5 Minutes Across the Counter With Carmine's Bakery

Photos by Ali Niesen Photography

Carmine’s Bakery is a local Brightwaters business that prides itself on being old-fashioned.

Besides making everything from scratch, the bakery owner was inspired to open the only peanut, tree nut free bakery in the immediate surrounding area due to his granddaughter’s severe nut allergy.

Regulars come in everyday to the 346 N Windsor Ave. location for some popular goodies, like their cakes, breads, crumb buns and more.

Patch asked the owner of Carmine’s Bakery, Carmine Lanzaro, a few questions about how he runs his old-fashioned business. Check out the interview below:

Patch: How long has Carmine’s Bakery been around?

Carmine: I have been at this location for the past nine years and I have owned my own business since 1973.

Patch: What are your hours of operation?

Carmine: We are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday 6:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Patch: Why did you decide to open up a Bakery?

Carmine: I was born into the business. My grandmother started her bakery in Brooklyn during World War II.

Patch: What makes your bakery different from the others?

Carmine: Here at Carmine’s Bakery, we are NUT FREE! We are the only peanut, tree nut free bakery in our immediate surrounding area. One inspiration for opening a nut free bakery is my granddaughter is very allergic and this is becoming more prevalent in today’s society. We also have donation boxes to help people with these allergies on premise. Peanut allergies especially can be life threatening and we pride ourselves on catering to those families so that people with this allergy can enjoy the comfort of a baked good without the harmful effects.

Patch: What do you offer your customers?

Carmine: I pride myself on baking everything the old fashioned way, and using all from scratch mixes.

Patch: What are some of your most popular orders?

Carmine: We have a few items in our bakery that our regular customers come back for every day, our specialty breads, our crumb buns and our muffins are popular, but our most popular would have to be our cakes. A lot of a families that have someone they love with nut allergies love the comfort of ordering a cake from us that everyone at the party can enjoy!