Photo by J.B. Forbes (Post-Dispatch)
Nathaniel Reid Bakery
I worried I wouldn’t be able to return to Nathaniel Reid Bakery without instinctively ordering my favorite dessert from my initial review visits, the sophisticated caramel-on-caramel jewel called Amber. But so gorgeous are the many pastries in the eponymous Nathaniel Reid’s display cases that I’d already picked out two new-to-me baubles before I noticed the Amber. Those two were a classic wheel-shaped Paris-Brest with the sophisticated sweetness of hazelnut and the Yvonne, strawberries and a hazelnut cake enrobed in caramelized white chocolate. For a more straightforward pleasure, consider the kougin-amman, crackling thin layer after crackling thin layer of buttery sweetness.
Hours: 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday
Last year's ranking: Rest of the Best
Opened: 2016
Must order: The Amber ($5.95)