DECEMBER 14 • 2023 | 39
J
N

NOSH
DINING AROUND THE D

A

fter the doors 
closed July 2 at Star 
Bakery on Coolidge 
Highway in Oak Park, 
customers thought they’d 
had their last opportunity 
to taste Star’s 
popular challah, 
seven-layer 
cake and other 
scrumptious 
baked goods.
The public, 
including me, 
didn’t know 
the whole story 
until now: that the venerable 
bakery, founded in Detroit in 
1915, kept on going! 
Owners Dan Buckfire and 
David Schechter continued to 
employ the same crew to bake 
bread starting at 4 p.m. under 
the direction of Jamal Zahra, 
the resident distributor. 
As background, attorney 
Buckfire and businessman 
Schechter, both retirees, 
purchased Star Bakery in 

July 2021 and also West 
Bloomfield-based Diamond 
Bakery later in November. 
Stacy Fox is a third partner. 
Buckfire, Star’s managing 
partner, admitted to being 
pleasantly surprised at how 
“the community turned 
out in force to support us” 
when they heard of the 
bakery’s imminent closing 
last summer. He said he and 
Schechter thought things 
over — “can we have a viable 
business?” — and decided, 
“We’re giving it a shot. We’re 
going to try again.” 
It took them a little over 
four months to get the bakery 
reopened for retail business 
on Nov. 16, selling only bread 
and bagels at first. 
Zahra’s first association 
with Star Bakery was in 
1986. “I made deliveries 
for the Moskowitzes,” he 
said, referring to previous 
owner Ben Moskowitz and 
later, his daughter, Esther 

Moskowitz. As the bakery’s 
bread distributor, Zahra 
places Star products at 
Diamond Bakery and Jewish 
deli-style restaurants. Rye 
bread is always the biggest 
seller because of its use for 
sandwiches. Zahra is also 
responsible for managing the 
production of Star’s baked 
goods. 
If there’s a particular kind 
of bread that a customer 
wants, “it can be ordered 
ahead of time,” Buckfire 
said. “We can set aside these 
special orders for customers 
so that they will not come 
away from the store without 
getting exactly what they like.”
Recently, a Jewish woman 
I know from Huntington 
Woods told the day’s cashier 
most happily that this was 
her first return visit to the 
reopened Star Bakery. The 
cashier enticed her with a 
sample of Date Fingers, a 
flavorful new cookie recipe 

for Star Bakery that came 
from Zahra’s wife, Sue.
The slightly yellow-tinged 
cookies include cardamom, 
ginger and, of course, dates. 
Their deliciousness inspired 
the customer to buy a 
quantity for home in both 
the plain and powdered sugar 
varieties. 
Other refrigerated display 
cases at Star contained 
traditional favorites found in 
Ashkenazi Jewish bakeries. I 
noticed an array that included 
black-and-white, sprinkle 
and Stacy’s chocolate chip 
cookies, apple Danishes, 
babkas, rugelach, kichel, 
hamantaschen, cinnamon and 
chocolate horn pastries and 
various coffee cakes. Trays of 
baked goods may be ordered, 
including online.
With delights such as 
these, the smiles are back at 
Star Bakery, where Buckfire 
said, “Our goal is to serve the 
community.” 

Star Bakery Reopens

Esther 
Allweiss 
Ingber 
Contributing 
Writer

Star Bakery 

26031 Coolidge Highway 
Oak Park, MI 48237 
Phone: (248) 541-9450 
Social media: 
thestarbakery.com 
and a Facebook page 
Bakery hours: 8 a.m.-3 
p.m. Tuesday-Sunday

The Star 
Bakery

EMILY ELCONEN

