Simit
My Cravingz
Though some say simit is like a Turkish bagel, this ring is thinner, crisper and packed with way more sesame seeds. It can be eaten as is, or split and filled with mozzarella and sujuk, a Turkish spicy sausage, and warmed until the seeds are darkened and fragrant. Better yet, dip into a warm bowl of kuymak, cornmeal mixed with mozzarella and oozing with butter. // 10421 Balls Ford Road, Manassas; mycravingz.com
Muffin
Dolce & Ciabatta
It’s hard to walk out with just one edible from the new Leesburg bakery by Jamaican-born pastry chef Godfrey McKenzie, and his wife and business partner Tatiana McKenzie. (There’s a picture of their kids eating a baguette on the wall.) After almost a decade in recipe development at Vie de France, McKenzie crafts great breakfast sandwiches tucked into croissants, baguettes topped with Italian jam and butter, and boules filled with herbs and cheeses. And then there’s a muffin—incredibly moist thanks to Greek yogurt, dotted with blueberries and shiny with an apricot glaze. // 9H Catoctin Circle SW, Leesburg; dolceciabatta.com
Biscuit
Stomping Ground
“The biscuit’s never perfect,” says Nicole Jones, who after almost four years as the chef and owner of Stomping Ground (there’s now a second outpost in Tysons Galleria), is still messing with her recipe. Jones, with roots in the South, says it’s part drop biscuit, but also is made like a croissant, where dough and butter are folded in alternating layers. However it’s made, it’s good on its own, with housemade jam (in the fall get it with wine grapes), an egg or fried chicken. // 2309 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria; 2001 International Drive, McLean; stompdelray.com
Croissant
Society Fair
Making a croissant is an eight-hour process at Society Fair. But the more impressive number: the 30 pounds of butter the cafe uses each week dedicated to this airy, flaky crescent-shaped pastry. // 277 S. Washington St., Alexandria; societyfair.net
Pretzel
Nordic Knot
Most soft pretzels found on bar menus are from-the-freezer carbs designed for dips in hot cheese and spicy mustard. Nordic Knots turns pretzels into a craft, with baker Eric Lundberg milling his own flour (from malted barley and malted wheat), spraying with butter and topping with rock salt, everything-seed blend or cinnamon-sugar. Sold at coffee shops and breweries—his business partner is Lake Anne Brew House owner Melissa Romano—the crusty exterior and doughy interior, doesn’t need an accompaniment, though try a schmear of cream cheese. // nordic-knot.com
Doughnut
Texas Donuts
It’s right there in the name—a doughnut stretching 7-inches across, frosted in chocolate and just as delicious as its smaller version, which can come in flavors like red velvet, blueberry and maple-bacon. And even though the initial craze has given way to more pastry mash-ups, the croughnut is stacked high, light like a croissant, sweet like a doughnut and still a marvel. // 13830 Lee Highway, Suite 4, Centreville; 8130 Ashton Ave., Suite 106, Manassas; texasdonutsva.com
See the full Comfort Food feature from the January issue here.
