Order 06! This Venezuelan Bakery Has Perfected the Croissant
And a second location is opening soon in MiMo!
People might come to Caracas Bakery for the cachito, but they come back for the sublime French pastries… and also the cachito. Now, this Doral darling is opening a second location in Miami’s Upper East Side (or MiMo) – and we can’t wait to gain happy pounds because of it.
Caracas Bakery might be named after Venezuela’s capital, but owner Jesus Brazon is obsessed with making the perfect croissant. “I should be telling you to get the cachito, but the one that’s taken me the most effort to make and appreciate is the croissant,” he says. What makes it so good? “The dedication,” he answers. “Trying to make it perfect from the beginning.”
It’s got 27 layers of paper-like flakiness, takes 36 hours to make, and its core ingredients are French butter, organic or non-GMO flour and a bit of sourdough mix. Plus, Jesus is the only one who makes them. He took his first vacation in two years recently, and made sure to prep every single one so that they’d be exemplary in his absence. If that’s not the pursuit of perfection, we don’t know what is.
With a background in product design, that Jesus would open not one but two bakeries seemed, at one point, unlikely. On a visit to New York’s Chelsea Market in the 2010s, he stopped short when he came across a bakery with an open floor plan. “That was the first time I saw people making sourdough and bread with their hands,” he says. “In Venezuela, everything is [behind closed doors]. You see a little window where the bread comes out but that’s it.”
And so he sat there for 45 minutes WATCHING BREAD RISE. If you’ve ever done that, you would know that it’s the aromatic equivalent of watching paint dry. On his way out, he bought a bread-making book and spent the next few years trying to make the perfect loaf of sourdough.
He started selling his bread to a small restaurant in Coconut Grove, which got him thinking that maybe his dough could start making him some dough. He tried opening up a tiny bread and coffee shop in Miami Shores in 2017, but Irma hit and the lease slipped through. Then, two years later, Jesus caught his break in a nondescript strip mall in Doral. With a smile from ear to ear, he opened up Caracas Bakery in March… 2020. What a time.
Imagine spending 14 months of your life building a business – securing a lease, buying expensive baking equipment, convincing your dad to quit his job at Zach the Baker to help you out – and then a pandemic pulls the rug from under your feet. I’ll tell you, we don’t give entrepreneurs the credit they deserve for the risk they take on when launching a business. It takes a lot of guts – and they deserve an extra Yelp Star just for that.
But here in Miami, we rallied. At the start of the pandemic we came out in droves to support the small businesses that have fed and imbibed us, buying to-go cocktails by the bag load, ordering fancy meals to be eaten at home with plastic forks, and, in the case of Caracas Bakery, indulging in morning pastries and pastelitos. As it turns out, Caracas’s limited hangout space was appropriate for the time. People all the way from Weston to the Redlands came through, and it all ended up working out in the end.
By contrast, Caracas Bakery in MiMo is built to hang out in. There’s a stand-up counter where you can scarf down a flaky empanada on the go, cushioned benches and chairs where you can have a leisurely breakfast with friends, and even an area for posting up with your laptop all day. The design has a serene Scandinavian quality to it with planks of slatted blonde wood on the walls and magnified terrazzo countertops. It’s delicate and minimal; a space stripped down to its bare basics, which is a beautiful philosophy that Jesus and his father, Manuel Brazon, have applied to all of the breads and pastries made in house.
Though it’s a bakery operated by a Venezuelan family (Jesus’s mom, Scarlett Brazon, runs the facility where the bread is made), it is not a Venezuelan bakery. To start, there are only three Venezuelan specialties on the menu: pan de queso, pan dulce and the cachito. Almost everything else… is French.
“In Venezuela, we don’t really have a ‘Venezuelan Bakery,’” explains Jesus. “It’s not like we have Cuban bread or pastelito de guayaba. In my country, all the bakeries are opened by people from Portugal or Spain. The people working at the bakeries are Venezuelan, but the recipes are always European. In Venezuela, we adapt the product to what we like – a little more sweet, more doughy, less sour. But here, I didn’t care about trying to replicate the flavors in every item. I just wanted to make things properly.”
Take the palmerita, for instance. It’s a caramelized Latin American classic that’s based on a Briton pastry called kouign-amann (and Caracas Bakery has a perfect version of it). There are also rich Danish pastries filled with Basque cream or guava and cheese, and different versions of croissants, like a powdery almond cream-filled one and a chocolatin, which is bursting with homemade hazelnut and chocolate ganache. On the menu you’ll also find an apple turnover, carrot cake, banana bread and even spiraly cruffins.
What Jesus is most excited about, in this location, is the space to experiment and grow. He was beaming as he gave us a back of house tour; the cooling room is massive, there’s a special section for making savory things like sandwiches and there’s even a room that's dedicated to making croissants. He’s been testing out some recipes on Saturdays, like croissants filled with manchego, or even jamon Serrano and asparagus, and he can’t wait to share them with the Biscaynites who will soon be flocking to the bakery.
The second Caracas Bakery is located at 7283 Biscayne Blvd, right next to Doggi’s Arepa Bar, another favorite Venezuelan spot. It’s set to open in October, so follow us for opening details. In the meantime, you can get your cachito fix at the Doral location.
Go on, get into to some trouble. Here are some upcoming events, openings and things Nat & Ash are excited about in the upcoming weeks.
Your favorite tumbadera turns 1 on Saturday! Here’s where to get low this weekend.
See you at Technique Records this Sunday (9.26) for The Platter, a vinyl-filled foodie event starring peacock ramen, Jojo tea and our favorite Miami seltzer brand.
Monday (9.26) is ya last chance for 50% off pasta at Macchialina! Resahvations only, toots, and only aftah 9pm.
This is not an event for vegetarians, but it sure is for savage carnivores. The Butcher’s Table takes place on 10.07, and we implore you to learn more.
A double shot of espresso poured over your choice of Cuban soda: Jupiña, Materva, or Ironbeer. Would you try it? Here’s where you can.
Where do you fall within Shadeland Mall? We’re at the 36th Street Taco Bell, so get on our level.