Best bakery

Surrounded by health-care clinics and nondescript condos, Flour Bakery & Café has made its mark on a neighborhood that was sorely in need of, well, marking. As cheery as can be, with communal seating and a blackboard menu, Flour is now a hangout for locals who stop in for sticky buns and brioche, pizzette and panini (including a stellar BLT), and witty takes on Pop-Tarts, Oreos, and the like, and then stay to read the sports section or chat about their dogs (who come for their own biscuits). Meanwhile, made-to-order tarts and cakes (like the irresistible hazelnut-almond dacquoise) reflect wunderkind-owner Joanne Chang's exquisite, never-fussy tastes.

Silly readers, Rosie's Bakery has won so many awards over the past couple of decades, what could it possibly want with yours? And yet, obviously, the Cambridge-based (but nationally known) company still does it for your love. Behind a counter that'll pop your eyes right out, you'll find Soho Globs and Congo bars, pies and layer cakes galore -- here with mocha buttercream, there with chocolate mousse, there again with raspberry filling. Rosie's is open for breakfast, too, serving chocolate croissants, cheddar-cheese scones, fab corn muffins, and then some.

Flour Bakery & Café, 1595 Washington Street, (617) 267-4300. Rosie's Bakery, 243 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, (617) 491-9488.