Within Mexican gastronomy and culture, pan dulce has its own chapter, one that even forms part of old sayings in Mexican Spanish, such as “¿A qué hora sales por el pan?”, which is a flirtatious way to ask someone when can they can hang out, or more practical ones like “las penas con pan son buenas” (sorrows are better with bread) o “un bolillo pa’l susto” (a bolillo for a scare).
And in Clearing, the color, flavor, and variety of Mexican sweet bread are present at Acapulco Bakery #2, which arrived in the neighborhood seven years ago and is here to stay.
Those who visit the bakery, whether out of curiosity or to buy one or more panes, may run into Guadalupe Carranza, the bakery assistant who has been working there almost since it opened.
Carranza greets customers with a smile, and after they’ve browsed the variety of bread in the display cases and placed their selection on their tray, she takes the payment and bids them farewell with the same smile.
“I try to make customers feel comfortable,” Carranza said. “When they visit us for the first time, I tell them which bread sells the most. I try to get them to try them so they know which kind to choose.”
She has provided this service since she started working for the bakery’s owner, Raúl Moctezuma, who also owns Acapulco Bakery #1 located in the Village of Shorewood, and who has entrusted Carranza and two other employees with the business.
Moctezuma arrives very early, Carranza said, before the bakery opens to the public at 6:00 a.m. to make the bread. Then, as its closing time nears, he prepares whatever he needs to do for the next day.
Because if Mexican bakeries have one thing going for them, it’s that the bread is made fresh daily, in the morning, in the afternoon, or sometimes, both morning and afternoon.
“It’s a lot of effort and work, but Don Raúl prepares everything with his helpers, and we make everything here, the bolillos, the pan, the cakes, and the chocoflan,” Carranza said.
She also helps with the filling and decoration of the pastries and cakes. “It’s nice to open at 6 a.m. and already have coffee and hot chocolate ready for customers every day. From Monday through Saturday at 6 a.m. I have to have conchas—the best-selling bread—and coffee ready because I already have customers waiting for me,” she said.
Unlike other businesses like Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts, Mexican bakeries don’t serve customers through a drive-thru or at the window. Here, customers have to make their visit to the bakery an experience, whether to remember what they experienced in Mexico or their home countries—there’s bread in every country—before immigrating, or to explore if they were born and raised here.
The variety of bread in the display cases makes it impossible to resist: you’ll find delicious croissants filled with cajeta, chocolate, or cheese, crispy campechanas, or a succulent bolillo filled with cream cheese and jalapeño peppers, another of Acapulco Bakery’s favorites and bestsellers.
Carranza explains that the bread’s different doughs make them different.
“From there, they create different shapes. From one dough, you make the bolillo, the jalapeño bolillo with cheese, from another [dough], the concha, which is the bestseller, and then another [dough], the fine bread, which is my favorite, which is the cinnamon bread. Then there’s the kind used to make the rancho bread with anise, the crusty bread, and then the pastries… in short, there’s so much to do and so much to choose from,” Carranza explained.
As a Mexican woman, Guadalupe only knew about bread when she went to buy it or to eat it. It wasn’t until she started working at Acapulco Bakery #2 that she realized how much work went into it and fell in love with Mexican bread even more, understanding the work, dedication, and commitment that goes into making it.
“It’s pretty laborious, and if there’s one thing that has defined my boss, it’s that he respects that each loaf has its own [baking] time, its own temperature, and that he likes to offer the best quality.”
Even more so these days, when bread can be bought in a package almost anywhere on the corner.
“But nothing compares to pan del día. It has no preservatives, it’s fresh, and it has a special flavor,” she said.
And this is known by the customers who, some of whom after their first taste, have stayed and arrive punctually every afternoon or every now and then to order their favorite bread. Like this writer, for whom the cheese croissant and the “puerquito”—which has cinnamon and brown sugar in the dough—are her favorite panes from Acapulco Bakery #2.
Acapulco Bakery #2, 6044 W 63rd St. Monday–Saturday, 6am–8pm; Sundays, 8am–8pm. (773) 424-0167.