Downtown Montgomery patisserie and coffee shop, Atrevete Confections, earns state recognition

Village of Montgomery officials recognized a downtown patisserie and coffee shop this week for being honored by the State of Illinois.

Atrevete Confections, 216 North River Street, is one of 30 Illinois small businesses named to the 2022 Illinois Makers class by the Illinois Office of Tourism.

The state agency annually honors a select group of small businesses that create one-of-a-kind products that contribute to making Illinois a great place to live and explore.

The shop features French pastries and confections made from scratch.

During a Village Board meeting Monday evening, Jan. 23, Village President Matt Brolley and Cort Carlson, executive director of the Aurora Area Convention and Tourism Bureau, presented Jacqueline Mejia, a French-trained pastry chef and Altrevete Confections owner, with a plaque on behalf of the state honoring her business.

“You are so deserving of this award, from the decadent pastries to the hand-crafted coffee and tea drinks, pies, crepes and my wife’s favorite, the raspberry pistachio croissants. We had them this weekend and she said please don’t ever change the recipe on them,” Brolley told Mejia.

Brolley said he was “beyond proud” that Mejia chose to locate her shop in the village.

“Not only are you Montgomery-made, but you are also, officially, an ‘Illinois Maker,’” Brolley told Mejia, adding, “Just a limited number of small businesses receive this award each year and only five have received this distinction in our area.”

Brolley said the shop, located at the southwest corner of North River and Mill streets one block west of the Fox River, serves as both a “highlight and tourist attraction, right here in the Montgomery.”

As part of being named an Illinois Maker, Altrevete Confections is featured on the EnjoyIllinois.com website.

According to the website, it was Mejia’s “lifelong dream of opening her own confectionery that led her to pursue an education at the French Pastry School of Kennedy King College in Chicago, followed by an apprenticeship with Chris Hammer, of “Top Chef: Just Desserts” fame, at his destination patisserie in Sioux Falls. Mejia struck out on her own with a popular food truck that eventually led her to open a storefront and scratch kitchen, where she serves up magnificent croissants, gateaux, cheesecakes, and signature confections to loyal patrons.”