Jubelt's Bakery & Restaurant

Andrew Jubelt emigrated from Saxony in 1908, apprenticed in a Chicago bakery, and opened his own shop in Litchfield in 1922 with savings and a small loan from the German Lutheran congregation he attended. When Route 66 was routed through Litchfield in 1926 and brought a steady stream of overnight travelers, Andrew began baking extra loaves to sell to the new motor courts and tourist cabins along the highway. The bakery survived the Depression by trading bread for eggs, flour, and labor with surrounding farms, and Andrew's son Carl took over the business in 1947, moving it to the current Old Route 66 building the following year.

Carl ran the bakery through the postwar boom, when Litchfield's Route 66 traffic peaked and Jubelt's was supplying baked goods to every cafe and motel on the highway between Springfield and Edwardsville. He also invented the bakery's most famous product, the maple long john, in 1956 - a yeasted finger pastry filled with vanilla cream and topped with maple icing. Carl's son Bill took over in 1981, six years after the bypass of Litchfield by Interstate 55 had cut the highway traffic to a trickle. Bill kept the bakery alive by leaning into the local community trade, selling to grocers, and supplying wedding and birthday cakes for a 50-mile radius.

Mike Jubelt, the current owner, took over in 2008 and has expanded the wholesale business while keeping the front-of-house exactly as it was. Mike has added a small website, an online ordering system for cakes and large orders, and a modest social media presence, but resists every suggestion to expand the menu or open a second location. The 2022 centennial of Jubelt's drew a citywide celebration that included a parade down Old Route 66, a free doughnut giveaway, and a proclamation from the Illinois governor. The bakery is the second-oldest continuously operating business on Illinois Route 66, after the Ariston.

The cinnamon roll is the consensus answer to 'what should I get,' a glazed, pull-apart spiral the diameter of a salad plate that arrives warm if you come in before 9am. The maple long john - Carl Jubelt's 1956 invention - is the second-most-ordered item, especially among returning Route 66 travelers who first tasted it as children. The cake doughnut, sold by the dozen, is unchanged since 1922 and is the right answer if you are taking pastries on the road for the day. Fritters, eclairs, bear claws, and cream-filled long johns round out the case.

From the bread shelf, the white sandwich loaf is the classic, but the rye and the pumpernickel both have followings of their own. The rye in particular - heavy, dark, and seeded with caraway - is the same recipe Andrew Jubelt brought from Saxony. Wedding cakes, decorated birthday cakes, and special-order pies are baked to order with at least 48 hours notice; they are one of the bakery's signature products and a quiet driver of the business. Around the major holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter - the bakery accepts pie orders weeks in advance and routinely sells out.

From the lunch counter, the ham-and-cheese on house white is the simplest and best option, with the ham sliced thin and the cheese a sharp Wisconsin cheddar. The daily soup rotates - chicken-and-noodle on Monday, vegetable beef on Tuesday, chili on Wednesday - and is the lunch crowd's choice on a cold day. Friday brings a fish sandwich, breaded and fried, on a Jubelt's bun with lettuce and tartar sauce. Coffee is endless and the homemade root beer, made on-site, comes in a frosted mug and is poured by the gallon on summer Saturdays.

Jubelt's opens at 5:30am Monday through Saturday and 6am on Sunday, which makes it the ideal first stop of a Route 66 driving day. Arrive at opening and you will catch the bakery at its absolute peak - everything warm, the case full, the coffee fresh. By 9am on weekends the popular items begin to sell out, and by 11am the case has been picked clean of the showstoppers. Mike Jubelt is usually in the back kitchen but comes out to the counter throughout the morning; if you want to talk to him, mid-morning is the best time.

Seating in the lunch room is first-come, first-served. Twelve tables and a short counter mean that on a Saturday morning at 8am you may wait briefly for a seat, but most people get their pastries to-go and eat in their cars or out on the small front patio. Cash and cards are accepted, though the bakery prefers cash for small purchases. Parking is on the street in front of the building and in a small lot behind. Route 66 motorcyclists and tour buses frequently stop at Jubelt's - the bakery has been a designated Route 66 Illinois passport stop since 2007, with a stamp at the front counter.

Practical tips: buy more than you think you need, because nothing keeps as well as it tastes fresh. The cake doughnuts are a particular favorite of motorcycle tour groups because they travel well in saddlebags. If you have a refrigerator or cooler in your vehicle, the cream-filled pastries will keep for a day. Bread freezes beautifully if wrapped tight. The bakery does not open on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve afternoon, Christmas Day, or New Year's Day; otherwise it is open year-round.