Original El Nopal Bakery Memories

Hi, if you would like to order Hojarasca Cookies® for pick up, please call the museum's North and Clark Café at (312) 799-2122.

Very pleased to hear from the Chicago History Museum that the official El Nopal Bakery® Hojarasca Cookies® are becoming more popular week by week. The museum cafe in Lincoln Park is the only place in Chicago to offer authorized and licensed Hojarasca Cookies® faithful to my parents days.

This now would have been 50 years ago.

What a remarkable day. 40 years ago (now 50 years) my Mom told me my Dad saw a Pilsen building on 19th across from the bakery and the old Del Farm grocery on fire. My Dad ran out of the bakery and pounded and yelled to get people out of the building. That's all I knew about it.

Today is the first anniversary of my Mom's passing (2013) and I said a prayer and asked I get a sign I'm doing right with the bakery.

Today was very busy at the bakery with Valentine's Day (This was in 2014 when we ran it and it was still an authorized El Nopal Bakery.) I drove to Carolyn's and gave her a box of Hojarasca cookies and a cartoon I drew about her dog. Then I drove downtown to get tax records. Then went to the Auto Show for an hour.

When I got early to the bakery a few minutes ago (This was on February 14, 2014), I met a police officer customer who knew my Dad. He loved the Hojarasca Cookies and the pan. He is a police officer named Tony M. We talked about Pilsen and he said he lived across the bakery by the old Del Farm grocery store. But they had to move out because their building burned down. Someone woke them all up.

"That was my Dad!" I exclaimed who woke them all up. Tony never knew who woke them up. Tony said all 65 people lived. He shook my hand again and said he was glad to meet my Father's son.

This is a remarkable day.

My dad's anniversary card to my mom.

The Chicago History Museum is now my favorite museum. They are all kind, respectful, and friendly people. They run their restaurant café with high standards. I am so impressed.

I believe the reason my Parent's bread was so good is because they were kind and decent people. Bread quality reflects the owner qualities.

I'm very happy the North and Clark Café Hojarasca Cookies are delicious.

Have a Happy 4th of July.
On special occasions my dad would put the American flag and Mexican flag on the flag poles. Picture is circa 1974. (There is currently no authorized El Nopal Bakery® at that location.)

Monica and her brother have been loyal El Nopal Bakery customers since childhood. Very happy they love the museum café Hojarascas®

This is the side of the Chicago History Museum and under the colorful windows is their North and Clark Café with the Hojarasca® Cookies.

It was the first time Gus and Manuel had been at the museum and they were fascinated by the exhibits. I like the Riverview section, the area where you can walk on the Chicago Bulls floor and sit in Wrigley Field seats, Frank Lloyd Wright furniture, the 1900s trolley and the Diorama room plus much more!

The Museum also published in Spanish:

Estamos encantados de ofrecer las galletas Hojarasca® al público del Museo, con la receta original creada por Francisco y Celia Bonilla, fundadores de El Nopal Bakery®. Las galletas eran un elemento esencial de la panadería, una institución Chicagoense que abrió el 1 de enero de 1954 y operó durante más de 60 años en Pilsen y más tarde en un segundo local en la Villita. El hijo de los Bonilla, Frank, ayudó a dirigir la panadería hasta que se retiró en 2015.

Para honrar a sus padres, Frank comenzó a escribir su historia, y compartió la receta con CHM para que su legado pudiera continuar. Prueba estas deliciosas galletas en nuestro North & Clark Café hoy mismo, y aprende más sobre el legado de El Nopal y este sabor de la historia de Chicago en nuestra última entrada del blog:

https://www.chicagohistory.org/el-nopal-hojarasca-cookies/

Frank Rico who took the picture of our baker Manuel on the poster in 2010, I gave him freshly baked six cookies from the museum cafe, replied:

"Oh, I forgot to let you know how perfectly delicious they were. Best Hojarascas I've ever had. Ana liked them too. 👍🏽🤤"

GOOD NEWS! It's been in works for a long time and I'm happy to say the Chicago History Museum in Lincoln Park will have official and authorized El Nopal Bakery ® Hojarasca® Cookies! Available now.

Our retired master baker taught the museum's North and Clark cafe how to bake the Hojarasca Cookie based on my father's original recipe. It is so good I realized I had not had the Hojarasca cookie in 9 years.

In 2025 the museum will have an exhibit about the Mexican community in Chicago called Aqui en Chicago. The museum liked my Original El Nopal Bakery Memories page as it showed the development of the Mexican community in Chicago.

Here is an article the museum wrote about our history:

Hojarasca® Cookies: A Chicago Legend Reborn - Chicago History Museum We are proud to announce that Hojarasca® Cookies will be available in the Museum’s North & Clark Café, featuring the original recipe created by Francisco and Celia Bonilla, founders of … Learn More

Happy Father's Day Dad.

In 1945 my mom Celia defended a black man's rights to sit down in a restaurant in the deep south.
Here is a photo of the restaurant section of the San Antonio, Texas Jalisco Bakery where my Mom Celia Bonilla was the manager between 1945 and 1949. When my mom became elderly she began to reminisce so I used my camera phone to video record her stories. Around 1945 a white boss and his black employee ate at the Jalisco restaurant but separately. The boss ate sitting down at the counter and the black man ate standing up with his plate on the soda refrigerator.

My Mom was the manager and said to him “You come and sit down. You have a right. Why don’t you sit down?”

“Miss, I’m ok. I don’t want to provoke. Well…you know how things are.”

“Not here.” said my Mom.

She said “Come and sit down. You come sit with me, I’m the boss (To put it in context she means she has the authority to speak for the restaurant.) It’s not right to eat standing up.”

Vicente the owner said kindly in Spanish it was ok to sit down.

His white boss looked over at her and my Mom said “I invited him.”
My Mom thinks his boss always took his dessert so she gave the black employee at no charge his dessert and coffee.

His white boss tapped her on the shoulder “You broke the rules.” My Mom scolded him back.

At Christmas the black worker sent her a Christmas card that said “For being a nice lady” and later he would bring his wife to the restaurant.

Happy mother's day.

The champagne bottle reminded me of another memory I had completely forgotten from the 1974 inauguration. My parents had a large metal fountain on a table but instead of water it was champagne and guests put their glass under one of the fountains. I was 14, I don't remember if I drank any champagne but I must have as I would have wanted to try the fountain. Here's a picture of my parents with the fountain.

This is the champagne we served at the El Nopal Bakery® Inauguration in 1974.

Found my 1975 Quigley South yearbook and a photo where I participated in our teacher's Hispanic club.

U.B.S. stood for United Black Seminarians.

Today was a wonderful day for original El Nopal Bakery and I will always remember it. I will write about it soon.

How Original El Nopal Bakery® looked when we opened in 1974.

Our bakers at our Pilsen Bakery on Blue Island Avenue late 1970s to early 1980s. Standing in front of our wonderful Peterson oven. When we closed I took the Peterson nameplates home.

Left to right Ubaldo, Mariano, my Dad Francisco, Rogelio, Ernesto, Antonio, Jose Luis?, and Lupe.
God bless them all.

Fiesta del Sol when it was on Blue Island Avenue in front of El Nopal. I'm guessing this is mid-1970s.

Pilsen Memories Vanished Chicagoland

1974 26th Street you can see the grocery store El principal before it became La Justicia. To the left of the bakery is the former tropical optical store.

On the next block is the Villareal real estate that is now the current tropical optical.

Vanished Chicagoland

Me and my parents at St Jude Church April 1965.