There's a mom-and-pop breakfast and lunch cafe in Celina serving some drive-worthy cinnamon rolls: Called The Wick, it's in a historic home at 107 S. Colorado St., in a space that was previously Swirls Bakery.
The Wick is owned by Cleve and Kim Wickliffe — hence the name — who also owned Swirls. The two have a sweet story: They dated in high school, then reunited 27 later, and decided to pursue their culinary and business dreams together.
Cleve is a former optician but spent most of his life in the kitchen baking and trying out new recipes. He oversees the kitchen. Kim, a former manager and marketer for stores like Walmart and Dollar General, handles the front of the house.
The spark that lit the business was a bad cinnamon roll from Cinnabon. Cleve vowed he could make a better one. They opened Swirls Bakery in 2020, then expanded and rebranded in 2024.
"We had always wanted to do a restaurant," Kim says. "We thought we'd get our feet wet with the bakery, and were doing menu development all along until it was time to go beyond what we were doing at Swirls."
They're open for breakfast and lunch with a menu of soups, salads, plump breakfast tacos, and sandwiches. Everything is made fresh daily, even including the breads for the sandwiches, some in gluten-free varieties.
Breakfast tacos at The Wick are nice and plump.The Wick
Standouts include:
- avocado toast
- roast beef sandwich on pretzel bread
- tomato soup, which can be ordered solo for $10 or with a half sandwich for $14
- chili starring Wagyu beef with a 3-bean combo, served with a cornbread muffin, also made in-house
- focaccia pizza with roasted vegetables and bacon on focaccia bread, also made in-house
Prices range from $10 to $16.
One pleasant surprise about The Wick is that they serve cocktails: margarita, paloma, blackberry basil smash with choice of whiskey or vodka, and martinis in variations such as the popular espresso martini, the peppermint espresso martini, or the chocolate-covered strawberry martini that Kim says is like dessert in a cup.
There is also coffee; they get their beans from Fourteen Eighteen Coffee Roasters in McKinney, who make them a custom-made blend with notes of vanilla, chocolate, and citrus.
And of course the cinnamon rolls that are Cleve's signature — fluffy and moist, sometimes topped with pecans or else cookies & cream.
"Lots of bakery items start as the base to our sandwiches or entrees," Kim says. "We make French toast from our cinnamon rolls, too. The restaurant menu was built on that."
