By LORENZO RECUPERO
Everett is undergoing a revamp in its demographic, with more Latinos flocking to the city than ever before, according to local business owner Elmer Melara,
For this reason, he felt there was no better time than now to introduce the city’s residents to what he believes is the only Central American bakery in Everett: Roxy’s Bakery & Café located at 614 Broadway.
“In Everett, there’s plenty of Brazilian bakeries but there’s not an exclusive Central American bakery,” said Melara, a native El Salvadorian who moved to the U.S. 12 years ago.
Residing in Malden, Melara stated his desire to set up shop in Everett stemmed from the heavier Latino presence here now.
“Everett, for me, is a better place for business than Malden. There’s more of a Latino representation here than in Malden. From what I’ve seen, over the last five years, a lot of Central American families are coming to live here,” said Melara, who also owns NEON Graphics at 608 Broadway, just a few doors away down from Roxy’s, specializing in a variety of different web design and printing services.
Officially open since December, Roxy’s is the city’s newest showcase of Latin American flavor, something Melara is extremely proud of as he believes there are only a few bodegas (Latin convenience stores) in the city where you can find the goods he sells, but even those locations won’t have some of the freshly baked goods served up at Roxy’s.
Although the menu is still under development, with the business in its infancy, you can still find amongst other tasty treats such goods as yuca frita, chicharron, pastelitos, Canoas Salvadoreno, and the bakeries exclusive item, Relampagos Salvadoreno. The latter menu item Melara says you won’t find anywhere in the city except Roxy’s.
“The reception for what we are selling has really been good, a blessing. People are coming from as far as Lowell to try our food. When customers come in, they say
to us our food tastes homemade and that’s because we do not reuse oil for anything we make, and it makes for fresher food and happier customers,” said Melara.
And when walking into Roxy’s, the décor will do little to tell the story of a Latino eatery, but rather just a bakery selling fresh goods for all who enjoy them.
The unassuming setting is something Melara says was always in his plan.
“There’s no Latin American flags or Latin American design like some other Latin bakeries because we wanted to leave it open to all,” said Melara. “Everyone wants to try our bread, and why not?”
Roxy’s is open 7 days a week from 6 AM – 830 PM and even offers delivery Tuesday – Sunday from 2 PM to close. They currently have a 5-star rating on their Facebook page.