PORT ST. LUCIE — Cuban immigrants Antonio and Gelasia Cao opened their first Vicky Bakery in Hialeah in 1972. Since then, they have opened 25 locations throughout Florida, most recently one in Port St. Lucie.
Vicky Bakery is located in the Gatlin Pointe Plaza, one of the newer plazas in Port St. Lucie. I’ve visited other stores in this plaza and always saw a large crowd going in and out of this bakery.
My friend and I decided to see what all the hullabaloo was about.
As a side note, I do not speak Spanish at all and was a little intimidated by the items on the menu. Not to worry though as the staff was very helpful, explaining what the variety of pastries were and how to pronounce them.
My friend chose the Grilled Chicken sandwich. This sandwich featured chicken, mayo, lettuce, tomato and onion on fresh Cuban bread. The bread had a nice crunchy crust with soft warm interior. The chicken was tender and nicely seasoned. Warning, this sandwich is huge!
We wanted to sample several smaller items so we started with a Chicken Croqueta. This small, crunchy and flaky pastry had a delicious warm chicken filling. We followed that up with a Tequeno, another small crunchy pastry filled with a warm, creamy queso cheese.
Last in our sample box was a Pollo Empanada. The chicken had a savory seasoning that was almost addicting. The empanada itself was crispy and flaky.
After seeing pictures of it, we really had to try the Vicky Platicos, a bowl-style dish. I chose the black bean, jasmine rice, grilled chicken and plantain bowl.
There are several options for toppings but I decided to go without them in order to get the true taste of everything. The fluffy white rice and seasoned black beans just asked to be blended and was a delicious combination.
The chicken had a savory seasoning and was grilled perfectly. The plantains were seasoned nicely and tender. This is a hearty bowl with a generous amount of ingredients.
While we wanted to try their beautiful desserts, we simply were too full. Perhaps another trip is called for to sample their sweet pastries alongside a Cuban coffee.
Vicky Bakery has breakfast items, sandwiches, savory and sweet pastries and a variety of coffees.
Vicky Bakery is located at 1234 SW Gatlin Blvd., Port St. Lucie, FL 34953. Their hours of operation are Mon. – Sun. 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Call (772) 204-2076 or visit www.vickybakery.com.