SAUGUS — A new bakery and café is coming to Cliftondale Square later this year.
On Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen granted a common victualler license to Kristine Bautista, of Lynnfield, clearing the way for her to open Bits & Bites by Kristine at 488 Lincoln Ave. Bautista has been selling her pastries online since 2020, but the Saugus location will be her first brick-and-mortar store when it opens in July.
In a letter sent to the board, Bautista, a self-taught baker, said her passion for baking began when she was in high school. She began bringing her pastries to school, where they became a hit with friends, spurring on her drive to bake. Bautista continued baking as she got older, with the dream of one day owning her own bakery and café.
Bautista said she began taking her hobby more seriously in 2017, setting up a Facebook page and registering Bits & Bites by Kristine as an LLC. Living in Washington, she spent days and nights working on what would quickly become her signature pastry — the ensaymada, which she described as the Philippines’ version of brioche.
“The wonderful smell of the pastry piques the interest and makes one salivate,” Bautista wrote in her letter. “The first bite does not disappoint as one gets to savor the soft, flaky pastry that combines well with the tangy flavor of the cheese and the sweet, melt-in-your-mouth buttercream.”
On her online shop, Bautista sells a wide range of pastries including cookies, cakes, scones, and pies, incorporating prominent Filipino flavors like mango and ube into classic American baked goods.
Now, Bautista’s dream is one step closer to reality with the approval of the Board of Selectmen.
Bits & Bites by Kristine, in addition to selling pastries, will offer breakfast, coffee, and specialty sandwiches. The shop will be open Tuesday through Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., under the terms of the license granted by the board Tuesday night.
The approval from the Selectmen came on the condition that Bautista install a second grease trap at the property. 488 Lincoln St. does not have an external trap, a requirement of the town’s health regulations. The board’s chairman, Anthony Cogliano, said he visited the Lincoln Avenue site with Director of Public Health John Fralick, who came up with a workaround for the missing external trap. According to Cogliano, Fralick devised a way to install a second internal grease trap that would essentially act as an external one.
Bautista’s business will be the second to open in Cliftondale in roughly three months, following Sole City, a sneaker store that opened on Lincoln Avenue this month. The square, once a thriving commercial district, has seen the exit of a number of businesses and experienced an economic downturn, prompting revitalization efforts from the town.
With the opening these two businesses, it appears Cliftondale may be on the rebound.
One resident, Beatriz Cantada, spoke highly of Bautista and her pastries.
“I will tell you her pastries are delicious, and it’s a shame if you don’t have it here in Saugus because we’ll miss out on absolute deliciousness,” she said. “It’s really good and it’s just a wonderful addition to our community.”
