10 Best American Bakeries You've Never Heard of but Must Visit
There's nothing quite like a fresh pastry from a bakery, wafting with the aroma of butter and sugar. Across the country, bakeries come in all manner of shapes, sizes, and styles. Some might specialize in cookies or croissants, while others might command lines for their viral creations. Meanwhile, some are chains, and some are on a comeback. What they all share is an affinity for baking, whatever the specialty, and some independent bakeries are so good that they're worth the extra mile.
From a bread bakery in Appalachia to a European-style institution in Kentucky and a kaleidoscopic cookie shop in Nashville, America's best and brightest bakeries run the gamut. And even if you haven't heard of any of these ones (yet), they deserve top billing on any bakery bucket list.
Bolivar Bread Bakery in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
In the charming and historic town of Harpers Ferry, Bolivar Bread Bakery is the kind of wholesome, homespun place that honors its environs — in this case, by channelling old-world techniques, and a commitment to small-batch craft, to produce a miscellany of freshly baked breads, pastries, and desserts aplenty. The intimate woman-owned shop sports a wide-open kitchen, providing a peek at the kneading and mixing, as customers peruse the various sourdoughs, maple butter biscuits, and pickle-infused rye bread. Pastries are just as plentiful, including brown butter chocolate chip cookies, whole-wheat brownies, and seasonal specials, like gingerbread and panettone.
Antoinette Baking Co. in Tulsa, Oklahoma
To visit Antoinette Baking Co., a sunny cafe in Tulsa's Arts District, is to be spoiled by options, dazzled by desserts, and tempted by too many treats to decide. Every visit to this dynamic bakeshop yields a variety of new creations, both sweet and savory, across an array of pastry styles. You've got pies galore, from brown butter cheese to butterscotch caramel meringue. You've got cookie cakes, crêpe cakes, and hummingbird cakes frosted with whipped honey and cinnamon buttercream. You've got croissants stuffed with ham and smoked Gruyere, and Danishes topped with German chocolate. The recipes at Antoinette, at once innovative and whimsical, create some of the most original baked goods in America.
Koffeteria in Houston, Texas
A cafe "celebrating the flavors of Houston," Koffeteria serves flavor combinations so exciting and unexpected that they practically transcend the bakery genre. That's courtesy of pastry chef Vanarin Kuch, a Houston native with an esteemed pedigree, and appearances on shows like Top Chef: Just Desserts. Housed in EaDo, the East Downtown neighborhood formerly known as Vietnam Town, his transcendent bakery is an homage to Houston's multi-cultural melting pot, and his own heritage. Pastries and baked goods are constantly rotating, with some highlights including beef pho kolaches, banana bread mochi, Cambodian elote cornbread with coconut and chives, carrot cake scones, and ube snickerdoodle cookies. Don't miss the just-as-interesting drinks, like the Salty Cambodian latte with sweetened condensed milk, housemade sourdough butter, and Maldon sea salt.
The Harken Cafe and Bakery in Charleston, South Carolina
One of Charleston's buzziest bakeries is easy to find: just follow the inevitable line down Queen Street to The Harken Cafe and Bakery. The quaint, cottage-like cafe commands quite a fan following — and a breezy queue — for its singular spin on Southern staples and locally sourced ingredients. Breakfast fare includes deep-dish quiche, and granola parfaits layered with sweet potato soufflé. Pastries, meanwhile, feature both familiar comforts (like a pitch-perfect chocolate chip cookie) and jaw-dropping originals, like a matcha and avocado shortbread with vanilla buttercream, and a sweet potato-cocoa loaf with warm fruit curd and whipped cream cheese. The Harken is particularly adept as Southern biscuits, whopping and buttery, and filled with the likes of brie, pimento cheese, and ricotta.
