Something about the pan dulce here just gets me. I’ve eaten a ton of crappy conchas in my day. I’ve had bad pan dulce all around the US, in Mexico even.
Sometimes the thing about prehispanic style bread is that it’s more bread para sobrevivir (to survive) rather than the flavor. Most times, pan dulce from Mexican and other Central American bakeries is as tough as a hockey puck, and tastes rather cheap. Unless it’s served directly from the oven, to the cooling rack, to your mouth, you’re going to have a bad day.
Luckily, I stumbled upon La Flor de Atlixco after surveying Freehold Borough for some good Mexican food. With a Hispanic population in Freehold arriving at half or more of the population, there are several places to choose from.
I wandered in, and as luck would have it, bread was being loaded into the bread box directly from the cooling rack. There were tons of options: conchas in vanilla and chocolate, chilindrinas, ojos de buey, croissants, and more.
Some were better than others, with hints of anise and poppyseed, some resembled a semi-sweet, semi-salty bagel, but overall the quality was much better than what I’m used to in pan dulce.
The name, La Flor de Atlixco, is a reference to a city in Puebla, and more specifically the cultivation and flower cutting business known from there.
They prepare daily lunch and dinner specials as well, with a white board proudly displaying dishes from Puebla, such as the famous mole poblano. This time I only tried the baked goods and coffee (good) and look forward to returning for lunch.
La Flor De Atlixco
7 Mechanic St, Freehold, NJ 07728
