Here Comes Saucie's Bakery, Martinez

Are you ready for Saucie? Because she's ready for you. Almost.

Downtown Martinez will be getting a new bakery on Main Street next month, where the former l'Elegant used to be, and the owner is nicknamed Saucie. She thought that would make a great name for a bakery.

Her real name is Theresa Doolittle, and she's a Benicia resident who was born in Martinez, one of eight children. A financial advisor for almost 17 years, she is no stranger to the food business. She had a catering business in Fresno and a cafe in Sacramento. A couple of years ago, she decided to become a pastry chef.

Then, on Superbowl Sunday last year, she heard about the Main Street property.

"And here we are," she said.

During our conversation, people kept poking their head in the door, asking about what was going in.

"Our goal is to be a neighborhood bakery," she said. "A little bit of everything--cookies, cupcakes, homemade cinnamon rolls, quiche, chocolate eclairs."

Those will be for starters. As things settle in and Doolittle gets a feel for her customers and their tastes, she'll add things to the menu, she said. 

What kind of cupcakes, I dared to ask.

"In my repertoire, I’ve got carrot cake with cream cheese icing, and chocolate and vanilla bean, chocolate cream cheese, lemon meranque, strawberry shortcake. I'll problably always have the standard most popular – vanilla bean. But also we’ll have specials every day. That gives us an opportunity to introduce variety to the community."

Is she worried that her neighbor Starbucks just began offering a specialty pastry line?

"I'm familiar with the Starbucks line of products they’re offering now," Doolittle said. "We are going to offer different things. We’re not doing little loaves and other things. We have the benefit of making everything from scratch every day here. We offer hot-out-of-the-oven cinnamon rolls. We believe our quality will stand on its own."

Look for the first cinnamon rolls to come out of the oven in June.