Thanksgiving is just a week away, putting the holiday season in full swing, which makes this the perfect time to give a big shout out for one of our latest Roost business sponsors:
 
JaCiva’s Bakery and Chocolatier
 
Warning: reading this Know Your Neighborhood Business email may create food cravings and nostalgic feelings for your own trips as a little kid to the local bakery.
 
If you already know Iva and Jack Elmer and some of their extended family, then I’m not telling you anything new when I say there’s a whole lot of love and talent that goes into every cookie, cake and fancy chocolate confection.  Jack’s Swiss background and years of training bring a noticeable European flair to everything JaCivas does.
 
If you’ve seen or tasted their treats in Zupans and Fred Meyers and several other places around town but you have yet to go into their bakery and candy shop on 4733 SE Hawthorne – treat your kids and the kid in you real soon to their warm welcome and a few great surprises.
 
When I sat down with Iva the other day, after she had just put the finishing touches on a captivating holiday window display, I immediately started searching for the things that even those of us that already know her well would be delighted to find out.  Sure enough I found a few gems:
 
2000 amazing pumpkin pies (along with apple and berry pies too) will come out of their ovens in time for Thanksgiving.  Her two secret ingredients: aged pumpkin pie filling and fresh local spices.  2000 pies may seem like a lot but you need to call ahead and reserve one or they will all be gone before you get there.
 
They already have a big following for their butter flake rolls (no extra butter or baking needed) and recently got the permission to sell to the public the Burlie Swiss dinner rolls that they had been making exclusively for a local high-end restaurant.  These are the kind that you finish baking in your own oven on Thanksgiving (or any other day you want to fill your house with that great just baked smell).  They take phone orders for the rolls and pies and their famous torts for all the major holidays so you are sure yours will be waiting for you when come in. 
 
What always surprises me when I go into JaCiva’s (and, happily, I’ve gotten to go a lot lately to set up their sponsorship) is the lengths they will go to to create chocolate confections that you can’t get anywhere else.  I think I could go in every week for the year and discover something new.   But even a chocoholic like me may not have caught on to the most novel thing they do:  Chocolate piñatas.  
 
Picture a chocolate turkey (or snow man) large enough to be the centerpiece of your holiday table that, when broken open, is a cornucopia of “seasonally appropriate” treasures.
 
Willy Wonka would be jealous of the list of turkey piñata stuffers that Iva described to me: Truffles, caramels, apple pie and pumpkin pie flavored jelly bellies, chocolate wish bones and even candy versions of peas and carrots.  At $65 the whole thing costs more than the roasted turkey itself but I’m sure it will be remembered much longer.  If extravagant chocolate centerpieces are not what you had in mind, their 15 different sizes of chocolate Santas will speak to any budget (and taste a whole lot better than the dime store versions that have been shipped across the planet in a cargo box.)
 
And now, two of the best kept secrets in this part of town . . . 
 
#1 JaCiva’s After Dark Dessert House:  JaCivas isn’t just a bakery and candy shop.  On Friday and Saturday nights 5-10 p.m. they are also one of the most romantic places to go on a little mini date (when you’ve finally gotten a night off from parenting) for their After Dark Dessert House.  Kids are welcome too (and loved up well by the staff) but the decadent desserts and extra dark hot cocoa, served in a room that could transport you back to a little corner of Europe if you allow it too, are really meant for us. 
 
#2 New spot for holiday parties: JaCiva’s up until as recently as last week had the After Dark Dessert House also open on Thursdays and have just decided to open on Thursdays only for reserved parties of 10 or more.  What this means for us is that we can have first dibs at reserving the space for any company parties, birthday parties or holiday parties for no more than the cost of ordering the great desserts and drinks.  Parties need to start by 5 or 6 so their staff doesn’t have to close up and then open up again.  If you are interested, let Iva or her wonderful daughters and granddaughters who run the shop know which Thursday you have in mind.
 
It’s a good thing each of our sponsors get featured every quarter because there is so much more that can be said (and so many more things for me to sample to, you know, educate myself on your behalf.)  
 
If you call JaCivas for pies, rolls or cakes, stroll in for the After Dark Dessert House on a Friday or Saturday night, bring the kids for an afternoon treat or sneak in without them to indulge your own sweet tooth, be sure to say hi to Iva and Jack and thank them for supporting the Roost.  
 
JaCiva’s Bakery and Chocolatier

 4733 SE Hawthorne Ave, Portland, OR 97215 | (503) 234- 8115