Aida Cabral
realized her
dream in America!
She owns now her Pastry Shop in America!
576 Wood Street. At the corner of Wood and St. Elizabeth Streets Bristol, Rhode Island. Opposite to the Portuguese Church of Saint Elizabeth. Tel. (401) 253-6032, for orders to take out
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"I knew Aida when she was an excellent Medical Assistant at the Bristol County Medical Center , and she always expressed her desire of having her own Pastry and Coffee Shop." |
Aida has a variety of daily fresh Portuguese, American and Italian style pastry. She loves to serve and attend people with her big and friendly smile!
Raul Benevides, Why does he look so happy? The Director and Producer of the popular Radio programs "Despertar" and "Azores -Madeira" comes specially from Fall River to have his favored chocolate cake and his fresh cup of coffee. Raul says that the smell of the coffee in Aids's Pastry, reminds him of the coffee shops, in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores!
Aida serves also with her
charming smile:
Regular coffee, tea, orange juice, sodas, hot chocolate,
cakes,
pies, dry pastry, biscuits, cake slices, jumbo muffins, Espresso,
cappuccino -flavored coffee.
The "Bristol Phoenix",
one of the oldest newspaper in
America, had a big write-up about Aida's
Pastry and Coffee Shop.
A Taste Of The Country
by Ted Hayes
Aida Cabral doesn't remember when she first realized she loved to bake. It may have been when she was a young girl, banging out pastries cream puffs and pies for her family in their Bristol home. It might have been in her teens, when she started a nice little business selling home-baked goods to friends. It may have even come last October, when she decided to leave an 11-year job as medical assistant to open Aidas's Pastry and Coffee at 576 Wood St. Whenever it was, it's come none too soon for her customers, who have flocked to the pastry shop almost since the day it opened early last month.
In the cozy shop, settled between a florist, a barber, hairdresser, photographer and children's clothing store, Mrs. Cabral has quickly earned a good living providing shoppers with pastries they just can't get anywhere else in eastern Rhode Island.
They are hard to pronounce, but even harder to find. Before she began selling her home-baked cream pastries and pies -- Italian Sfogliatelle, Pasticiotti, Panettones and Portuguese tarts and pastries, to name a few -- customers had to travel to such enclaves as Federal Hill in Providence to find them. She has one customer who, before her shop opened, would travel all the way to New Haven, Conn, and Boston to find a particularly hard-to-find pastry. Now that she's here, he's a regular visitor.
" I must have gone through 1,000 pastry boxes in the first month" she said. "The response has been overwhelming." Actually, the wife and mother has been feeling a little overwhelmed at the attention her shop has received. It's not just the hours, though she puts in at least 80 hours every week. It's also the enormous volume of baked goods she goes through.
"Before I opened, I never thought there would be as much volume as there is". She said, admitting it's a good problem to have. "But you learn how to keep up with it. You just try to meet the demand". To stay ahead of demand. She spends all day Tuesday. As most of other days, baking in the kitchen she put in behind the shop. Almost everything she sells -- with exception of an imported brand of Italian cake -- is cooked by her on the premises.
Nothing artificial is used, right down to the cream, which is whipped in back. Though most of her business is take-out, Mrs. Cabral tiny shop has three tables and fresh coffee, espresso, juice, and soda available all the time. In the predominantly Portuguese neighborhood, she has made fast friends with many of the local residents.
Even though she was closed this past Monday, several came in to talk. "She is good" said Pette Walpole, a regular costumer and owner of Bette's Finishing Touch florist shop a few doors down. "People have really taken the shop in" said Ms. Walpole. "The shopping here is really shaping up with her". "It's a good location" added Mrs. Cabral. "People seem to like it".