Best Buns, Great American Restaurant Group's Central Bakery - Shirlington Village

[tobychun]

Could I be alone in my admiration of Best Buns in Shirlington? I love the apple monkey bread and their egg/cheese/turkey sausage breakfast sandwich. Their cupcakes are quite sizable and nicely moist, with lots of great flavors. And I really appreciate their great attitude on customer service, just very pleasant/cheerful and focused on making the customer happy; I'm always surprised that more places aren't like this. The ability to enjoy my breakfast sitting in a booth next door at Carlyle's is a nice plus.

[pupatella]

Could I be alone in my admiration of Best Buns in Shirlington? I love the apple monkey bread and their egg/cheese/turkey sausage breakfast sandwich. Their cupcakes are quite sizable and nicely moist, with lots of great flavors. And I really appreciate their great attitude on customer service, just very pleasant/cheerful and focused on making the customer happy; I'm always surprised that more places aren't like this. The ability to enjoy my breakfast sitting in a booth next door at Carlyle's is a nice plus.

We love this place too.

The croissants are some of the best in the area (and also the butteriest), the pecan buns are sticky and moist and their savory breads are the best than any bakery I've been too.

The scones and the muffins are much better at Northside Social.

[DonRocks]

Could I be alone in my admiration of Best Buns in Shirlington?

Nope.

The croissants are some of the best in the area (and also the butteriest),

Yep.

[wlohmann]

We can vouch for their customer service for sure -- went in last Wednesday needing a loaf of quickbread. They only had slices at the time but offered to bake some to order and had two loaves ready by 2 pm!

[Soup]

Could I be alone in my admiration of Best Buns in Shirlington? I love the apple monkey bread and their egg/cheese/turkey sausage breakfast sandwich. Their cupcakes are quite sizable and nicely moist, with lots of great flavors. And I really appreciate their great attitude on customer service, just very pleasant/cheerful and focused on making the customer happy; I'm always surprised that more places aren't like this. The ability to enjoy my breakfast sitting in a booth next door at Carlyle's is a nice plus.

Great baked goods. Even the bagels are decent but the standout is clearly the french baguett.

D

Soup

[KMango]

Just a quick shout out to this Shirlington staple. We snagged a "David's AM Drum Roll" (turkey sausage, mild cheddar, and fried egg on toasted icebox bread) and a few pastries this morning for guests. Fresh and delicious as always, with smiling staff providing quick service.

This morning, a sign in the bakery indicated seating is available next door (at the Carlyle Grand ) until 4PM weekdays. I should have taken a photo to obtain the exact hours, but this seems a wider window than the past, and a welcomed development.

[Genevieve]

Best Buns has my absolute favorite cupcakes in the area (certainly my favorite cupcakes by a mile in Shirlington -- sorry, CakeLove). They're tender and flavorful and moist and have meltingly good ganache frosting (I'm sure the others have delicious frosting, I remember another one being good -- but the ganache is so luscious that I always get the one with that!).

Also love their fresh mozzarella/tomato/pesto/onion (roasted?) sandwich on a perfect crusty bread -- it has a zingier, more full flavor than the similar sandwich anywhere else. And their foccacia is excellent as well (my son used to get it for lunch and I'd have to sneak a bite).

[silentbob]

Anyone know if they sell the same addictive, donut-like rolls offered in the bread basket at Coastal Flats?  I can't quite tell from their online bread menu.

[ktmoomau]

Anyone know if they sell the same addictive, donut-like rolls offered in the bread basket at Coastal Flats?  I can't quite tell from their online bread menu.

They don't, and I have never understood why not.

[weezy]

I think it's because they get stale so very fast.  It's basically a beignet, meant to be eaten ASAP after it gets out of the fryer and before it cools, even more delicate than a yeast raised doughnut.   The quality just wouldn't hold up for a bakery  tray set out for a couple of hours or more, and then a trip home, then maybe wait til breakfast tomorrow.... 

[ktmoomau]

I think it's because they get stale so very fast.  It's basically a beignet, meant to be eaten ASAP after it gets out of the fryer and before it cools, even more delicate than a yeast raised doughnut.   The quality just wouldn't hold up for a bakery  tray set out for a couple of hours or more, and then a trip home, then maybe wait til breakfast tomorrow.... 

So they make the bread baskets to order for these?  That seems impressive for GAR to do on the spot all day everyday.

[DonRocks]

So they make the bread baskets to order for these?  That seems impressive for GAR to do on the spot all day everyday.

Those beignets are absolutely not fried to order - they may be fried in relatively small(-ish) batches throughout the day, but aside from it being physically impossible for the restaurants to pull it off, the beignets don't come across as being "pulled from the fryer." If I'm wrong, someone please correct me, but I don't see how I possibly could be - the beignets arrive slightly warm, not hot, and I've had them many dozens of times (the quality of both the beignets, and the bread basket as a whole, have also markedly deteriorated over the years, but that's another story).

Now I'm curious why they don't serve these at Coastal Flats.