Winners For

Best Bakery

There is something decidedly nostalgic about the high-end Pop-Tarts, ham and cheese bostocks, and other treats whipped up by founder Gillian Sara Shaw and baker Max Newman. Here you won't find desserts brimming over with complexity, as in so many other San Francisco bakeries. Instead, you'll discover idealized classics: a lemon meringue pie that...

"Una croquetica, por favor. And while you're at it, mami, get me four of those cream-cheese-stuffed pastelitos de queso, some meaty chicharrones, five of those killer beef empanadas, a freshly squeezed orange juice, and three café con leches. No, it's all right, I'll wait. I know you're busy. I'll just stand here next to abuelo and contemplate w...

It's some feat for a pastry chef to actually out-bake herself, as Zoe Nathan has possibly done at Milo & Olive. More so as she did it not by upping the chocolate ganache ante — as one might expect from the seasoned pastry chef — but by fully embracing the bread baker's domain. Sure, Nathan turned out a handful of great breads at Huckleberry, but...

Dallas doesn't exactly have a reputation as a baking town. A sea of sandwich shops selling hoagies on flaccid rolls, a dearth of bagels and a general lack of Old World bakeries have cast the city in a negative baking light. The folks at Empire Baking Company are trying to change that image, though, crusty baguette by crusty baguette. Forget the ...

It doesn't get more old school in Arizona than Sun City. Maybe that's why Hugh and Pat McGurgan, who owned a bakery in Chester, New York, for over 10 years, opened their shop on the border of Glendale and Sun City in 2000. Since then, folks from all over the state have made the journey to this family-owned tradition for an amazing assortment of ...

Tammie Coe is justifiably famous for her whimsical, colorful, fondant-wrapped cakes and Ooey Gooey cupcakes, which stick to the roof of your mouth in a good way. But there's so much more this creative pastry chef and her bread-maestro husband MJ turn out that's equally worthy of attention. How about a variety of chewy cookies roughly the size of...

At first blush, tidy Europa looks like any other American bakery, offering up doughnuts, muffins, almond horns, and cute little butterfly-shaped cookies iced in bright colors. But take a closer gander and you'll notice Polish specialties you won't find anywhere else in town: the sugar-glazed, dome-like doughnuts called paczki, a confectioner's s...

You get two sugar hits in one at this 19-year-old classic bakery and its tandem bakery/chocolate shop, the first run by Karl Boerner, the second by his daughter Christine. Both of them were trained in Switzerland, and it shows in the exquisite precision of the final product. On Karl's side, you'll find everything from doughnuts, muffins, coffee ...

It's conventional wisdom that this kosher-style bakery, a 32-year-old institution, bakes the best rye bread in town in every possible permutation, but it's also the go-to for shiny black-and-white cookies, hamentaschen (fruit-filled shortbread-like triangles traditionally eaten during Purim), mondel bread and chocolate, raspberry and cinnamon-nu...

Okay, now this place smells the way a bakery should -- like chocolate and butter and all things yummy just emerging from the oven. Shaun and Brady Breese's seven-year-old operation may be small, but it's mighty, offering up creative, incredibly good cookies (think tropical-tinged pineapple-coconut, made with dried organic pineapple or the thorou...

If you've been paying any attention at all these past six or seven years, you already know that Eugenia Theodosopouolos (with the help of her husband-partner Gilles Combes) turns out what are arguably the city's best croissants and French macarons in a variety of tempting flavors. Don't miss the almond croissant if you've never tried it, but you...

Tucked deep into the corner of a Tempe strip mall, Arai is the classic hidden gem, offering up traditional Japanese breads such as silky shoku-pan (the best white bread you'll ever eat) and kare-pan (a soft roll filled with Japanese-style curry), as well as refined and never too-sweet pastries and desserts. Owner Kenzo Arai and his sons Taku and...

Owners Tony and Tess Menendez went to culinary school and spent many years as pastry chefs at various high-end resorts around town, but in 2006, they left their respective corporate kitchens behind to open a tiny bakeshop in a strip mall at 35th Avenue and Thunderbird. Although they offer bakery standards such as eclairs and tiramisu, the real d...

I've never been a cupcake junkie and Butter & Me is not a cupcake shop, even though owner Kelly Garcia makes her share of cupcakes. But if anyone could convert me to the whole crazy cupcake phenomenon (please, God, is it over yet?), it would be Ms. Garcia. The elegant simplicity of her vanilla cupcake with rose frosting makes your average cupcak...

