Black Box Bakery
Audio By Carbonatix
Reader support matters more than ever
We're in the final stretch of our summer campaign. Our goal is to raise $25,000 by August 9 to support the journalism our community relies on. Reader support is helping shape the future of local news.
Just like it takes time for dough to rise, Black Box Bakery has slowly grown over the years from a wholesale operation serving restaurants to a popular stand inside the Edgewater Public Market. Now Black Box plans to add a sit-down cafe, as well.
Known for over-the-top laminated pastries with a devoted following, the bakery will open Black Box Café this fall within the former Suzette space, which closed in April, in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood. While the original Edgewater Public Market location will remain open, owner and founder Arielle Israel says the second location gives the growing business a chance to expand well beyond the croissants and pastries that made it famous.
“Black Box Café will showcase what we’re capable of as a team,” says Israel. “There’s so much more to Black Box than the pastries people already love. We’ve spent years perfecting one corner of our galaxy, and now we get to explore the rest of the universe.”
Israel launched Black Box in 2019 with business partner and fellow Bindery alum Megan Read as a wholesale baking operation and late-night passion project built around the finicky and painstaking process of baking laminated dough. Traditional laminated doughs can take three days of folding, resting and proofing until ready to bake.
The pair took things a step further with inventive pastry creations, like the rainbow-swirled “queerssont” croissant that soon developed a cult following at farmers markets. They opened their Edgewater Public Market stall in 2022. Read moved on in 2024, but the long lines for croissants that had become the norm for the food hall stand remained.
The Berkeley café will offer something that customers haven’t been able to get previously: a place designed to linger over breakfast or lunch. Along with its full lineup of croissants, laminated pastries and breads, Black Box Café will introduce a build-your-own sandwich program featuring house-baked challah, baguettes and focaccia, as well as house-made ice cream sold by the pint. There will also be a dedicated coffee program.
The former Suzette space will retain counter service while adding indoor seating and a small patio for guests who want to linger outside. The bakery also plans to make the space distinctly its own with original murals by Denver artist Joe Palec and the brand’s signature cosmic motif.
Black Box Café is expected to open this fall in Berkeley. The bakery says an official opening date and operating hours will be announced in the coming weeks.
Black Box Bakery is located at 5505 W. 20th Ave., Edgewater, and is open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit blackboxbakery.com.
