BreadHive Bakery and Cafe ★ 4.6
BreadHive on Connecticut Street is Buffalo's worker-owned cooperative bakery, with sourdough breads, hand-rolled bagels and a counter cafe in the West Side.
Worth the queue: Sourdough bagel
Bakery counters in Buffalo worth queuing for: levain breads, laminated pastry, regional bakes and the morning ritual.
Where to queue for bread and pastry
Five Points Bakery and Toast Cafe ★ 4.7
Five Points Bakery on Brayton Street mills its own wheat from Western New York farms and bakes whole-grain sourdoughs at a West Side toast-cafe counter.
Worth the queue: Whole-grain sourdough
Butter Block ★ 4.7
Butter Block on Rhode Island Street in the Five Points neighborhood moved from market pop-up to brick-and-mortar in 2019, with French laminated pastries.
Worth the queue: Almond croissant
Paula's Donuts (Williamsville) ★ 4.6
Paula's Donuts at the Williamsville Main Street shop fries oversized sour-cream and yeast donuts daily, a Western New York obsession with morning lines.
Worth the queue: Sour-cream glazed donut
Paula's Donuts (Sheridan Drive) ★ 4.6
Paula's Donuts on Sheridan Drive in Tonawanda is the original location of the Buffalo-area oversized donut chain, with Texas-sized sour-cream glazed.
Worth the queue: Sour-cream glazed
Parkside Candy ★ 4.5
Parkside Candy on Main Street at Winspear is a 1927 candy temple, with a walnut soda fountain, oval Adam-period interior and Buffalo's signature sponge candy.
Worth the queue: Sponge candy
Watson's Chocolates (Elmwood) ★ 4.5
Watson's Chocolates on Elmwood Avenue is the Buffalo city shop of the Western New York sponge-candy maker hand-crafting confections since 1946.
Worth the queue: Sponge candy
Fowler's Chocolates ★ 4.6
Fowler's Chocolates on Niagara Falls Boulevard is the original maker of Buffalo sponge candy, in business since 1910 and a city signature confection.
Worth the queue: Original sponge candy
Caramici's Italian Bakery ★ 4.4
Caramici's Italian Bakery on Elmwood Avenue serves Buffalo's Italian-American cookie tray with pignoli, biscotti and seasonal Sicilian sweets to order.
Worth the queue: Pignoli cookies