A BRIEF HISTORY AND A SHORT STORY
Hillsborough Bakeshop & Pasta Co. began as a way to diversify revenue streams while indoor dining was shuttered during the pandemic, but it quickly became a passion project we just can’t quit. In fact, we’ve grown from offering a few hand-rolled, sourdough pastries on Saturday mornings to a full-fledged concept serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Let me take a step back. I spent fifteen years building Panciuto into one of the most unique and special restaurants in NC and it garnered a fair amount of critical attention and adulation. But what made Panciuto so special is also what made it so fragile. What it requires of me is more than I can give it right now, so I have to put it away for a while. Instead, I’m putting my focus on a new idea that occupies a different role in our community - Hillsborough Bakeshop & Pasta Co.
Stepping back even further…when I was a kid in Briarcliff Manor, there was a shop named Joe Wheldon’s. It was a cluttered shoebox of a space on the main drag where you slapped your change on the counter to buy the morning paper and a cup of black coffee, where they rolled subs in wax paper at lunch, and where I walked to get packs of garbage pail kids and bazooka joe bubble gum after school. It was no culinary gem, but it was always there, seemingly always open, and was certainly a part of everyone’s week at some point or another.
Now, I’m not Joe Wheldon, and my time and talent is clearly best spent focused on food, so the Bakeshop will always be first and foremost a great restaurant. Like Panciuto, it will be thoughtfully produced with more quality and care than is reasonable. Unlike Panciuto, it will be more readily accessible (that's code for open more often and less expensive). We hope to see you in the morning for pastries and coffee, or for a sandwich at lunch. Come linger over an afternoon cheese plate and glass of wine. Grab a table at 7:30 pm and hang out for dinner with a cocktail and the best handmade pasta in NC.
Take advantage of it while it's here, because it's awesome, and I can't do this forever.
Allow me to finish by shouting out the staff, without whom I could not have gotten HBPC off the ground.
Adriana Carreon – Head Baker and Doing It All
Jesse Willey – Running the Kitchen and Pasta Wizard
Julia Kelley-Swift – Founding Dining Room Manager, All-Purpose Glue, Web and Social Media Maven
Sincerely,
Aaron Vandemark
Chef/Owner, All Around Amazing Dude