Fonda San Miguel in Austin is Tom Gilliland's 1975 interior-Mexican dining room on North Loop, with a Sunday hacienda brunch buffet that anchors a pan dulce pastry station.
Tip: The pan dulce station is buffet-only on Sunday; book the brunch a week ahead and arrive at 11.
Address: 2330 W North Loop Blvd, Austin, TX 78756
Easy Tiger in Austin is the East 6th Street bake shop and beer garden under MML Hospitality, a downstairs counter for Old World hearth breads, pretzels and pastries.
Tip: Buy the loaves at 8am for first-crust; the pretzel and beer happy hour runs upstairs 5 to 7pm.
Worth the queue: House soft pretzel with smoked-sausage plate
Quack's 43rd Street Bakery in Austin is the Hyde Park coffeehouse and bakery since 1983, a from-scratch counter of pies, cakes, croissants, muffins and decorated cookies.
Tip: Whole-cake orders need 48-hours notice; the cookie counter has the highest turnover and freshest output.
Worth the queue: Coconut macaroon
Texas French Bread in Austin is Murph Wilcott and Carissa Ries's West Campus farm-to-table bakery since 1981, rebuilding on Rio Grande Street after a 2022 fire.
Tip: The Airstream trailer pop-up runs while the rebuild finishes; check social for the trailer's daily window.
Worth the queue: Country loaf and pain au chocolat
Bakery Lorraine in Austin is the Domain Northside outpost of the San Antonio-born French patisserie, a sit-down cafe with macarons, croissants and bistro plates by Anne Ng.
Tip: Croissants come out at 8am; macaron flavours rotate seasonally and sell out by 2pm on weekends.
Worth the queue: Pistachio-rose macaron
Swedish Hill in Austin is the MML Hospitality reboot of the 1975 Sweetish Hill bakery on West 6th Street, a Clarksville cafe-deli with cardamom buns, sandwiches and cakes.
Tip: The cardamom buns come out at 8am; the sandwich counter runs through 4pm before the pastry-only afternoon.
Worth the queue: Cardamom bun
Round Rock Donuts in Round Rock is the Lone Star doughnut counter since 1926, a 4:30am opening Liberty Avenue shop famous for its egg-yolk-yellow yeast doughnuts.
Tip: The original yellow doughnut beats the colossal Texas-size one; arrive by 8am for the morning batch.
Worth the queue: Yellow doughnut and the giant Texas-size doughnut
