Miffed at Mirabelles' move? Maybe these Burlington baked goods can fill the void

A photo caption with a previous version of this article misidentified the location where Mirabelles Bakery is moving. The business is leaving Main Street in Burlington for a spot off Williston Road in South Burlington.

Many of us who live or work in downtown Burlington are mourning the loss of Mirabelles Bakery. The place that makes arguably the best baked goods in town – actually, you’d get no argument from me on that – is closing its Main Street location Saturday and moving to a spot off Williston Road in South Burlington.

May Mirabelles live long and prosper in South Burlington. But what about us poor saps left behind who can no longer walk from our homes or offices to the place that has the sweet stuff that hits our sweet spots? Don’t despair – well, OK, despair a little, because Mirabelles is that good – as there are several other super-worthy bakeries within reasonable perambulating distance of downtown.

I headed out over the past few days to explore those options, one yummy treat at a time. Consider giving these five places a little love once you’ve recovered from your Mirabelles-inflicted heartbreak.

Barrio Bakery

My editor, Aki Soga, recommended a couple of items at this Old North End favorite. The first one he mentioned, a berry scone, sounded good, but when he talked about a croissant-like sweet roll I knew that was gonna be my morning hang.

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Barrio’s morning roll is a round-ish, muffin-shaped croissant-y thing that, with its subtle, never-cloying sweetness, reminded me of one of my favorite baked goods anywhere, the almond crescent at the Hungarian Pastry Shop in New York City (worth a trip to the Upper West Side just for that). I’m sure the berry scone would have been good, but the morning roll spoke to me on a deep, personal, tasty level.

-          Barrio Bakery, 197 N. Winooski Ave. 7 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. (802) 863-8278, www.barriobakeryvt.com.

Great Harvest Bread Co.

This South End bakery posts daily specials on its website, and when I saw that Thursday was lemon-poppyseed-muffin day, I knew I had to go. That’s my number-one muffin choice, so I wanted to give Great Harvest’s version a try.

I ordered the muffin and a small coffee, but the clerk offered an additional treat: a free sample of one of their fresh breads. I chose a slice of almond babka, and as it was just-out-of-the-oven warm I had to eat that first. It was ooey-gooey and incredibly delicious.

The babka was so good, in fact, that the big, fat, sprightly lemon poppyseed muffin I went there for in the first place was almost an afterthought. Almost. I ate about half of it and was so stuffed with baked goodness that I had to bring the rest back to the office to nosh on later. Not a problem…

-          Great Harvest Bread Co., 382 Pine St. 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday. (802) 660-2733, www.greatharvestburlington.com.

August First Bakery

I’m not sure anyone has taken the departure of Mirabelles harder than my Free Press co-worker, Dan D’Ambrosio. He’s renowned for his devotion to sweet baked goods, and Mirabelles in particular.

We may need a therapy session to help Dan get through this. We should probably bring cheese Danishes.

Dan, though, is a well-rounded guy, so he has other go-to spots for downtown sweets. One is August First, a short shot from our office on Bank Street. He suggested I get one of two things there, either the blueberry muffin or the chocolate-chip walnut cookie.

I went for the cookie, which is about as simple as it gets: crunchy edges surrounding a delicate center with rich chocolate dominating the flavor until those nutty hints start sneaking through. If you’re looking for a soft place to land when the closing of your favorite bakery throws you for a loop, this is a good one.

-          August First Bakery, 149 S. Champlain St. 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday. (802) 540-0060, www.augustfirstvt.com.

Leunig’s Petit Bijou

OK, beignets are technically fried goods, not baked goods. But they’re made of flour and sugar and taste amazing, so close enough.

The beignets made to order at the little kiosk across from Leunig’s Bistro are so good that I almost never eat them. If I devoured these caloric New Orleans confections every time I wanted to, I’d be celebrating Fat Tuesday all year ‘round, if you get my gist.

I picked up enough to bring back to the office, and I’m pretty sure my co-workers found these fluffy squares of sugar-coated fried dough as swoon-worthy as I do. I heard my office mates use words such as “decadent,” “doughy,” “delicious,” “crispy,” “soft” and “melt in your mouth.” They may have used other words, too, but they were talking with their mouths full, so it was hard to tell.

-         Leunig’s Petit Bijou, Church and College streets. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. (802) 863-3759 (the number for Leunig’s Bistro), www.leunigsbistro.com/leunigs-petit-bijou.

Nunyuns Bakery and Café

It’s the tech-era equivalent of a storefront display enticing a shopper: I went to the website of Nunyuns Bakery and Café and saw a cinnamon bun in the browser window and knew I just had to have it.

Alas, the Old North End bakery didn’t have cinnamon buns the morning I stopped in. The coffee cake called to me instead.

I sat at a sun-streamed window with a delicious cup of Vermont Coffee Co. medium blend and enjoyed the simple pleasures of my snack, with its crumbly brown-sugared top and soft, flavorful yellow cake inside. It was mellow and satisfying, just like the old-school jazzy blues playing on the speakers inside the bakery. Those fleeting cinnamon-bun dreams faded fast, but sweetly so.

Nunyuns Bakery and Café, 139 N. Champlain St. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. (802) 861-2067, www.nunyuns.com.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

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