Learn about their upcoming after-hours sweets-and-spirits program
Jason and Annie Vieira opened Annie Mae’s Bakeshop at the corner of Cannon and St. Philip streets this spring, serving chicken salad sandwiches (right) and a plethora of sweet treats.
CM: Tell us how you met.
AV: At a dinner party in New York City. Jason was working for James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Richard Leach and brought an impressive dessert they’d titled “Apple Pie in a Box.” It was a white chocolate box that, when cracked, showcased cooked apples, cinnamon mascarpone mousse, and layers of shattered crust. A friendly argument ensued in which I told him, “It’s good but it’s not how we do pie in the South. Ours is simpler and better.”
CM: How did you end up in NYC?
JV: In the ’70s, my parents immigrated from Portugal to Massachusetts. At 15, I started working for a Portuguese bakery there, then attended the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating, I went to New York and worked at Jean-Georges’s ABC Kitchen.
AV: I’m from Louisiana, went to NYC to study at the Parsons School of Design, and lived there for six years, also working for ABC Kitchen.
CM: What brought you to Charleston?
AV: We first visited in 2016 and fell in love. We didn’t want to “do winters” anymore. Charleston—being East Coast, Southern, a hospitality town, and warm—seemed like a good fit!
CM: What were your first jobs here?
AV: Jason worked for Basic Kitchen, and I was the GM at the Obstinate Daughter for the last six years. It’s one of the best teams I’ve worked with in my career. My boss, Doug Godley, has been a great mentor and helped us find our bakery.
CM: How did Annie Mae’s come about?
AV: Three years ago, we founded our bread business in a commissary kitchen with the hope that it would lead to a brick and mortar. We bake and deliver fresh milk bread daily. We now have 35 restaurant accounts, including Husk and 167 Raw. Because we were able to operate a profitable business, we were able to secure a loan to open our bakeshop.
CM: Describe its vibe.
AV: The interior, with its antique wallpaper and wood cabinetry, captures the charm of our circa-1910 cottage downtown. We chose two cozy shades of pink for the ceiling and walls. The lighting and wall decor are vintage, including Murano glass chandeliers, Majolica plateware, botanical prints, copper baking molds, and even my great-grandmother’s tea set.
CM: Speaking of tea, tell us about your beverages.
AV: Our coffee program is helmed by Caroline Carey, who’s an incredibly talented barista. With our pastry department, we create dessert-driven coffee drinks that balance sweetness and distinct flavors. Our best sellers are the vanilla date latte and banana toffee latte. We hand blend our teas and sell tins all over the country.
CM: We hear you plan to open at night as a dessert bar.
AV: Yes, in the coming months. Guests will be able to enjoy wine, beer, espresso martinis, and pies and cakes by the slice, as well as savory snacks like country ham biscuits.
CM: What’s life like outside of baking?
AV: We love cooking at home, learning more about wine, traveling, tending to our dachshunds, lazy afternoons reading at the Charleston Library Society, and hanging out on Folly Beach. We plan to take surf lessons together this summer.
