Sweet Guadalupe

Don't read this if you're hungry -- or trying to do the low carb thing.

The Flores Bakery -- a small, sweet-smelling shop on Avenida del Yaqui, the main drag in Guadalupe -- is the place to go for authentic Mexican baked goods, anything from a pumpkin empanada to a cinnamon roll to a "three color cookie."

Get there early. The customers line up at 6 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the bakery's most popular days.

Victor Flores sold the business several years ago, but it still bears his name. He's a mover and shaker in Valley politics, a lobbyist for Salt River Project, but readily admits that running a bakery was the hardest work he ever did.

Empanadas -- turnovers baked with Mexican bread -- are a best seller. The most popular fillings are pumpkin, pineapple and apple. Other fillings: cherry, blueberry, peach, strawberry and cream cheese.

Pan dulce, a Mexican sweet bread in strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, is another popular item, says Anabel Franco, who's worked as the Flores Bakery's cashier for seven years.

Baker Elizabeth Caluillo has carried on the Flores tradition for a decade, making more than 300 "three color cookies," or "golleta bandera," a week. The bright pink, yellow and brown triangle-shaped treats have a simple recipe -- lard, sugar, baking powder, flavoring and color -- but they draw fans from all over.

Olga Valocchi drove all the way from Lakeside recently, with her brother and niece, to buy cookies for her daughter, who lives in the Midwest.

"It's all that she asks for when it's her birthday -- either that, or Estée Lauder," Valocchi says. "But for my daughter, she is worth it."

Valocchi buys her daughter 50 small gingerbread cookies, "cochitas," and says her daughter eats one every day for lunch, as long as they last.

The price is right. Cookies, croissants and cinnamon rolls sell for 95 cents. Most Mexican-style treats are 50 cents each.

The Flores Bakery sells pork carnitas and menudo (Mexican soup with beef gut tripe, shanks and hoofs) as well. But Franco admits the menudo doesn't move as quickly.

"The meat is not as popular as the treats," she says.