Coffee & Treats in University City

At Black Bear Bakery, every batch of Lickhalter sourdough-rye bread, sweet pastries, and crunchy granola is made with the care of a shop owner. That’s because each staff member serves as a partial owner of the communal shop. This makes each staff member feel a personal responsibility for creating a shop they’d like their family to come to, encouraging them to use eco-friendly processes and locally sourced, organic ingredients. Along with whole-grain recipes filled with specialty ingredients such as kalamata olives and rosemary, bakers use century-old recipes passed down from the owners of Lickhalter Bakery. These recipes create hearty sourdough-rye loaves sprinkled with caraway seeds or twisted together with pumpernickel dough.

While breads are their specialty, bakers fill their ovens with more than just bread loaves. They craft handmade, boiled bagels that come sans holes, as well as cookies, baked granola, pizza crusts, and a variety of buns. On the weekends, they welcome the community for a vegetarian and vegan brunch, which features staples such as pancakes, quiche, potatoes, and bread pudding made from their loaves. These dishes can be washed down with pours of fair trade coffee, juice, tea, or pastry filling.

Being the first espresso bar in St. Louis had its drawbacks. When The Brevé Coffee Company opened its doors in 1995, the concept of a latte was unfamiliar to most residents in the downtown area, and the shop only made $58 its first day in business. But as owner Kevin Wiesehan and his wife added in flavorful small-batch-roasted coffee beans, a panini press, and savory café food, business started to boom. Brevé now has three locations throughout the St. Louis area.

In these coffee shops, baristas serve up expertly poured coffees alongside sandwiches, veggie wraps, and salads. Hand-dipped ice-cream treats with Ghirardelli chocolate, shots of house espresso, or foamy pours of root beer are both decadent and refreshing, much like waltzing with an ice sculpture of Fred Astaire.

Following in the footsteps of numerically shaped oat cereal and president-profile pasta, Sugardaddy's distinctively circle-shaped confections prove that well-formed fare always tastes better. Premium semi-sweet chocolate swirled with unsweetened chocolate and fine espresso give the signature brunettes their intensely decadent flavor. The rich mint might tempt gum chewers, while the dark berry offers a touch of just-picked flavor. You can also get your brownies tinged with citrus, bursting with peanut butter, or spontaneously combusting with walnuts. If you don't even like your humor dark, batter up with a more buttery bite and try the blondies. The sugary snacks explode with brown sugar for a moist, indulgent pick-me-up. Sugardaddy's offers four featured blends: cinnamon, nutty, strawberry, and Tahiti. Learn more about every flavor here.

The brainchild of former Washington University medical research Bill Courtney, Cheese-ology Macaroni & Cheese has been lauded by Riverfront Times as the best restaurant concept of 2010 for its assemblage of more than a dozen mac 'n' cheese varieties. Alongside a series of limited-edition macs, customers can treat taste buds to meat, vegetarian, and vegan macaroni dishes and salads brimming with such tasty ingredients as steak, kalamata olives, and vegan cheese from Daiya. A plethora of libations helps bites of noodles and cheese sail smoothly down the gastro canals of each feaster, and cools down patrons who have spent the day emptying gravy-mix packets into a neighbor's pool.