June 18, 2021

It’s a sure sign the pandemic has improved: Queen City Bakery is back to dine-in seating.

“It’s the true return to normalcy,” co-owner Mitch Jackson said.

The downtown bakery has been limited to to-go orders so long “I couldn’t even remember where one of the tables went,” he said.

But he had a plan for reopening: Wait until the number of COVID-19 tests returning positive dropped below 5 percent. That has happened now for two consecutive weeks, so he said he felt ready to safely reopen.

Returning customers also will start discovering some new menu items

“A lot of the new stuff they’ve been working on we will now roll out, especially for summer,” Jackson said.

New additions Thursday morning included mango cheesecake, bagel bombs with strawberry cream cheese and ricotta tea cake with chocolate chips.

Lunch will stay mostly the same for now, though there likely will be some savory new additions coming too, Jackson said.

“I think people will be surprised,” he said, adding they’re still testing some items and working on at least a half-dozen at any given time.

“We don’t put anything out until it’s solid solid.”

Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.