Coffee & Treats in Saint Joseph

The Filling Station independently serves locally roasted espresso and coffee and a scrumptious selection of breakfast and lunch bites in a garage-themed café. Browse the Union Hill menu for the Filling Station's caffeinated concoctions, with espresso roasted from Broadway Café and Roastery and coffee from Oddly Correct Coffee Roasters. For breakfast, the Filling Station offers a plethora of baked goods, from blackberry peach muffins ($1.80) to freshly baked cinnamon rolls ($2.25). Lunchtime brings the killer veggie wrap ($7.50), packed with spinach, tomato, onion, carrots, and more. The Westport menu is more compact, but you can still pick up an apple walnut Danish ($2.50) or almond marzipan croissant ($2.50) in the drive-thru before heading out to hunt the evasive galloping fig tree.

Break from the rapid beating of seasonal gingerbread batters and take refuge in a European-style café that has a variety of Thanksgiving meal-ending stomach-pleasers. For $8, today's Groupon gets you $16 worth of freshly baked bakery bites at Jay WaLe’s Bakery-Bistro, named 2009’s Best Bakery by The Pitch, and, unlike most bakeries, it's not also the headquarters of a cookie-gang.Follow @Groupon_Says on Twitter.

Batter is ladled out onto the surface of a steaming hot plate, and as the Chez Elle chef spreads it out into a circle with a wooden spatula, it slowly transforms into a light, crispy-edged crepe. Each tender wrap is filled with sweet and savory ingredients, from spinach, artichokes, and crème fraîche, to raspberry sauce and chocolate mousse. Vegan and gluten-free batters cater to diners of all dietary persuasions. Freshly prepared plates, sided with wine, coffee, and beer, are carried to the leather couches and sleek chairs of the dining room, or to an airy outside patio. This parisian atmosphere is cultivated by owner Ellen Trakas, who first became enamored of crepes when she lived in France. She pours that passion not only into the food, but also the eco-conscious business practices at Chez Elle. Paper goods are made with biodegradable corn rather than traditional coal dust, and the café's used coffee grounds find second homes as compost for local farms.

From the time he first started frosting cookies and cakes with his mom, Dylan has had a passion for baking. And what began as a bonding experience blossomed into a veritable skill under the tutelage of well-known Kansas City baker Chelsea Williams, helping equipping him for the intricate artistry needed to create custom cakes and desserts. Now making cakes, pies, and cookies in his own shop, Dylan shares his lifelong love with clients with collaboration on custom desserts. He works with everything from fondant designs to towering cakes that reach up to seven tiers tall, creating desserts that are as tasty as they are elegant with flavors such as red velvet, raspberry white chocolate, and Boston cream. Outside of his signature cakes, he creates pastries such as pies, tarts, and the thin, fruity slices of crostatas. The menu includes more than the stereotypical flavors, incorporating options such as ginger crinkle cookies, plum walnut strudels, and chocolate matzo toffee bars, allowing clients to find their new favorite dessert.

Authentic techniques are the key to French recipes. Understanding this, Chef Emmanuel Langlade honed his cooking skills in Marseille, France, before opening Aixois Bistro with his wife more than a decade ago.

Amid suspended orb lights and rustic, wrought-iron chandeliers, French flavors prepared by chef Miguel Sanchez delight palates at all hours. As morning light spills through enormous windows, the staff brews fresh coffee to pair with piping-hot croissants for early-bird visitors. Lunchtime guests sample favorite French sandwiches, from the classic croque-monsieurs to the egg-crowned croque madames. For dinner diners, the kitchen dishes up an elegant menu that includes two varieties of moules frites (mussels with pommes frites), as well as seafood, steak, and oven-roasted chicken. Afterward, traditional desserts such as crème brûlée topped with fresh berries cap off meals and keep sweet teeth from rebelliously biting tongues.

Armed with passed-down family recipes, two tenacious sisters serve up fresh dinner rolls baked on-site alongside sandwiches, salads, and soups that eschew preservatives in favor of all-natural ingredients. Big Momma's famous cinnamon rolls come in a triumvirate of flavors and boast diameters of up to 9 inches, making them qualified Frisbee stunt doubles. An aromatic duo of breakfast sandwiches and coffee pries open eyes each morning, and lunchtime hails a parade of hearty sandwiches with turkey, roast beef, and veggie fillings, which patrons can order solo or flanked by a bowl of the daily rotating soup.