Best Coffee Cake 2013 | Maggie & Molly's Bakery | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
Navigation
Support Us
Search

Best Coffee Cake

Maggie & Molly's Bakery

Cassandra Stiltner

Maggie & Molly's Bakery, a modest spot squeezed into a strip mall, isn't the fanciest place, but it produces the town's best coffee cake — a moist, dense, sour-cream crumb cake. Old-fashioned baked goods made from scratch are a vanishing art form in these days of pre-made, pre-packaged cakes, but Maggie & Molly's is enough to make customers forget the rise of grocery-store bakeries. You can buy a thick-cut, square slice of this delectable treat, or pick up a whole cake from the pastry case — if any are still available. Your best bet is to come early or call ahead, because these cakes go fast.

Best Collectible-Toy Store

Kidrobot

No question: Paul Budnitz's Kidrobot empire is the Valhalla of the vinyl collectible-toy universe, and that was ample reason for a certain cross-section of local pop-culturists, hungry for the latest MUNNYs and Dunnys and Labbits and such, to do a little jig when the art-toy emporium opened both an office and a retail store in Boulder. That town can now boast a rarity in common with many of the world's great cities, bringing the artist-designed sculptural limited-edition Kidrobot toys to a more sophisticated Wild West.

Best Confluence of Couture

Goldyn

Bringing in lines by well-known designers like Helmut Lang, Alexander Wang and Chloe, Goldyn keeps its shelves stocked with the latest in top couture and gives Denver's high-style scene a face and a name in the international world of fashion. But it also leaves room for the little guys: Local brands Cartel Noir and The Woods get equal exposure. Goldyn also invites up-and-coming designers like Pamela Love and KORA Jewelry's Maxandra Short to Denver and holds in-store trunk shows, meet-and-greets and music-oriented cocktail hours.

Best Consignment Store for Twenty-Somethings

Uptown Cheapskate

Thanks to the proliferation of urban hipster commerce, the consignment experience is no longer confined to the pantsuit crowd, and the arrival of this upscale yet affordable chain in the 'burbs provides a welcome alternative to the malls for youth-conscious shoppers seeking the latest like-new thing from Forever 21, True Religion, Juicy and hundreds of other big labels. It's Anthropologie without apologies.

Best Craft Kit

I Heart Denver Picard Needle-Felting Kit

"It's really adorable, and it might be the only corgi needle-felting kit that I know of in the world." That's how Fancy Tiger's Amber Corcoran describes the craft kit she designed last fall for I Heart Denver, where shop mascot Denver Picard Schimek (last year's winner of the Best of Denver's award for Best Shop Dog) often holds court with shoppers and his adoring masses. Corcoran cites Denver's beautiful black-ringed eyes as a special inspiration and selling point for the kit, which retails for $14 and features custom packaging. Good dog!

Best Crash Course in Low-Tech Gardening

Nourishtheplanet.com

This low-profit, thoroughly crunchy organization, devoted to sustainable agriculture, has two campuses. The Loveland headquarters offers several aquaponic and greenhouse demonstration systems, while the mountain campus hosts alpacas, goats and free-range chickens. Students learn how these models can support viable businesses and entire communities, and free webinars make some of the material available to a much wider audience, as well.

Best Customer Service

Denver Department of Excise and Licenses

Business at the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses has been booming since medical marijuana centers were added to its task list. But director Tom Downey and his dedicated staff have done their best to make any wait pleasant. In 2011, Downey not only put a Westword rack in the waiting area, but he installed a frozen-margarita machine, too. The latter lasted only a week, but the frozen-yogurt machine he added last December has done much better. There's just one problem: Department employees are so efficient, customers barely have time to pick up their spoon and dig into the treat.

Best Customizable Accessories

Ruggedapparel.com

This Longmont-based company makes highly durable, colorful bracelets, lanyards, key chains, pet collars, leashes and more out of high-grade, made-in-USA paracord, a nylon rope favored by the military. Not only outdoorsy-stylish, they double as survival tools: Each item can be unwoven into several feet of cord, for those occasions when you wish you had a lariat, sling or some emergency tie-down gear.

Best Day Spa for Your Buck

Havana Health Spa

The Havana Health Spa doesn't mess around: $18 gets you in all day and $45 gets you a thirty-minute body scrub that's not for the timid. The discreet, no-frills rejuvenation center in a strip mall has separate men's and women's hot tubs, cold tubs, saunas, steam baths, mud rooms and poolside vanity stations for all your primping needs. Enjoy a clarifying face mask or deep-tissue massage before finishing off your day of beauty with a quiet retreat in a room full of energizing crystals. Or get a protein fix from the hard-boiled eggs cooked fresh in the sauna while you wait. Nudity isn't required, but be prepared: This is an old-school day spa, and the nakedness is abundant.

Best Denver Public Library News

Increased hours

Passing those ballot measures really works! Rather than having to cut back — something we’ve become increasingly used to — the Denver Public Library was able to extend its hours in 2013 at most branch libraries, including guaranteed weekend and evening hours at several of them. In addition, the central library reinstated its Saturday-morning hours. The reason: the passage of Measure 2A, which increased revenue for DPL. Our libraries are a precious resource; this is the kind of open-door policy we can really get behind.

Best Of Denver®

Best Of

Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy Westword may earn a portion of sales from products & services purchased through links on our site from our affiliate partners. ©2024 Denver Westword, LLC. All rights reserved.
Do Not Sell or Share My Information
Powered By Foundation