Trained at Le Cordon Bleu London with a foundation in classical French pastry technique, Azucar's chef-owner opened the Newport Avenue patisserie in 2008 as San Diego's only Cuban-style bakery, fusing a Miami-Cuban heritage with European baking training. The Cuban coffee program runs on Gavina Coffee Company's Old Havana Roast espresso and a Colombian-Double-French house blend, sourced from a family roaster founded in Cuba in 1870 — a coffee-forward bakery format that anchors a Newport breakfast cluster alongside espresso-focused neighbor Cafe Bella - Newport Ave a few blocks east. Signature pastry builds include guava-cheese pastelitos in all-butter puff pastry, ham croquetas, papas rellenas, and rotating scones in raspberry passion fruit, blueberry coconut, and peach champagne flavors. The hot sandwich line runs Cubano, Havana, Berto, and Espana builds alongside flan de queso, Divina (white chocolate cake with passion-fruit curd and toasted vanilla-bean meringue), and key lime tart on an almond graham cracker crust. The morning trade overlaps with sit-down brunch alternatives a few blocks south at Little Lion Cafe, with Azucar's grab-and-go counter format positioned differently from Lion's full plated service. The most production-heavy program is the made-to-order wedding-cake business, with ten-inch builds and multi-tier formats requiring days of advance hand-decoration work.