Black Magnolia Serves Up Comfort, With a Twist 

Don’t ask me what my favorite food is.

A favorite color? A favorite song? Those are tough. But food? That’s a whole other level. There’s so much good food in this world, and I love it all so much. 

But food holds memories, and my favorites cluster around the holidays.

In my childhood, holidays heralded no school, slowing down, better moods, and my mother’s cinnamon rolls. They varied from year to year—sometimes she made them with whole wheat flour, or mixed yogurt into the dough for a tangy flavor. I remember how the brown sugar caramelized and crunched on the bottom. They weren’t complete without raisins. Controversial, sure, but what are you gonna do, sue me? 

Last summer, I was still working at Triad City Beat and living in Winston-Salem. I ate my first cinnamon roll from Black Magnolia Southern Patisserie in Greensboro right before I got a job offer that would’ve taken me a couple of states south.

Cinnamon rolls are the thing I try at least once, anywhere. Black Magnolias had chewiness and warmth, hints of cinnamon all up in it from the dough to that buttery smooth icing. I dare say it was perfect. 

Over the next week or so, I see-sawed between staying because I still had so much to write about here and leaving because it was a good opportunity. I’m pretty sure that the prospect of losing access to these cinnamon rolls was what tipped the scales, and I’m so glad. I’m still in Greensboro at a new gig, and trying my hand at this week’s food column. As writers, we usually have a plan about what we’re going to write. I walked into Black Magnolia, searching for comfort with a plan to write about their classic cinnamon rolls.

But when I stepped into owner Venée Pawlowski’s kitchen and saw her slathering lemon curd onto dough, I was a little kid again. My plans changed.

I was a child famous for slipping away from our table when we would go out to eat, begging strangers for the lemon slivers garnishing their water glasses. Apparently I could be very persuasive. To this day, I will tear the citrus flesh from its rind with my teeth without a pucker.

Pawlowski started the business out of her home during the pandemic. Now, the brick-and-mortar storefront at Revolution Mill is going into its third year. Her earliest memories of baking are with her grandmother, a pastry chef. That was their thing, she said. To her, baking is an art form.

She furls the dough into a log, cutting pinwheels.

“I always keep creating to try to outdo what I did,” Pawlowski said.

A timer goes off while she’s prepping the rolls, and she strides over to the oven, tapping a cake to ask if it’s done.

While Pawlowski baked, the door swung open and chimed with each arriving patron. She knows many of her customers by name. Greensboro is a special place, she said. 

“The sense of community is unmatched here.”

Pawlowski’s lemony rendering of the classic spirals is complemented by a blueberry compote. She stood over them while they cooled, adding a final shaving of zest to the soft dough.

This recipe and its variations are the result of generations of testing. It has a history and room to grow in the future.

“It means something, it’s not just sweet,” she said.

My new life in Greensboro was an unexpected twist, sweet yet sharp.

Pawlowski’s classic cinnamon rolls will always be in the display case. But while you’re there, maybe try something new, too.

Gale is a Report for America Corps member. Before joining The Assembly, she spent two years covering local government and community issues in Greensboro and Winston-Salem for Triad City Beat. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from North Carolina State University.

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