Coffee & Treats in Castle Rock

Parry's ardently flaunts its affinity with New York–style pizzerias, from the Syracuse University memorabilia festooning the walls to its rich, thin-crust pies. Catch the nail-biting season finale of Antique Roadshow on a 42" plasma while enjoying 10 golden buffalo wings ($7.49) or an order of crispy fried mozzarella sticks ($5.99). Individual eaters can sate their singularly hungry belly with a calzone loaded with a trio of cheeses ($6.99) or meats ($8.99), or tackle a sandwich such as the meatball parmesan, carefully propped between a toasted roll ($5.99). Families, competitive eaters, and disgruntled discus throwers may be drawn to the 18" specialty pies, including Parry's combo of pepperoni, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, green peppers, black olives, and red onions ($18.99), or the supremely Big Apple–inspired Lil Avery's pie with a delicate blend of herbs, spices, and parmesan cheese ($15.99). Doughy dishes can also be constructed to individual clients' demands ($11.99+) with toppings such as anchovies, fresh basil, pickles, spicy italian sausage, and more ($0.25–$1 each). A suite of sumptuous wines and frosty suds accompany the zesty eats.

Nominated for ABC 7's Best Ice Cream Shop five years in a row, Gelazzi whips up 34 flavors of gelato fresh every morning, using fresh fruits and dry ingredients carefully culled and imported from Italy. Introduce your flavor receptacles to caramel from Avellino, rich chocolate from Torino, or lemons from Aversa, available by the scoop ($3.75) or in a belgian-waffle bowl ($6.99). Gelazzi's fluffy frozen treats are also made using 2% fresh milk rather than cream, making it less fattening and giving the unique flavors room to dance in your mouth.

Ben & Jerry's came from humble beginnings—in 1978, its eponymous founders served ice cream out of a renovated Burlington gas station, and delivered pints of their now-classic flavors to grocery stores out of the back of Ben's VW Squareback wagon. Today, its myriad shops dispense cups, cones, shakes, and smoothies brimming with a variety of quirky flavors, including Phish Food and Cherry Garcia, named for famous revolutionary Cherry Garcia. The duo is also famous for their social responsibility, which is evident in their community activism and in their use of fair-trade products, such as cage-free eggs and sustainable, growth-hormone-free dairy.

Nothing Bundt Cakes mixes fresh eggs, genuine butter, and cream cheese into rounded risers worthy of slapping up on Mom's fridge. Choose from nine moistened cake flavors, such as ravishingly rich red velvet or swirlishly scrawled marble. Lemon bundt cake goes particularly well with tea parties attended largely by rabbits, mice, eccentric haberdashers, and confused British girls, and raging chocoholics can get a day’s worth of fixes with the moist and decadent chocolate chocolate chip. Eight-inch bundt cakes are available in any variety, and serve approximately eight discerning desserters, or one lucky eater about to embark on an all-bundt cake diet.