Photos by Jane Kortright
Once upon a time on Lazarette Street in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, two chefs fell in love.
Several moves and two decades later, those two chefs — Kyrie Juchemich and John Presto — landed in Grovetown, Ga., opening a bakery that showcases all their years of culinary experience.
Lazarette St. Bakeshop is a European-style bakery that specializes in sweet and savory croissants and Danish pastries made from laminated dough — whisper-thin flaky layers created by carefully folding the dough with lots of butter — along with cookies, scones, breakfast sandwiches and sourdough breads (weekends only).
My biggest thing is nostalgia … reminding people of home, wherever that is.
— Kyrie Juchemich
In addition to the bakery’s European creations, the couple also make pastries with influences from their time living in Saudi Arabia, like guava cream cheese pastries to their version of a simit, which is like a bagel. Lazarette’s simit is baked in a long oval shape, dusted with everything bagel seasoning and filled with cream cheese. And their sticky buns, including a maple croissant roll with its heavenly caramel-scented icing, harken to the South.
Every weekday morning, Juchemich and her staff start baking at 2 a.m. — and sometimes at 8 p.m. the night before for special orders — while Presto, who works at Fort Gordon as a budget analyst, bakes on the weekends.
Some of those specials include the bakery’s holiday-themed weekends, from December’s Christmas in Bavaria to Islamic-style pastries during Eid celebrations. “Every month, we also offer Filipino specials,” says Juchemich, adding that Presto is Filipino. “I know it seems like all over the place, but we touch on everything that we personally have experienced.”
This summer’s specials included a banana pudding cookie topped with a vanilla wafer and a s’mores cookie, to which a square of Hershey’s chocolate is smooshed into a gooey caramelized marshmallow top. An oatmeal cream pie was also on the menu — and will be reimagined this fall with a pumpkin spice flavor.
“My biggest thing is nostalgia … reminding people of home, wherever that is,” says Juchemich.
For hours, visit lazarettestbakeshop.com.
As seen in the October 2026 issue of Augusta magazine.
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