Bread Furst
This neighborhood Jewish bakery offers an assortment of breads and pastries, and they all taste like heaven. Signs around the bakery prohibit laptop and cellphone use, instead urging you to have a conversation with someone nearby. The policy works, because the freshly baked English muffins and cinnamon chocolate monkey bread will leave you singing praises to anyone who will listen.
Bread Furst, 4434 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, D.C., +1 202 765 1200
Baked & Wired
Forget Georgetown Cupcakes – Baked & Wired is the District’s real cupcake gem, if you ask anyone familiar with the area. While the former is an immensely popular tourist destination, their cupcakes are bested by this local shop. Baked & Wired’s cupcakes are less decadent and more delicious – still gourmet cupcakes, but with a homemade feel. The shop is a full bakery, and delicious smells radiate from freshly baked breads, pastries, and cups of steaming coffee.
1052 Thomas Jefferson St NW, Washington, D.C.,+1 703 663 8727
Sticky Fingers
This vegan bakery is a necessary stop for both foodies and the environmentally conscious. The pastries are so good, you won’t know they’re vegan. Offering decadent eats from a sweet potato maple cupcake to vegan biscuits and gravy, Sticky Fingers delights all around. Head to Sticky Fingers to feel great about indulging.
1370 Park Rd NW, Washington, D.C., +1 202 299 9700
Fine Sweet Shoppe
Situated within Eastern Market, the bakery is a permanent stall nestled between a myriad of other food vendors in the South Hall. It can be easy to miss with endless options, so make sure you don’t. The shop is a bakery and deli, and menu items range from a Clinton Club and Garfield Grilled Cheese to delightful cupcakes. Their freshly squeezed lemonade is to die for, as are the chocolate chip cookies.
225 7th St SE, Washington, D.C.,+1 202 543 9729
Spring Mill Bread
This is the place for bread connoisseurs. Their freshly baked breads are removed from the oven right behind the counter. There’s always samples to try, helping you to decide between cinnamon raisin, apple streussel, and pesto asiago breads – they all demand to be sampled at least once, in the name of happiness and sheer bliss.
701 8th St SE, Washington, D.C., +1 202 547 9190
By Kate McMahon