City Weekly Best of Utah 2022

Best of Utah 2022: Sips & Sweets

37 reader-voted winners in sips & sweets, from the City Weekly Best of Utah 2022 poll.

Ask Ave: What won Best of Utah 2022 for Sips & Sweets

• Best Boba TeaTea Bar

  Tea Bar serves delicious boba (tapioca pearls made from brown sugar and potato starch with a gummy texture) in delectable teas and smoothies. Offering many flavors, with several jelly/boba… — Runners-up: Space Tea, Tiger Sugar

• Best Boozy DessertsSweet Vinyl Bakeshop

  Over the last few years, Melissa Diaz's Sweet Vinyl Bakeshop has been infusing local craft beer into her gourmet cupcakes. What was a simple delight for her and her friends has quickly…

• Best Bread BakeryVosen's Bread Paradise

  Billed as a European bread paradise, Vosen's is an authentic German bakery founded in 1997 by Markus Vosen and his wife, Silvia. The bread and dessert recipes were brought from Germany or… — Runners-up: Stoneground Bakery, Eva's Bakery

• Best CandymakerHatch Family Chocolates

  Making hand-dipped chocolates is a lost art, but Stephen Hatch has been mixing up magic since 2003 with recipes passed down from his grandmother, Hazel Hatch Kaiser, a chocolate “dipper”… — Runners-up: Chocolate Covered Wagon, Kimmie's Kandies

• Best CheesecakeThe Dodo Restaurant

  Desserts at the Dodo are the stuff of legend, and their cheesecake is no exception. For years, we've come to adore these enormous slabs of traditional cheesecake, whose flavors are known to… — Runners-up: Gourmandise, Momo's Gourmet Cheesecake

• Best Chicken and WafflesPig & a Jelly Jar

  There are two types of breakfasters: those who are careful to maintain separation between the wet and dry items on their plate; and those who prefer to mash everything together and cover… — Runners-up: Hub & Spoke Diner, Mark of the Beastro

• Best Chocolate Chip CookieCrumbl Cookies

  There's nothing quite like that feeling of anticipation when a box of Crumbl cookies is delivered to your door. They're always warm and gooey as if they're coming to you right out of the… — Runners-up: RubySnap Fresh Cookies, Chip Cookies

• Best Cinnamon RollsVillage Baker

  When your freshly baked bread is among the best made in Utah and your multitude of cookies and cakes—even pizza pies—have already put you on the map, it's hard to choose just one good item… — Runners-up: Sill's Cafe, City Cakes & Cafe

• Best Coffee Drive-ThruBeans & Brews

  Since opening in 1993, “Beans” has mastered high-altitude coffee roasting and curated a menu of drinks (including those seasonal favorites) that has even the most bougie of coffee drinkers… — Runners-up: Bjorn's Brew, Caffe Expresso

• Best Coffee ShopOld Cuss Cafe

  With roots as a hand-crafted “mobile coffee camper,” Old Cuss Coffee is now rooted in place, in a location that offers a little of everything. You can buy a second-hand Western shirt, while… — Runners-up: Tres Gatos Coffee, Sugar House Coffee

• Best CookiesRubySnap

  With 20 cookie varieties baked fresh daily, free samples and a cookie-of-the-month subscription service, RubySnap is pure cookie heaven. Among bestsellers are the “Mia,” a vanilla-bean… — Runners-up: Crumbl Cookies, Chip Cookies

• Best Cream PiePie Fight

  Before Pie Fight came to town, the hand pie was largely a novelty. With their perfectly laminated and buttery crust along with a wide range of sweet and savory fillings, Pie Fight has… — Runners-up: Flake Pie Co., Monkeywrench

• Best CupcakesCity Cakes Bakery & Café

  Just to be clear about this: The category is “Best Cupcakes,” not “Best Vegan Cupcakes.” There is absolutely no asterisk required when it comes to City Cakes' amazing lineup of vegan and… — Runners-up: Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop, Sweet Tooth Fairy

• Best Decadent DessertGourmandise

  Of the countless downtown memories made by residents of and guests to Salt Lake City, a significant number surely included a stop at Gourmandise to sample the mouthwatering, expertly… — Runners-up: Fillings & Emulsions, Twisted Tiramisu

• Best Dirty Soda ShopThirst Drinks

  It's tough to come out on top of Utah's cutthroat dirty soda industry, but Thirst Drinks does with true panache—and free popcorn. Presentation is everything for a good dirty soda shop, and… — Runners-up: Fiiz Drinks, Swig

• Best Donut BakeryDonut Star

  Donuts themselves are easy to rate by their individual merits, but donut bakeries are a different beast altogether. Few donut shops embody the heart and soul of a bakery—a place warm…

• Best Donut DuoBanbury Cross Donuts

  Don't come between a Utahn and his or her donut. And in a hard-fought match, the team at Banbury Cross proved their donut dominance as they netted both reader picks for best cake and raised… — Runners-up: The Big O Doughnuts, Fresh Donuts & Deli

• Best Dragon RollKyoto Japanese Restaurant

  Accolades must be given to sushi chef Peggi Ince-Whiting. Trained by a sushi master in Tokyo, Ince-Whiting knows her sushi. Try the two dragon rolls on the menu—the original and the red… — Runners-up: Fat Fish, Tsunami Restaurant & Sushi Bar

• Best Fried Egg RollsLa-Cai Noodle House

  This restaurant opened in 1996, and foodies immediately raved about La-Cai's pho. The slurping experience can be made even more delicious (if that's possible) by ordering the crispy… — Runners-up: All Chay, The Pearl

• Best Fried SconesSill's Café

  This quaint Layton café has had fried scones on the menu since it first arrived on the scene some 50 years ago, so they've had plenty of time to hone their recipe. They have everything… — Runners-up: Navajo Hogan, Penny Ann's Café

• Best Fruit PieFlake Pie Co.

