my brother as well. This was our only location.”
Everything is made from scratch by hand every day – and any excess is donated to local charities.
“The busiest times of the year are Thanksgiving, one or two days; Christmas, which lasts two to three weeks, Easter, one week, and now St. Patricks Day, a week long celebration – very big and our busiest time.
“We are most famous for our donuts, but before that it was our kaiser rolls. We make all kinds of bread, pumpernickel, rye, Italian, wheat. Seven-grain bread and, of course, our very popular Limpa bread, which we ship all over the country.
Maple walnut donut, the way Elmwood Pastry Shop created to celebrate the first day of autumn, 2018.
“The most famous donut we have is the Honey Dip, developed in 1939 at the World's Fair in New York by my uncle and he brought the recipe and methodology to us. We were the first bakery to sell them.”
(Yes, there is plenty of piping hot coffee.) Here's to decades more of a much beloved family-owned bakery business which draws customers from near and far.
Founder of Elmwood Pastry Shop, Richard Winalski. Photo courtesy of the Winalski family.
“Being sweet to you is our business!” is their motto; their personalized cakes are edible works of art. Check out their Facebook page to see recent creations.
“We're going to be here as long as people want us to be here,” said Winalski.