Linda Schneider and her partner Cisco Zazuete say their business -- which started as an ultra-feminine retail cupcake shop -- has evolved tremendously in the nearly two years since they opened in the Scottsdale Seville. The partners began making fancy cupcakes, quickly moved into custom cakes for weddings and other special occasions and now find...

The husband of Pint Size Bakery owner and chef Christy Augustin calls her style "punk-rock grandma." That means sweets (and savory dishes, too) made the old-fashioned way: with real butter, real sugar, farm-fresh eggs and seasonal, local produce — but with modern playfulness, like cookies that include bits of potato chips or the "Oatmeal Cream P...

It isn't just the flaky croissants stuffed with pastry cream and studded with juicy sliced strawberries (even at unusual times of the year) that people line up for at Cream Pan, though the buns are certain to run out if you don't get a move on early in the morning; but there's also a whole case of tempting calorie bombs you'll walk past to get t...

At Weber’s it’s been a family affair since 1930, and the bakery continues its tradition of fresh-baked goodness more than 80 years later. Signature items include chocolate cake doughnuts, kolackys, and sauerkraut rye bread, but don’t miss seasonal favorites such as Irish soda bread and hot cross buns.

For 11 years, Le Monde Bakery owner Jef Dover has operated a French-style boulangerie on the main drag of North Kansas City, selling snappy, crusty baguettes — as many as 800 loaves a day — and delicate, flaky croissants, buttery pastries and pan au chocolate, and light lunches. The seating area in his unprepossessing storefront holds only a han...

Located inside Reading Terminal Market, a place every foodie should go to at least 25 times, Beiler's Bakery has the best baked goods in town. Their cinnamon buns, whoopie pies, and apple fritters are dangerously addictive and delicious. Not to mention their doughnuts: The apple cider and blueberry doughnuts are must-haves.

Clever, the way Baked & Wired wheedles its way into your heart. First, they bake their imaginatively dubbed cupcakes (Pretty Bitchin’, anyone?), biscotti breakfast breads and other doughy treats in small batches, to ensure optimal deliciousness. Then they win over the baking-neutral bunch with a drug, er, granola, called “Hippie Crack.” But they...

flour bakery + cafe Restaurant Review: Since opening this flagship South End bakery, pastry chef Joanne Chang (who paid her dues with stints at New York's Payard Pâtisserie and Mistral) now operates two others along with a restaurant, Myers + Chang, which she owns with her husband, chef Chris Myers. Customers crowd the bakery in the morning hour...

Petit Robert Bistro Restaurant Review: Jacky Robert’s two-story bistro is set in a brownstone on the outskirts of Kenmore Square, and offers Francophiles a more affordable and casual option than its counterparts. The dishes never seem to disappoint, whether garlicky escargots, sautéed foie gras or steak frites. Robert and his crew effortlessly t...

Finale Restaurant Review: Each outpost of this chain has the same suave, sexy feel with velvet-lined booths of crimson, ochre and black. The unique concept starts out by day as a café, bakery and above-average sandwich shop, but by night, Finale transforms into a romantic hot-spot for couples looking to mix and match a dessert sampler. Savory ma...

Panificio Restaurant Review: A genuinely European aura suffuses this sprightly little café and bakery, sprinkled with charming bric-a-brac, on Beacon Hill's historic Charles Street. In the morning, linger over cappuccino (passable) and homemade granola with orange yogurt (scrumptious). Throughout the day, hefty sandwiches come with top-quality i...

Caffe Vittoria Restaurant Review: This North End neighborhood coffeehouse combines history, romance and kitsch appealing to tourists, students, couples and regulars who come for a shot of espresso paired with a slice of creamy ricotta pie. While it’s not the best café in the North End, it does justice to traditional Italian favorites like cannol...

Lakota Bakery Restaurant Review: If you blink you might miss the unobtrusive storefront housing this Arlington bakery. The cheery shop is run by Barbara Weniger and her counter staff of earnest high school students. There are cakes, brownies and cupcakes, but most people flock here for the cookies, which are a specialty. Flavors include Triple S...

La Sultana Bakery Restaurant Review: This tiny bakery on the far corner of Maverick Square is revolving-door busy with local artists, factory workers, families, even chefs on break. The Latin American treats include huevos rancheros, tacos, chicken empanadas and beef empanadas, churros and many sweet breads, cookies and takeaway lunches such as ...

