Best Pastries 2024 | JL Patisserie | Food & Drink | Phoenix
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Best Pastries

JL Patisserie

Bahar Anooshahr

Whether you're seeking a fresh-baked flaky pastry on the go or want to sit down and savor it with a cup of coffee, JL Patisserie should be your go-to spot. It offers several varieties and even a few to take home and cook yourself. A croissant with smoked ham and Swiss cheese is the perfect way to ease into a Saturday morning. Or, finish off brunch or one of its weekend specials with the sweetness of a chocolate coconut pecan scone. Scottsdale is the flagship location, opening nearly a year before the central Phoenix spot took over the space of an ice cream shop in December 2019. The display case is filled with what seems like endless options — savory or sweet. And what French cafe is complete without an offering of macarons? JL Patisserie offers 13, from Earl Grey and rose lychee to more standard fare like strawberry, lemon and vanilla. Do yourself a favor and spend a morning exploring what this cafe has to offer.

Best Bread

Nice Buns

Chef-turned-baker Mark Bookhamer has crafted crispy, crackly baguettes, squeezable milk bread buns and more for chefs around town since 2021 under the name Nice Buns Bakery. Although he sells directly to restaurants, there's no need to fret about finding Bookhamer's breads. Made from local small-batch grains from Hayden Flour Mills, Bookhamer's baked goods are featured on menus around the Valley. You can sample his pretzels and sesame buns at Wren Sudhalle in Ahwatukee; try one of Underbelly Meat Co.'s rotating sandwiches on one of Bookhamer's buns, baguettes or ciabatta; or tuck into pan con tomate at wine bar Kid Sister. A thick slab of Bookhamer's country loaf soaks up its juicy, smoky, garlicky tomato topper. Follow the bakery on social media @nice_buns_bakery, where Bookhamer will often share the latest spots serving his carby delights.

Best Bagels

The Bagel Man

We're about 2,500 miles from New York City, where a good bagel is easy to find. Here in Phoenix, you have to drive past a staggering number of chain bagel shops and mediocre bakeries to find a bagel that's worth its salt (or garlic, or poppy seed). The Bagel Man in Ahwatukee is where we go for a truly excellent bagel. Owner Kal Salih opened his first bagel shop in New Jersey in 1994, and he's got the formula down pat: Use water filtered and softened to replicate East Coast H20, make the dough in-house, make them nice and big, then boil them to perfection. The results are massive bagels with a nice crisp exterior and a tender interior. You can get them in the form of a breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese and a selection of meats, but we like them best done simply: with just a schmear of cream cheese, allowing the bagel to be the star of our morning.

Best Cookies

Urban Cookies Bakeshop

Judy Nichols

You can smell the carbs as soon as you open the door to Urban Cookies, so take a deep whiff of baked goods as you walk inside the tiny retail store. There's just enough room to lean in for a closer look at the nearly dozen cookie options, which include a Prickly Pear Saguaro sugar cookie, because Arizona. These treats are not of the grocery store variety. They are sizable — with mere mortals needing both hands to hold on before taking a bite — and they are baked fresh every morning in both the Phoenix and Scottsdale stores. If your sweet tooth is more fixated on cupcakes, pick from among a dozen everyday flavors and occasional specials. This bakery also offers dessert bars, iced cookies and cakes. They've been curing sugar cravings since 2005.

Best Breakfast Sandwich

Berdena's

Lauren Cusimano

A popular, stylish Old Town Scottsdale coffee shop would seem the least likely place to find an excellent no-nonsense breakfast sandwich. This is a neighborhood that thrives on showy fluff, after all. But the breakfast sandwich at Berdena's is a stone cold killer that works so well because every element is handled with precision and care. Thick slices of ham get a little sizzle on the griddle, cheddar melts over a fried egg with a gorgeous lacy edge, a handful of crisp arugula joins a perfectly seasoned slice of tomato, and all of it is piled inside of a soft, eggy brioche bun. A subtle smear of chipotle aioli is as wild and crazy as this sandwich gets, but unlike so many of its more showy contemporaries, a little care and craftsmanship is what makes this sandwich pop.

