Sap Sua’s Saturday Morning Bakery Is So Back

After a two-year hiatus, the Bakehouse at the buzzy Vietnamese eatery Sap Sua is officially back. The concept relaunched on October 25 and has quickly regained its cult following.

Only open on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon (or until the pastries are sold out), you’ll have to arrive early to get the good stuff. We recently showed up at 8:15 a.m. and there was already a queue – but we knew it was a good sign when we spotted other industry folks in line. Just ahead of us was Moon Racoon’s own Kate Lange, who came extra early in hopes of finally getting her hands on one of the apple fritters. 

After twenty minutes, we finally reached the counter, and the sunlit dining room was already filling up with patrons. We were greeted by Sap Sua co-owner Anna Nguyen’s bright smile and a bevy of beautiful pastries (which range from around $3 to $7). She was clearly in her element.

“I love being behind the counter. There’s a very tangible excitement when people see what they’re going to get,” says. “It’s a very natural space for me to be in.”

Same Bakehouse, New Chef

The Bakehouse first opened during Sap Sua’s inaugural winter in 2023. Nguyen’s mom, Becky McLean, initially helped her work the counter, a dream come true for the mother-daughter duo. But life had other plans. 

“My mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer before we opened. She had worked with me when I sold pastries at the Cherry Creek Farmers Market back in 2015 and always told me, ‘When you own a bakery, I want to work the counter,’” Nguyen recalls. “So I made it happen that winter because it was something that I really needed to do with her.”

After only three weeks, Nguyen realized she wasn’t in a place where she could juggle the Bakehouse and the rush of Sap Sua’s dinner service. The mounting pressure, combined with the uncertainty of her mother’s condition, caused her to close the weekend concept, but the hope of reopening one day remained. 

Two years later, Sap Sua was in the market for a new pastry chef. Enter: Korinna Mahan. “We worked with Korinna when we did our series of takeovers at Sunday Vinyl in 2022 and just really appreciate her work ethic. I got on the phone with her and it felt like a very natural fit,” says Nguyen, who initially offered Mahan part-time hours.

But Mahan had a counterproposal. “The pastry hours were really minimal, and I knew that they had done a bakery concept back in the day, so I asked if I could bring it back, and they said yes,” Mahan recalls. 

“I was like, ‘Well, that’s my dream, let’s do it!’” Nguyen adds. “It all came together in the most natural and organic way.”

Mahan is a powerhouse of technical skills and is passionate about pie, making her the perfect person to revive the Bakehouse. After earning a double bachelor’s degree in hospitality and restaurant marketing, the New Mexico native refined her cooking and baking skills in France before returning to the United States. She moved to Colorado in 2019, working in kitchens at the Broadmoor, Grateful Bread and as Sunday Vinyl’s lead pastry chef. 

“She’s an exceptionally seasoned professional,” Nguyen shares. “Her and I have a very similar style, and that really made me feel comfortable.”

Sweet and Savory

Mahan arrives at work at 2 a.m. and produces around fifteen pastries before the Saturday morning rush arrives. When we visited, the rotating menu featured classics like brownies and apple fritters; creative sweets like butterscotch com dep cookies, Vietnamese banana coconut rum cake, and dirty chai sticky buns; along with more savory items like fennel ricotta muffins, sesame chocolate babka, leek and gruyere galettes, and pho-braised oxtail hand pies (which are so popular, they’re now being featured on Sap Sua’s dinner menu). There was also coffee and tea.

The standout was the pecan monkey bread, a deeply personal recipe for Mahan.

“Monkey bread has probably been my most tested item here. I probably did twenty tests,” she shares. “One thing I have a really vivid memory of is my mom getting the canned biscuit dough from the store and dipping it in butter and cinnamon sugar and making monkey bread…that was our Christmas mornings.”

Working at Sap Sua has also introduced Mahan to the world of Vietnamese flavors and desserts. “One thing I love about Vietnamese pastries is that they’re not too sweet,” she says. “That’s very much my style. I want you to be able to eat the whole thing, not take one bite and feel done.” 

The chef clued us into some upcoming items she’s working on, including a French onion galette, a Reuben hand pie, blondies, and individual focaccias (think chile oil and scallion). The bakery is also offering special items like pies during major holidays (it has already sold out of the Thanksgiving offerings, but it’s not too late for Christmas). Sign up for Sap Sua’s newsletter and follow the restaurarant on Instagram @sapsuarestaurant for ordering details.

“I am very serious about pie. Pie is my favorite thing in the entire world,” Mahan says with a laugh.

A New Chapter

Nguyen’s mother passed away last October, but the chef still wears the apron her mom sewed for her when they worked together at the Cherry Creek farmers market stand.

“She would have loved this,” Nguyen says. “I’ve had this dream forever. We built this space with a bakery in mind. But as an owner, the ultimate dream is to have something you’ve visualized so tangibly be taken on by someone else who delivers exactly what you imagined, but even better. That’s been the joy with Korinna. It’s everything I wanted, and so much more.”

The Bakehouse is located inside Sap Sua at 2550 East Colfax Avenue and is open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. For more information, follow @sapsuarestaurant on Instagram.