Long-awaited family-run bakery and cafe serves up Puerto Rican specialties - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Kristine M. Kierzek Special to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Published 6:52 AM EST Dec 12, 2019

When Johanna Ortiz bought a building from the city of Milwaukee in 2016, she had a vision. It took three years, a lot of patience and prayer, but Johanna’s Cakes & Desserts Cafe, 1239 S. 11th St., finally opened in October. 

Ortiz’s journey to business owner begins with flan. While attending South Division High School, she took a culinary class and participated in a baking contest. She entered her family's traditional Puerto Rican baked custard, and she won. The prize was a cookbook, and she still has it, but the true gift was reinforcement for her love of baking.

She got married, had kids and opened a day care, and people always asked her to make desserts. Their interest gave her the push she needed.

Ortiz grew up just blocks from her cafe space, a building she walked past countless times as a child. Neighbors were supportive during the long renovation process, and she’s thrilled to have customers hanging out with coffee throughout the day.

She’s gained regulars for traditional Puerto Rican favorites including sancocho and mofongo, pork, rice, bacalao (salt cod) and sandwiches including jibaritos and Cubanos. She makes and serves labor-intensive pasteles weekly, and customers can buy them frozen to take home. Additionally, the traditional Puerto Rican holiday drink coquito (Puerto Rican eggnog on the menu) is made in-house, available by the glass.

By far the bestsellers, quesitos are made daily with both guava and cheese. Flans are available in traditional vanilla and cheese; coconut and pumpkin by special order. She also makes budin (bread pudding), tembleque (pudding), and cakes to order.     

Ortiz, who still lives on the south side not far from her cafe, runs the business with her husband, Juan, and three sons, Josué, Joel and Johniel. Johanna’s Cakes & Desserts Café  is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Specials are posted on her Facebook page.   

Moving to Milwaukee

I moved here (from Puerto Rico) November 25, 1982. Why do I remember that day? It was Thanksgiving day. I had a yellow dress. I was 7. When we got here, it was snowing. The cold shocked me. 

Her food roots

In my house, we’ve always been festive and always had a lot of food. We didn’t have a lot of money, so everything was home cooked.

Early influences

When I was 11 or 12, I was making rice. It was, you have to learn to cook. This is what we do. We have to get ready for life. I loved cooking, but I really loved baking. I went to South Division and started culinary class. We had a contest, I made a vanilla flan and won first place in the dessert round.

Life happens

School, kids, husband. Baking got shoved to the back. I had a daycare, and for every kid I made a birthday cake and cookies. I’d send a piece of cake home for the parents. They’d ask me to make cakes. That’s how it started. 

Making her move

I opened a Facebook page, named it Johanna’s Cakes. It exploded, way bigger than I ever thought. From a cake a month I went to making one cake a week then seven or eight cakes. I told my husband you need to fix the basement, I need space.

After six months, I said I need a location or I have to stop. Customers kept telling me to open a shop. After I heard it enough, (I thought) maybe we need to open a place.  

Finding her space

My friend from high school, she is my accountant. I told her we were looking for a location. She gets off the highway and drives by here every day, right down 11th to go to her office. She called me, “Don’t get scared, just go see it.” I came to look, said to my husband, “How am I going to buy that?” I need to see everything.

My husband can imagine stuff. We are total opposites. He said “This space is perfect!” I said draw it for me. He saw it before I did. They had eight proposals for this building, and from all of those they liked ours. 

Home is here

I don’t live far from here. I had a friend, she said “Are you crazy, why buy a building at 11th and Madison? Aren’t you scared?” My instant answer was “Scared of what?” I grew up here. ... This is home.

We have been so welcomed. We’re in the middle of a neighborhood. I have people coming from West Bend, South Milwaukee, Racine. They hear about us word of mouth. That’s heartwarming. 

Learning curve

We got a grant from the city, we got close to $100,000. They said they’d never worked so long on a project. It has been a learning process, but I’m glad I went through it all. I have learned so many things. 

Family and faith

It took nearly three years. I kept telling God, you let me know when you’re ready to open. I stopped telling people dates, I just started saying “soon.” I didn’t want anything else to go wrong. But this is all worth it, and having my son work with me is worth it. My sister is here. My niece.

Elusive ingredients

Finding ingredients can be an adventure. We use a lot of root vegetables here. I love Cermak. I sent my son to V. Marchese, the wholesale (for produce). The ingredients are hard. You ask for malanga, it has four different names. Thank you for Facetime! I have to see it to know that it is the right thing. 

Menu must

Arroz con gandules and pernil (rice with pigeon peas and pork). Everybody wants that.

Pernil is pork

When I was trying to do my menu, we did it first in Spanish. My niece, I said to her what is pernil? How do you translate? Google translated to pulled pork, but it is not pulled pork really. The flavor is different. We go through 160 pounds of pork per week. We use pernil (roast pork) for everything. 

Comfort craving

We make sancocho every Saturday and Sunday. It is root vegetable soup with pork meat and pig feet. It’s a family tradition. It is comfort. My favorite memory, we go to Puerto Rico, my uncle would take a pot and a big sack. He used to get rocks and put them around by the river, then some wood, we’d make the sancocho right there. We’d go swimming and he’d make that. It was the best. 

When we do our sancocho, we simmer all day Friday. It takes a long time. I won’t take it off the menu though, because there is one person who comes every Saturday, an older man who comes just for that. I love that.

Leave the labels

People label us a Puerto Rican bakery, but I don’t label myself a Puerto Rican bakery. We’re a bakery and café. We specialize in Puerto Rican food. Our breakfast menu, we have pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, oatmeal. What’s Puerto Rican about that? 

Worth the work

Sorrullos (fried corn fritters) are my favorite breakfast, and I eat them every day. I make those myself. They are a pain in the butt to make, with butter and cheese, but so good. 

Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.

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