Re-jiggered Aspen bake shop Annette’s to re-open today

After a two-month closure, the new and improved Annette’s Mountain Bake Shop is set to open today with limited seating inside and a menu that leans less on baked goods and more on lunch and dinner items.

“Basically, we’re cutting back on baking,” said Annette Docimo, who runs the shop on the Hyman Avenue Pedestrian Mall with her husband, Fino. “I think this town really needs an affordable lunch and dinner place.”

So instead of opening at 10 a.m. and closing in the late afternoon, the longtime Aspen couple will open the shop at noon and remain open until 9 p.m., she said. And in addition to the shop’s regular menu of sandwiches, salads and soup, the Docimos will offer polenta, homemade ravioli and other pastas, including lasagna and spaghetti and meatballs.

“We want to do the things nobody’s doing in town,” Docimo said. “Fino will get to do more of the things he likes.”

The shop will still offer macaroons, cookies and other baked goods like Docimo’s famous Kouign-amanns and cinnamon rolls, possibly on weekends and “whenever I get to it,” she said.

Fino Docimo will still bake bread for the shop’s sandwiches, while homemade bread will be available by special order, Annette Docimo said. All orders will be available for take-out as well, she said.

The other major change is inside the shop.

The Docimos have pushed back the kitchen, ditched their large bread-making oven for a much smaller convection oven and added three small tables to the space. Seats also will be available at the bar along the front window.

“We’ll see how it goes,” she said.

The bake shop has been closed since mid-October, when the Docimos decamped for an offseason trip to Thailand. When they returned, they weren’t sure they wanted to remain in the same space or look for another, Docimo said.

However, they decided it was simply easier to stay where they were and make a few changes than start again elsewhere, she said.

“We’re just looking to have more fun with the space,” Docimo said.

While the couple was sitting on the beach in Thailand, Docimo said she wrote a macaroon cookbook she plans to publish in the near future. She said she’d also like to write a second cookbook showcasing many of the other baked goods Aspen locals have grown to love and crave over the years.

jauslander@aspentimes.com