Cuban chef opens second pastry shop location in Provo to record-breaking sales
Adalberto Diaz, the executive chef at Fillings and Emulsions, shows off a finished croissant at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Candace Finlinson, a baker and owner at Fillings and Emulsions, prepares pastries at the store on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Adalberto Diaz, the executive chef at Fillings and Emulsions, shows off finished desserts in the cooler at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Cassidy Jones, a front of house staff at Fillings and Emulsions, walks behind the serving counter at the store on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo. The store is located in downtown Provo.
EmmyLou Raff, of Saratoga Springs, points out the gelato she wants at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo. The store is located in downtown Provo.
Candace Finlinson, a baker and owner at Fillings and Emulsions, prepares pastries at the store on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Adalberto Diaz, the executive chef at Fillings and Emulsions, shows off a finished croissant at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Adalberto Diaz, the executive chef at Fillings and Emulsions, loads pastries into a warming case at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Adalberto Diaz, the executive chef at Fillings and Emulsions, gives directions to other staff members at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Adalberto Diaz, the executive chef at Fillings and Emulsions, carries a tray of pastries over to a warming case at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Abby Raff, a pastry chef at Fillings and Emulsions, adds gold luster dust to a tray of Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
A customer at Fillings and Emulsions points out what pastry she wants to purchase on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo.
Desserts are pictured in the serving case at Fillings and Emulsions on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo. The store is located in downtown Provo.
A croissant is pictured at Fillings and Emulsions store on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo. The store is located in downtown Provo.
The storefront of the new Fillings and Emulsions is pictured on Friday, March 22, 2019, in Provo. The store is located in downtown Provo.
Adalberto Diaz began learning to bake when he was 9 years old in Cuba. He loved baking and had a talent for it, so he later opened up his own bakery and pastry shop.
But in Cuba, a communist country, owning one’s own business was illegal. So in 2000, Diaz made a break for his life — fleeing to Mexico and crossing the U.S. border illegally, pleading for asylum. Eventually, it was granted, and eight years later he became a citizen of the United States.
Diaz, or “Chef Al,” ended up in Utah because the people who helped him escape Cuba lived here, he said. Since coming to America, he has worked as a chef for many different companies, and even worked as a culinary professor at Utah Valley University for a period of time, despite never having formal schooling himself. Instead, he’s learned from working with other chefs, eventually creating his own style. He opened his first dessert shop, or patisserie, Fillings and Emulsions, in 2013 in Salt Lake City, and the second location on Friday in Provo.
“When I was creating the idea of my business, I was thinking, the first thing is the name and how I’m going to call it,” Diaz said. “I was thinking about, what is it that I do food for, and the reality is, every time you share your good food that you make with people, you have memories, you have feelings, you have emotions that you share.”
Of course, Diaz said he didn’t want to be too literal — and said he later realized while baking that a lot of baking was made up of fillings and emulsions.
“It just came to mind, fillings and emulsions, and the combination of the actual product that we sell, together with what it makes you feel and experience,” Diaz said. “Our food’s supposed to take you places.”
One of those places, of course, is Cuba, a place customers can travel to when they taste Cuban meat pies, guava pasteles, or the flavors of mango, passion fruit, and dulce de leche, to name a few.
“Those flavors remind me of home and let me share a little bit of culture with my people,” Diaz said.
Diaz uses Cuban flavors and what some might refer to as French technique to make familiar-looking croissants and macarons, but Diaz insists Fillings and Emulsions is not a French patisserie — opting instead for the title of “Latin and eclectic patisserie.” The eclectic part, Diaz said, allows them to play around with whatever they want.
“Cuban pastries are French pastries,” Diaz said. “The French techniques are something that is universal.”
That technique is on display in the wide variety of pastries and desserts offered at Fillings and Emulsions — each one a work of art.
“In Cuba, we say ‘lo que no entra por los ojos, no entra por la boca.’ Meaning, if it doesn’t come through your eyes … it should not come through your mouth.” Diaz said. “Once you look at something and it’s beautiful, you want to eat it … for me it’s very important that everything that we make has a beautiful look to it and is recognizable.”
Diaz’s style is likely one of the factors that led to a call from the Food Network, inviting him to participate in season two of the “Holiday Baking Challenge” in 2015. Diaz was a finalist on the show, appearing in eight episodes. During his interview with the Daily Herald, a woman actually approached Diaz to ask for a picture with him — she and her husband were just passing through, from Arizona, and recognized Diaz from the show.
It’s not necessarily unusual for Diaz to be recognized. After the season aired, Diaz said, business exploded by 250 percent. He’s since been on two more competitive baking shows, with a fourth one set to premiere soon, although he didn’t share many more details. Of course, Diaz said it’s a nightmare running his business while filming episodes, and although he hasn’t won any of the competitions yet, he said the boost in business and the opportunity to do what he loves makes it worth it.
“I don’t go (to win), I go to bake! And I bake every time,” Diaz said. “I mean I would love to win, but I don’t go there for that reason, I go there to bake and show people what I do. And then I get the benefit of growing my business. What’s disappointing about that?”
And Diaz isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Over the next few months, he’ll be splitting his time between the Salt Lake City and Provo locations of Fillings and Emulsions with days that start at 3 a.m., and the bakery will open up a third location in the new Salt Lake City Airport terminal next year, something Diaz is over the moon about.
“From that moment on, F and E will become an international pastry shop because it’s an international airport,” Diaz said. “I mean who cares about New York and LA when … I can be in an international airport … our pastries can be anywhere in the world from that moment on.”
Not that Diaz’s journey hasn’t been without some bumps in the road — the night before the second bakery in Provo was set to open, the convection oven and the proofer broke. But it was Diaz’s training in Cuba that came to the rescue. All the baked goods displayed Friday were proofed in a proofer rigged by Diaz and his employees, and baked in a different, non-convection oven.
“I learned in Cuba that you just made things work,” Diaz said. “For me, it’s extremely important to remember where I come from and use that knowledge to make my work.”
For now, Diaz is just happy with the welcome the shop has already received, having broken its sales record from the opening of the first store in Salt Lake City. Diaz said he’s been hoping to open another location in Provo for roughly two years, as he views Provo Center Street as an upcoming food hub, and he’s had Utah County clients for years who yearned for a closer location to shop from.
“I’m just one more drop in that big vat of mingling food love and we just hope to add another dimension and give the people of Provo a well-deserved pastry and dessert that not only tastes good but it all looks really, really pretty.”
Provo Location:
326 West Center Street
801-607-1593
Salt Lake City Location:
1475 South Main Street
385-229-4228
Hours of operation:
Tuesday-Friday: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.