  There's nothing wrong with a good 8-inch pie that you can slice up for dessert, but the idea of snagging a personal-size fruit pie from Flake—sharing optional—is gaining popularity. All the… — Runners-up: Pie Fight, Left Fork Grill

• Best GelatoDolcetti Gelato

  Every week seems to bring new changes to the 9th & 9th neighborhood (seen the breaching whale yet?!), but at least one thing has stayed the same: The delicious gelato and just-right vibe of… — Runners-up: Sweetaly Gelato, Capo Gelateria

• Best Grocery Store BakeryHarmons Grocery

  Harmons' pastry chefs make everything fresh, including an ever-changing selection of divine and decadent desserts ranging from fancy cakes to mini-fruit tarts to chocolate croissants to… — Runners-up: Central 9th Market, Bowman's Market

• Best Hot ChocolateHatch Family Chocolates

  If all you know about hot chocolate is the powdery mix you get from downtown street vendors in December, a cup from Hatch Family Chocolates is nothing short of a miracle. With heavy cream… — Runners-up: Over the Counter Cafe, Sweet Lake Biscuits & Limeade

• Best Ice CreamNormal Ice Cream

  Soft-serve ice cream tends to play second fiddle to the more posh hand-scooped varieties, so be prepared for something of a paradigm shift at Normal, where bold, deep flavors elevate the… — Runners-up: Leatherby's Family Creamery, Monkeywrench

• Best Ice Cream SundaeLeatherby's Family Creamery

  The hardest thing about going to Leatherby's is deciding which of their monumental ice cream sundaes you want to get, followed closely by whether you want to share it or not. Hulking banana… — Runners-up: Farr Better Ice Cream, Handel's Homemade Ice Cream

• Best Meat PieFillings & Emulsions

  Some people will tell you the secret to a good savory pie is in the filling, but they've been misled. Just like sweet pies, savory pies are all about the crust. You know who makes a good… — Runners-up: The Dough Miner, Flake Pie Co.

• Best PancakesPenny Ann's Cafe

  Penny Ann's Cafe is no stranger to the breakfast categories in Best of Utah polling—their “Heavenly Hot Cakes” are a light and airy sour cream pancake that are larger than the plate it's… — Runners-up: Lazy Day Cafe, Eggs in the City

• Best Pastry ShopGourmandise

  We would hope any bona fide Utahn has visited Gourmandise by now. It's a staple of the city. The only problem here is the overwhelming choices—we'll take one of everything, please! You… — Runners-up: Fillings & Emulsions, Tulie Bakery

• Best Peanut Butter CookieRubySnap Fresh Cookies

  All the ladies at RubySnap are firecrackers, but it's the peanut buttery "Penelope" that takes the cake, er, cookie in this particular rumble. (RubySnap gives female names to its… — Runners-up: Crumbl Cookies, Nigh-Time Donuts

• Best PiercerDustin Robbins, Enso Piercing + Adornment

  If someone says they're going to give you a new hole, just hope that someone is professional piercer and owner of Enso, Dustin Robbins. There are several reasons his shop consistently gets… — Runners-up: Jade Ross,, Courtney Marriott, Abyss Body Piercing

• Best Piercing StudioKoi Piercing Studio

  For 25 years, Koi Piercing Studio has built a following thanks to the high-quality tools they use; their friendly, professional and well-trained staff; and the stunning jewelry they sell… — Runners-up: Iris Piercing Studio and Jewelry Gallery, Abyss Body Piercing

• Best Snow ConeIcy Mountain

  This Millcreek snow cone shop has been making waves among dessert-lovers since its food truck days, and demand has spiked with the opening of its brick-and-mortar store. With its regular… — Runners-up: Hokulia Shave Ice, Bahama Buck's

• Best Specialty/Custom CakesCity Cakes Bakery & Cafe

  Whether you need a cake for a birthday, your wedding day, or for, well, anything, City Cakes can go elegant, playful or classic. Notable cakes have included one blooming with sweet… — Runners-up: Fillings & Emulsions, Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop

• Best Spider RollTakashi

  Spider rolls are some of the most popular on any sushi menu. It's usually breaded or battered soft-shell crab, rolled with the chef's choice of vegetables like cucumber, avocado, daikon… — Runners-up: Itto Sushi, Kyoto Japanese Restaurant

• Best Tea ServiceThe Grand America Hotel

  Few things are more civilized than a freshly steeped cup of tea, and the Grand America Hotel brings its “A Game” to each tea service. From indulging in finger sandwiches (crust removed, of… — Runners-up: Tea Zaanti, The Tea Grotto

• Best Vegan BakeryCity Cakes & Cafe

  Vegan cuisine has taken off in recent years, and you can find vegan delights in numerous restaurants and shops. Even with all the new contenders, it's hard to beat the OG in vegan baked… — Runners-up: Sweet Hazel & Co., Yumz Vegan Bakery & Cafe