Meet the Denver chef behind Casa Bonita’s sopaipilla-scented candles

Honey is the first scent that tingles your senses after you light the candle and inhale. After that, it’s caramelized sugar, a wave of citrus and a touch of cinnamon, even clove. From there, your brain does the rest of the work, associating the flood of scents in the air with their intended target: your memories of warm, honey-covered sopaipillas at Casa Bonita.

The sopaipilla-scented candles are one of the quirky but creative additions to the new gift shop at the singular restaurant, but they aren’t some afterthought. Each one is hand-produced in Denver by Wooly Wax, a custom candle shop owned by Rachel Woolcott.

And Woolcott isn’t just any candle maker. She’s the longtime Denver and Boulder chef behind Aix, a French bistro that found its niche along 17th Avenue’s restaura...