AUGUST 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 67
MAIN DISH
FRONT STREET BAKERY A FRESH BAKE
If it’s not the smell of delicious baked
goods wafting down the street that
draws patrons into Front Street Bakery,
it’s the dazzlingly decorated cakes in the
window that get mouths watering.
Either way, this third-generation
bakery has proven its staying power,
going strong nearly 75 years after it
first began offering one of its famous
dot cookies to every child who walks
through the door.
“Basically it’s been the same recipes
from back when it started,” says Jeffrey
Wohlfarth, the owner and head baker
who runs the family business with his
sister, Lisa Acerno, who’s the manager.
“This is all made from scratch. It’s not
this bagged stuff where you just add
water and eggs to it. These are our own
recipes.”
Like many businesses — especially
those in the food industry — the bakery
has had to adapt to coronavirus
pandemic restrictions, such as limiting
the number of customers in the store
at a time and offering curbside pickup,
among other measures.
But people are still hungry for a sweet
slice of the bakery’s delicious freshly
baked bread, famous Danish crumb
cakes, cookies, and other favorites.
And the family has continued to build
upon their roster of recipes, such as the
new carrot cake and red velvet cake additions.
They’ve also expanded the dot
cookie lineup.
“Originally they were called pink dots
when my parents owned it and then we
expanded and now we make all different
colors,”says Acerno. “We make them
for the seasons, like St. Paddy’s Day we
make the green a white, Easter we make
spring colors, Halloween we make them
orange.”
Customers can often order custom dot
cookies with school colors for graduation
parties. That’s in addition to orders
for more labor-intensive fondant cakes
that customers find online or on TV that
patrons want replicated.
Front Street Bakery owner Jeffrey Wohlfarth with his sister, Lisa Acerno,
who manages the shop.
Having won the Bethpage Best of
Long Island contest nine years in row
through 2019, Front Street Bakery’s current
owners expanded their facilities
in 2016 to keep up with demand. All the
more reason they're sure to still be the
village’s favorite bakery for decades
more to come.
For this family, baking is in their blood.
The shop was founded by the owner’s
grandfather’s brother, taken over by his
grandfather, then by the current operator’s
parents. Two uncles ran bakeries
in Floral Park and Sayville.
“The next generation will be my son and
Jeff’s son,” says Acerno of the family’s
up-and-coming bakers, Robert Acerno
and JJ Wohlfarth “They are both in the
bakery business right here working
with us now. Jeff is teaching them
everything he knows to carry on the
tradition.”
Front Street Bakery is located at
51 Front St. in Rockville Centre. It
can be reached at 516-766-1199 of
frontstreetbakery.com
Front Street Bakery has been known for its crumb cake and dot cookies for
decades.
Front Street Bakery has been run by
the same family for nearly 75 years.
“It’s been the same recipes from back when it
started,” says Jeffrey Wohlfarth.
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