Pink Door Cookies in Nashville, Tennessee
For cookies that tread in whimsy and nostalgia, follow the rainbow — and the Rainbow Brownie Cookie — to Pink Door Cookies. The vision of pastry chef Mathew Rice, classic Americana is the bill of fare at this colorful and quirky bakeshop, with a color palette and design scheme that's just as retro-cheery as the recipes. Requisites, like chocolate chip and peanut butter, are accounted for (and aced), along with a fantastical lineup of fun flavors designed to tug on heartstrings and traipse down memory road. Such as the maple-kissed Blueberry Pancake cookie, the pretty-in-pink Cotton Candy cookie with sparkly sugar, the PB&J cookie with peanut butter chips and grape glaze, and the S'mores cookie with milk chocolate, Teddy Grahams, and burnt marshmallow. Pro tip: Pink Door also makes their own dog treats, with the same level of diligence and care as the human treats.
Circle Coffee Co. in Topeka, Kansas
Housed in a former laundromat, Circle Coffee Co. far surpasses expectations. What might look and sound like a standard coffee shop is so much more. It's a craft coffee wonderland, featuring exceptional staples, like cappuccinos and Americanos, along with rotating specialties, such as brown butter lattes, cinnamon toast matcha, and butterbeer. Great for coffee connoisseurs, Circle features various guest roasters, so customers can try different coffee from across the country. But it's the pastries that really wow, going far above the call of coffee shop duty with a lengthy lineup of croissants, muffins, donuts, and buns. Offerings are constantly rotating, but some examples include apple fritters, hot cocoa cookies, gingerbread muffins, and croissants stuffed with ham, havarti, and cranberry.
Dolina Bakery & Cafe in Santa Fe, New Mexico
One of the most unique flavor mashups can be found at Dolina Bakery & Cafe, a homey abode on the edge of Santa Fe's historic downtown, where New Mexican ingredients meet Hungarian inspiration. It's a passion project for owner Annamaria Brezna O'Brien, who serves all the bakery essentials, like almond croissants and lemon poppy seed muffins, along with Eastern European specialties, like apple walnut strudel and makos dios, a Hungarian cake made with walnuts, ground poppy seeds, and raspberry preserves. Heartier portions are just as well-traveled, including Hungarian goulash, chicken paprikash, and a "morning soup" made with lamb and bone broth. And since this is New Mexico, breakfast burritos are readily available too.
Spinning J in Chicago, Illinois
A heartwarming homage to soda fountains of yesteryear, Spinning J works wonders with Americana. Courtesy of owner/pie pro Dinah Grossman, the Humboldt Park bakeshop treads in recipes and rituals of a bygone era, harkening to a simpler time, and updating them with innovative ideas. Fizzy sodas and palmers get their own menu section, featuring housemade syrups infused with herbs and botanicals, with flavors like ginger lime, Thai tea egg cream, strawberry rhubarb phosphate, and good old fashioned root beer. In addition to breakfast and lunch dishes (don't sleep on the breakfast sandwiches), Spinning J has a penchant for pie, with slices rotating daily, and including the likes of key lime hibiscus, blackberry lime meringue, Irish coffee cream, blueberry plum, and calamansi icebox with saltine cracker crust. And in case all that wasn't satiating enough, other pastries include sourdough cinnamon rolls, scones, biscuits, tea cakes, and cookies.
Kirchhoff's Bakery & Deli in Paducah, Kentucky
An authentic blast from the past, Kirchhoff's Bakery & Deli is an old-school European bakery that's been around since 1873. That's when two young Prussian immigrants moved to the river town of Paducah, Kentucky, and opened Kirchhoff's Bakery downtown, as a place to bring their Old World traditions — and wood-fired recipes — to their new home. Today, two centuries and several generations later, the bakery is an institution. Still owned by the same Kirchhoff family, the namesake bakery adheres to its original recipes and techniques, to produce a dizzying array of fresh breads, from hoagies and challah, to focaccia and sourdough. You'll also find pretzels, bagels, cheesecakes, cookies, and buttery pralines.
Bywater Bakery in New Orleans, Louisiana
Likely the only bakery where you can slurp breakfast gumbo from a coffee cup, New Orleans' charming Bywater Bakery has a well-earned reputation as a community cornerstone in its namesake Bywater neighborhood. The eclectic, inclusive, and colorful cafe has something for everyone, including New Orleans staples like warming cups of gumbo and in-season king cake. You'll also find a plethora of rotating pastries and desserts, like sweet potato sticky buns, chocolate strawberry Chantilly cake, hummingbird cupcakes, and butterscotch pecan pie.
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