Cafe Vanille Restaurant Review: Whether you come to this Beacon Hill spot for breakfast, lunch or a midday snack, Café Vanille is sure to please. It's fun to play the Parisian flaneur over a strong cup of coffee and fresh pastries while watching students, Brahmin descendants and guidebook-toting tourists saunter down Charles Street. You’ll find ...

Neighborhood Restaurant & Bakery Restaurant Review: A weekend breakfast fave, this super-casual café and its leafy patio are packed from sunrise to the zenith with young Somervilleans digging through piles of potatoes, eggs, linguiça and homemade bread; try the papaya pancakes for a tropical treat. Come afternoon, the fare is predominantly Portu...

Just Baked is a cupcake shop and bakery located just outside of Detroit in Livonia, Michigan, with 12 retail locations. We offer over 40 different flavors of gourmet, "jumbo" cupcakes including: red velvet cheesecake, cherry chip, and white chocolate raspberry. In addition, we also offer several traditional, buttercream "mini" cupcakes. All of o...

A great bakery should replace thoughts of carbs, gluten, and empty calories with dreams of croissants, a quick lunch and cake—can’t forget the cake—followed by cookies, enveloped in the aroma of fresh-baked bread. One-hundred-year-old Alessi Bakery is great. Phil Alessi, the owner of this family-run operation, makes sure of it, offering everythi...

Remember when Baltimore neighborhoods had a bakery on every corner? Well, Hoehn’s is still on that corner (Bank and Conkling) and is still turning out the best old school pastries favored by Baltimoreans: slabs of slightly tart smearcase cake dusted with cinnamon, white-iced jelly tarts, glossy peach cake, and voluptuous, overstuffed marshmallow...

Ken Forkish is a bit of a Portland celeb: this year a James Beard nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef and the genius behind Ken’s Artisan Bakery and its successful spinoff, Ken’s Artisan Pizza. At the northwest bakery you’ll find breads fresh from the oven and the most beautiful (and more important, tasty) pastries imaginable. Order the Oregon c...

Welcome to Freeport Bakery, nominated for the best bakery in the Sacramento area! We are an award winning, full-line bakery known for our fantastic cakes.

This tiny Tremont bakeshop is sweet as can be, thanks to the beautiful treats coming out of the kitchen — everything from red velvet cupcakes and oatmeal cookies to towering wedding cakes. Baker-proprietors SynDee Klingenberg and Wendy Thompson are ever-so-happy to indulge your cravings, whether it's for a quick snack to brighten up your afterno...

Marie Antoinette, told that the peasants had no bread, famously said (or maybe she didn't). "Let them eat cake," but sometimes we think we could live by bread alone, especially when it's European-style, crusty with an amazing depth of flavor. Give us some European-style butter, and we feel like aristocrats.

Operating out of a variety of farmers’ markets around Austin and served at Franklin’s Barbecue (a regular winner of Best Barbecue), Cake and Spoon serves some of the city’s best tarts, shortbreads, scones and cakes, much from locally sourced products. Grab a Chelsea Bun (cinnamon roll) and eat the magic.

In the heart of the quaint and historic Hillsboro Village, the original Provence Bread & Cafe has been Nashville's headquarters for French style artisanal breads nearly two decades. Provence also serves the neighborhood's most low-key breakfasts if you're not up for dealing with swarms of tourists and students.

Baguette and boule devotees can find satisfaction here, but so can those seeking a dense breakfast bread (toasted walnut and raisin), or something for sandwiches (multigrain with sunflower seeds). The sticky buns and biscotti have their fans, but a big favorite is the small lemon cake, drenched in lemon juice.

The name may be Taste of Denmark, but it's buttery goodness that you really savor here. Come in the morning and choose from a wide array of breakfast goodies: dark-brown whirls of cinnamon-heavy cinnamon rolls; almond-topped bear claws that shatter into rich, golden flakes; puffy chocolate croissants; and row after row of tender Danishes cradlin...

It's rare that a bakery does sweets as well as it does breads, but that is the blessed situation at Patisserie 46 in southwest Minneapolis. Gaining a local reputation for classic French confection perfection (especially the millefeuille and eclairs) and national attention from magazines that list the bakery among the world's best patisseries, Pa...