Best Italian Ice

Joe's Italian Ice

Lauren Saria

Less might be more, but sometimes more isn't so bad. The polished commercial look and lengthy menu might scare off those who were raised on Italian ice served from a hole in the wall or a roadside stand, but Joe's is no bland corporate chain. This two-location indie spot produces its Philadelphia-style ices in-house from fresh whole fruit, and it shows. The strawberry ice is bright and fragrant, the banana cream ice actually tastes like a Cavendish and the sweet-tart Bada Bing Cherry is loaded with chunks of whole fruit. There's always one sugar-free flavor on the menu — nothing added, just the fruit's natural sugar — and ices are also available as a signature "Joelatti," with a dollop of soft serve ice cream on top and another hiding in the bottom of the cup. Pro tip: Dole Whip is the perfect mate for a fruit-based Italian ice.

Best Doughnuts

Dutch Donut Factory

While trendier doughnut shops often try to do more, changing up everything from the toppings to the dough, Dutch Donut Factory stays classic. On any given day, the Mesa shop has nearly 30 varieties available, from pillowy raised and glazed doughnuts to moist cake and old fashioned styles dressed up with coconut flakes or sprinkles. With doughnuts this good, simplicity is king. Upon browsing the case, you'll find every other delight you need for a truly satisfying pastry spread: tangy buttermilk bars, crisp, cinnamon-laced apple fritters and tender cinnamon rolls, as well as Texas-style kolaches, coffees and boba teas.

Best Ice Cream

Novel Ice Cream

If our waistlines allowed it, we'd eat ice cream every day, but alas, if we want to keep fitting into our jeans, it's an occasional treat. Not every scoop is worth the calorie splurge, but we never regret stopping at one of Novel Ice Cream's three Valley locations. We first became aware of Novel when we started seeing images on Instagram that made our mouth water: a bright blue schmear of ice cream sandwiched between a fresh sliced doughnut. It made for great content, but Novel's offerings aren't just pretty pictures. The local chain keeps eight flavors permanently on the menu (including the bright blue Cookie Monster and a decadent Bourbon Toffee Caramel Crunch) and rotates in four different ones each week. They're all creamy, made in-house and refreshing, and if you're dairy-free or just want something a little lighter, Novel does a bang-up job with fruit sorbets as well. Novel has newer locations in Mesa and Peoria, but we particularly love visiting its original home in a tiny historic building on Grand Avenue.

Best Gelato

Cool Gelato Italiano

Replicate the vibe of your European summer memories at Cool Gelato Italiano. The tiny shop tucked away near Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art is owned by Alberto Della Casa and Leticia de Lucia, who trained with a gelato master in Bologna, Italy, to bring dessert-loving Phoenicians the finest gelato in town. Cool Gelato Italiano serves a rotating selection of traditional and creative flavors, everything from raspberry and chocolate to tequila lime and banana caramel pecan. Many of the flavors are vegan and are clearly marked as such. Whatever you choose, you'll close your eyes in bliss as the cool creaminess and intense flavor hits your palate. The shop keeps somewhat limited hours, so check the website before you go, and prepare to be taken back to Italy by every spoonful.

Best Bonbons

Chocofin Chocolatier

There is a trend — a good one — toward chocolatiers who produce their own chocolate in-house, and this little shop run by Louis and Denise Mirabella has joined the "bean-to-bar" movement with some excellent offerings of its own. What we find ourselves trekking out to Fountain Hills for, however, is the outstanding selection of bonbons built on fresh ingredients and premier chocolates sourced from all over the world, meticulously distilled down to tiny morsels that explode with flavor. Options range from classics such as cherry cordials, gianduja and cognac to wilder concoctions like passionfruit caramel, clove-spiced rice crisps and zinfandel ganache, but what sets Chocofin apart — in addition to the quality of its chocolate — is the exceptional intensity and pure flavor the Mirabellas coax out of the bonbons' fillings. You only need one or two, but you're going to want to take home a couple dozen.

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