Today we’d like to introduce you to Maricsa Trejo.
If you go into a coffee shop in Dallas or Ft Worth or even a suburb of the two, you will most likely be faced with one woman’s work. It doesn’t matter how different these shops are, if they’re fancy, neighborhood-friendly or if they artisanally roast their beans. As long as they want the best for their customers, then they all inevitably go to Maricsa Trejo for their pastry needs. If you have had a croissant in a beautiful coffee shop in Dallas TX over the past four years that was exceptionally delicious, it was probably made, laminated, baked, packaged and delivered by this one baker.
Maricsa has with only the help of her husband/partner, built a fundamental and unique quirk of DFW with her La Casita Bakeshop. The name La Casita Bakeshop came from her mother’s affinity to adding “it’s”to words she deems are for cute little things that the words themselves don’t show appreciation for. “Ita,” which translates to little in Spanish (which is Maricsa’s first language, given that both of her parents immigrated to Texas from Mexico literally weeks before she was born). The flavors of her family’s heritage can be tasted through even some of the Frenchiest of pastries made at the Bakeshop offered only on Saturday mornings to the public from 10 am to 3 pm.
The young couple moved to New York only two months into being together and from there over the next four years lived in Portland Oregon, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and backpacked through Thailand on what they could make working as chefs in high-end restaurants and bakeries along the way. When they finally settled back in Dallas to create something completely their own, they were torn between making six coursed dinners for small parties or starting a bakery. They decided on a bakery to make a bigger impact on the food scene in Dallas, then dinner parties ever could.
Maricsa and her partner took up work at a brewery and agreed with the owners that if they made all the bread for free, they could work there when the kitchen was empty. They took their savings from the first few paychecks they received and bought a sheeter off Craigslist from someone on the other side of the state and that night, they made their first batch of croissants in the dingey back of a small brewery in Oak Cliff.
For the next three years, they would do everything themselves, literally driving around to coffee shops with boxes of pastries trying to get owners to give them a chance as the new kids on the block in the pastry underworld where there were few small contenders that ever lasted more than a few months. She was a ghost in the night working backward hours between 11 pm and 9 am seen days a week and leaving boxes of pastries for coffee shop baristas to find and in a pack in the early pre-dawn hours of the morning.
This past year they finally made their way into a brick and mortar shop in one of the oldest shopping centers in a suburb of Dallas. With nothing but a La Casita Bakeshop sticker on the top of the door, they planned the opening day of the Saturday morning storefront. Not knowing if anyone would want or be interested in their pastries or bread, they nervously spent the evening into early morning backing what they felt would be an impossible amount of pastries to move and fearing it would go into the garbage the next afternoon.
A small line started to form outside the unknown bakery the following morning, 2 hours before they were open. An hour later, the line was 50 people deep and by the time the door opened, the line was almost 100 and over a block long. The reverberation of people anxiously talking about croissants, cruffins and bread you could hear from the kitchen of the small bakery.
Though COVID has changed things at the bakery, they have made pre-ordering available Wednesday through Friday for Saturday pick up and opened up the store to a few people at a time. While there is still lots of work to be done Maricsa Trejo has only begun to make a positive change in Dallas/ Ft. Worth and only the future knows how much this croissant queen will accomplish.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Absolutely not, but no good thing is. Between starting this as a two-person staff handling all the baking and deliveries alone to “handling” COVID, there’s never been a part of this that we didn’t see a struggle of some kind. We find our blessings within the struggles, though. They allow us opportunities to reevaluate what we are doing, get innovative, and adapt. I can’t imagine there will be a single part of growing this small business that there won’t be some type of struggle but I do feel more comfortable in them than I did before knowing that these previous struggles have taught me so much.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about La Casita Bakeshop – what should we know?
La Casita began in the back of a small brewpub in Oak Cliff. I taught myself how to make a croissant and laminate dough off of YouTube. This business began on hopes, dreams, and an absorbent amount of ambition.
We are known for our ever-changing menu and our signature cruffin – which is a cross between a croissant and a muffin, ours is coated in cinnamon sugar and filled with a house made dulche de leche.
As a company, we are most proud of our ability to connect with our guests. I’ve always wanted to have a community around me that I could spread my love and passions to and our guests are so unique that they have given us that tenfold, they make it so easy to remember everyone by name. Every Saturday feels like a family reunion of sorts.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My biggest cheerleaders are my parents. I wouldn’t be here without them, literally and figuratively. From the beginning, when I was working 18-hour days, seven days a week, my parents were there helping in any way they could. It’s not uncommon to have them floating around the bakeshop, helping us make sure everything is perfect. I’d really be nothing without them. I am so proud to be their daughter. They are two of the hardest-working people I’ve ever met.
My biggest mentor is Lucia Merino, the owner of Lucía Patisserie and my very first pastry chef and pastry friend. She’s been such a blessing on my life and having her to reach out to, to bounce ideas off of, get advisement from -it’s unmatched.
One of my biggest supporters is my friend Stephen Collucci. I worked under him during my stint in New York and he’s really taught me perspective over the years. He played an integral role in my ability to handle stressful situations and how to regroup to get back on track, not just with baking but with the ins and outs of what life throws at you.
Contact Info:
- Address: 580 W Arapaho Rd Ste 230, Richardson, TX 75080
- Website: lacasitabakeshop.com
- Phone: 10:00am-3:00pm
- Email: info@lacasitabakeshop.com
- Instagram: lacasitabakeshop
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lacasitabakeshop/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-casita-bakeshop-richardson
Image Credit:
Kelsey Wilson, May Joe
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