Bohemian sweet bun with a soft enriched dough and a dimple of filling: poppy seed, plum jam, sweet curd cheese or apricot. Round, palm-sized, baked golden on top.
Where to eat it: 9 restaurants across 3 cities.
Kolache (kolac) date back to medieval Bohemia, originally a wedding cake the entire village shared. By the 19th century they had shrunk to individual buns. The poppy-seed kolach (mak) is the canonical Czech version; the curd-cheese version (tvaroh) is the Moravian alternative. Eska and Antonin Bakery bake the modern Prague version daily; the Saturday Naplavka stalls sell the rural family version. The Texan kolache descended from Czech immigrants in the 1850s in central Texas (West, Texas remains the home), where it diverged toward a savoury sausage-stuffed form that is unrecognisable to Bohemians.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
Tip from the editors. Ground blue poppy seed (mak) is widely available in Central European groceries; do not substitute toasted whole poppy seeds, which give a sandy texture. The dimple must be deep so the filling does not slide off.
Three Brothers Bakery in Houston is the Braeswood Boulevard Jewish bakery from the Jucker family (Polish Holocaust survivors), since 1949 in Houston.
Tip: Pre-order challah for Friday. Pecan coffee cake is the line item; the Hurricane Harvey rebuild story is in the front-window framed clippings.
Worth the queue: Pecan coffee cake and challah
Kolache Shoppe in Houston is the Greenway Plaza Czech-Texan bakery on Richmond Avenue, with sausage-cheese klobasniky, apricot kolaches and a weekend line.
Tip: Get there before 9am Saturday for the full case. Order a dozen mixed for the office or the road.
Worth the queue: Sausage and cheese klobasniky
Koffeteria in Houston is Vanarin Kuch's EaDo pastry shop on Hutchins, with the beef pho kolache, pistachio baklava croissant and a Top Chef alumna.
Order: Beef pho kolache. Pistachio baklava croissant.
Why locals love it: An EaDo pastry shop on Hutchins Street with the beef pho kolache and Hot Cheeto croissants that won 2024 Houston Pastry Chef of the Year.
Tip: Get there by 9am Saturday for the full case. Closes at 2pm Mon, Wed-Sun, closed Tuesday.
The Lithuanian Bakery on Pacific carries one of few surviving Baltic baking traditions in the Great Plains, with dark rye sourdough and Lithuanian pastries.
Worth the queue: Dark rye sourdough and Lithuanian pastries
Two slices of Orsi's brick-oven pizza and a drink land under $10 at the Pacific counter, a century-old crust recipe on every Omaha budget meal shortlist.
Eska Karlin runs an all-day brunch in the bakery-restaurant: bread 33 sourdough toast, eggs, fermented vegetables and the kitchen's morning pastry plate.
Order: Bread 33 toast, eggs, fermented Czech vegetables
Tip: Book Saturday brunch in advance; bread 33 sells out by noon weekly.
Antoninovo Pekarstvi opened the first of its six city-wide bakeries in Karlin in 2014. Wheat-rye and potato sourdough loaves, all baked on-site.
Tip: The decorated chlebicky are made up at the counter; ask for a flight to-go.
Worth the queue: Potato sourdough loaf
Antoninovo Pekarstvi's Namesti Miru flagship opened in a restored First Republic cafe space. Located in Vinohrady. Booking recommended. Reservations advised.
Tip: The big window seats are the prize; show up before 10:00 on weekends.
Worth the queue: Wheat-rye sourdough loaf
Eska Letna opened in February 2025 on the Letna grid as the second Ambiente bakery, baking the same bread 33 sourdough plus laminated pastries and breakfast.
Tip: Sweet and savoury breakfasts are made to-go; the morning crowd is the Letna runners.
Worth the queue: Bread 33
More cities are in research. Want czech kolache covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.