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Castellón: from busboy to chef

By DAWN HANKINS ~ dhankins@t-g.com
Posted 2/26/20

At age 17, Abel Alejandro Castellón learned pastry-making while working as a dish washer in an upscale restaurant in Newport Beach, California. Some 30-plus years later, he still kneads dough, but now to make such sweet treats as cinnamon rolls in his own kitchen at Daisy's Bakery & Café, 505 Madison St...

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Castellón: from busboy to chef

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At age 17, Abel Alejandro Castellón learned pastry-making while working as a dish washer in an upscale restaurant in Newport Beach, California. Some 30-plus years later, he still kneads dough, but now to make such sweet treats as cinnamon rolls in his own kitchen at Daisy's Bakery & Café, 505 Madison St.

Upon entering the shop, one will immediately notice a showcase of the baker's sweet confections on display. It's been his dream, he said, to offer birthday cakes, fruit-laden cheesecakes and almond tarts topped with fruit and delicately dusted with confectioner's sugar.

No, he doesn't have a favorite. Wedding cakes, he notes, are likely the most challenging, because of people's high expectations.

"That's the part I like," he said. "I enjoy special orders. I enjoy making the person happy."

Some pastries, he said, such as wedding and birthday cakes require a bit more advance notice. Still, it's some of his best work, he said.

Castellón gets really serious, as any seasoned pastry chef probably would, when talking about how it's his job to make sure his wedding cakes are delivered and set up to perfection.

Every family member pitches in with wedding events at Daisy's Bakery, as it's a family-owned business operated primarily by Castellón and his youngest daughter, Cynthia. His oldest daughter, Alexa, and wife, Ruth, run the salon next door.

"I would like to open another bakery for my daughter," said Castellón, who is now a grandfather.

Just how this California pastry chef and his family got all the way from the finest restaurants of southern California to the Pencil City is quite a moving story.

Moving his family here in 2005 would prove to be a valiant effort on his part. At the time, Castellón's daughters were about to enter junior high.

"I was worried about moving my daughters away from their school and friends," he said.

He feels blessed, however, to have made his way to Tennessee. He said his oldest has since thanked him for getting her off the West Coast.

"I believe it was a good decision," he said. "There's so many drugs ... bad things there."

That decision to relocate to Shelbyville came on the advice of a friend who had started working here in 2004, with Calsonic Manufacturing Corp., now Marelli.

Even as a police siren blared down Madison Street, Castellón told a reporter how his friend described Shelbyville as a tranquil place to live.

"He called me almost every day. He said, 'You guys need to come out here. It's quiet and cheap.'"

Castellón said he had plenty of offers for chef work in California. Even so, he decided to load up his belongings and leave California seeking a better quality of life.

The pastry chef initially worked for a Shelbyville manufacturer. He did not give up making cakes; he continued his pastry business out of his home.

While that was a satisfying venture, he longed for his own establishment, where he could get a little more creative. That happened just a few years ago.

The chef prides himself on doing professional work for his customers; he gets a lot of Facebook compliments for his bread selections.

And while beauty is generally in the eye of the beholder, particularly when it comes to desserts, the baker strives to provide customers original creations.

"I like the creative part," he said while showing off some of his latest creations.

Some baked goods are native to his Hispanic heritage, such as empanadas de queso. Other sweet treats, like Italian tiramisu, he learned to perfect during his years of working in fine restaurants.

After serving his guest a rich cup of coffee, the Shelbyville baker said he first became interested in becoming a pastry chef as a teen working in an upscale French restaurant in Orange County, California. His mentor was John DiFilippo, who had studied abroad and would go on to teach at the Culinary Institute of America.

"I watched him ... thought I could do that," he said.

DiFilippo welcomed him into his kitchen to learn. There was one stipulation for the protege's training; he had to work off duty, beginning at 5 a.m., which was three hours before his shift started. The eager baker took his boss up on the offer, working that early, and for free, for over a year.

When his mentor left the establishment for another, he recommended that Castellón take his place as chef. He would work as lead pastry chef for three years before Chef DeFilippo would contact him yet again.

"He called me. He said, 'I need you over here. You want to be my sous-chef?'"

Of course the rest is history.

One thing of which he's certainly proud is how he's earned his own way as a businessman by way of hard work. He's also pretty good, it seems, at seizing great opportunities as they presented themselves in life.

Working as that sous-chef would lead him into his culinary future as the head pastry chef for some of California's finest hotels. It was there Castellón learned to make such confections as layered coffee cake -- one perhaps made with a slightly more professional technique than the average home baker.

The Shelbyville baker is thankful for those, like DiFilippo, who've shared their culinary talents with him as the opportunity certainly changed the direction of his life.

"I've always had two jobs," he said as he filled a sample pastry box full of various tarts and cheesecakes for a friend. "I believe I've passed that [work ethic] on to my children."

To contact Daisy's Bakery & Café, call 931-492-4778.