A Lehigh Valley strudel maker has announced a new location and reopening day after closing its physical spot last year.<\/p>\n
Mattie\u2019s Strudel Haus<\/a> will hold a soft reopening Wednesday at the former Riverbend Community Church at 299 Industrial Drive in Upper Nazareth Township, owner and founder Kelly Vlasics said, where it will serve homemade strudel varieties such as apple, cheesesteak and spinach-artichoke for customers to heat up at home. Vlasics also hopes to eventually host classes where she can teach people how to stretch dough for strudels.<\/p>\n Vlasics considers herself a third-generation \u201cstrudel artist\u201d after learning from her mother Bonnie and grandmother Matilda (for whom she named the business).<\/p>\n The Industrial Drive address, which she will share with Stehly\u2019s Bakery and Eatery, is the same one where Mattie\u2019s originally opened in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vlasics said she left that address in 2019 due to the increase in rent, which is now more manageable by sharing the space with Stehly\u2019s.<\/p>\n After leaving Industrial Drive in 2019 and plans for a Bushkill Township spot fell through, she moved in 2021 to 126 W. Main St. in Bath.<\/p>\n She operated there until last August, leaving due to issues such as a lack of parking for customers and traffic safety issues for crossing the street, and operated through delivery and temporary kitchens before returning to Industrial Drive.<\/p>\n With how chaotic and stressful she felt things became after leaving that address, she said, \u201cI needed to come back to where I felt like I was just \u2026 Nazareth, the community, is the most accepting and they followed me nine years through all of this. Nazareth has been amazing and going back there is \u2026 it feels right again. Like I said, I should have never left. So I call it my root. I was rooted in Nazareth, I\u2019ve got uprooted, and now I\u2019m stabilized back in.\u201d<\/p>\n A grand opening is planned for either late April or early May.<\/p>\n