D Bar Bakery & Cafe - Central Park

D Bar's Central Park spot is what's left after the old uptown D Bar restaurant closed, and the format change is the thing to know going in. This is a small bakery cafe with a chef-driven pastry case, not the dessert-bar experience that built the original D Bar reputation. The room is warm and cozy with a handful of indoor tables, four outdoor, password-protected wifi, and a parking lot behind the building, which is more than most Denver neighborhood cafes can offer. The chef pedigree shows in the case.

Kathryn at the counter gets named over and over. Service stays quick and friendly even during steady streams of customers, which is harder to pull off than it looks. The almond croissant is the headliner and pulls comparisons to top European bakeries from people who'd know. The snickerdoodle cookie is the second order. Cupcakes including gluten-free, custom cakes for events, classic and apple-pie cinnamon rolls, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos. There's a happy hour worth knowing about for the regulars who want to extend the day. The chai latte is the non-coffee drink to know.

The cappuccino and the chai latte are the drink picks. The pastry program is what justifies the trip. If you're a Stapleton regular building a Saturday morning around a croissant and a coffee with a kid in tow and a car to park, this is the bakery for the routine. The parking, the password wifi, and Kathryn at the counter are the three things that make it a real neighborhood anchor rather than just a pastry case. If you're driving across town hoping to recreate the old uptown plated-dessert experience, that's not here anymore. The new format is its own thing, and on its own terms it's working. Almond croissant first. Apple pie cinnamon roll second. The breakfast sandwich on a slow morning when you want something more substantial than pastry. That's the rotation.