More than a precious amuse-bouche or a lip-smacking entrée, desserts are what we most often remember in a meal. They are the crescendo of a memorable evening, what we use to celebrate, how we distract ourselves when a day goes cattywampus. Savory chefs may get more glory, but pastry chefs get more devotees.
For the 2026 CultureMap San Antonio Tastemaker Awards, we’re switching it up. Instead of just honoring the year’s most notable pastry chef, our judging panel is saluting the places that serve some of our sweetest food memories.
All the nominees will be feted at the 2026 Tastemaker Awards party at the Briscoe Museum on May 14. We’ll swoon over treats from this year’s nominated restaurants and sip cocktails from our sponsors before revealing the winners in a sweet little ceremony. Limited early bird discount tickets remain, so act quickly.
After buying your ticket, meet all the Tastemakers hopefuls through our special editorial series. Then, save room for the nine nominees for Dessert Program of the Year:
Baklovah Bakery
It takes no small amount of guts to try to outdo a classic. This Northwest Side shop says, “Hold my beer.” It took Ferrero Rocher’s beloved praline and made it into a bonbon rolled in hazelnut and topped with the actual candy. Call it jara'a, chutzpah, or self-confidence, but Baklovah puts it into everything from its namesake sweet to intricate knafeh.
Bakery Lorraine
Lord knows how many blocks of butter this Pearl institution goes through in a day. Though the mini-chain might have first become famous for its kaleidoscopic macarons, it has spent over a decade setting the city's standards for laminated dough, rolled out into croissants, kouign amann, and danishes. Multiple locations mean San Antonio no longer has an excuse to settle for less.
Clementine
On the menu, pastry chef Elise Russ presents her familial desserts with understated names. Here’s a strawberry shortcake, there’s a crunch bar presented as humbly as anything on a convenience store’s shelves. Never mind the two piped layers of chocolate mousse or the toasted almond ice cream, nor the whimsical plating. This Castle Hills spot only uses technique to deliver what dessert is actually for. This is something special; this is something just for you.
Extra Fine
Pastry chef Jessica Philpot's particular genius isn’t in reinventing forms. Those wanting sugary comfort will get a serotonin drip without having to think at all. But a chocolate chip cookie has intriguing sharpness from rye flour, a blueberry muffin zips with the addition of yuzu, and sesame adds savory, tahini-like depth to chocolate babka. Amid all that noodling is an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll that’s like a Pillsbury commercial rendered in Cinemascope.
Honchos - The House of Churros
Humanity has known this since the Middle Ages: Whether roaming around the pulga or setting off for a crusade, churros are the ideal portable dessert. Where this sweet shop ups the ante is adding in accompaniments like grape jelly, spiced caramel, almond cream, or soft-serve ice cream. Fancier chefs have tried to appropriate the weightless pastry into newfangled forms; turns out the only innovation that matters is a sugary dip.
Laika Cheesecakes
How we wish Sophia, Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose were around to see cheesecake shrunk down to individual jars. It might not have solved their occasional spats, but it would have saved the trouble of pulling every ingredient out of the fridge. Picture it: classic New York strawberry for the cranky Ms. Zbornak and a lusty raspberry lemonade for the belle, Ms. Devereaux.
Max's Sister
With a dessert scene dominated by frilly Lambeth cakes and fondant creations best left for Food Network competitions, the U.S. has seemed to have forgotten about something as American as pie. Let Andrew Weissman's newest concept reintroduce you through impossibly flaky crusts, plump blueberries and cherries, and the precise simplicity that has always been a hallmark of the chef’s concepts. Let them burst like July Fourth fireworks; let them lull you like a backyard hot dog; let them levitate you like a cartoon mouse.
Nicosi
Is Tavel Bristol-Joseph the Picasso of pastry chefs, or maybe the Jean Baudrillard? Sure, everything at Nicosi is artful, and the fare is as much thesis as dessert, but there’s also a sensuality in the way scent and taste linger past the initial yum. Maybe that’s too academic for a place that’s also exuberantly fun. How’s this? In a market clogged by franchises that reward a few Instagram likes, Bristol-Joseph is San Antonio’s most compelling reason to put down the phone.
Panifico Bake Shop
We’re certainly not going to settle any debates about the city’s best panadería, a subject that’s as locally fraught as breakfast tacos. This West Side gem keeps us coming back because it keeps changing. Over two decades of experience means each recipe has long been perfected. What’s left is play: unicorn doughnuts with puffy horns, Spurs conchas, and pan de ánimas custom orderable in almost any outfit. The pink cake is pink cake. What more do you want?
Courtesy of Bakery Lorraine
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The Tastemaker Awards ceremony is sponsored in San Antonio by NXT LVL EVENT, Maker's Mark, Lone Star Beer, Seedlip, Ritual Zero Proof, and more to be announced. A portion of the proceeds will benefit our nonprofit partner, Culinaria.
