“Little treat culture” is everywhere these days, but it’s been a fixture of social media memes, pop culture, and thought pieces for ages. See: We have Parks and Recreation to thank for the famous “Treat yo’self” scene. In case you’re unfamiliar, little treats are micro-moments of delight, an opportunity to turn a mundane moment—say, an afternoon matcha run or post-lunch sweet—into a romanticized indulgence. Some (ahem, me) would argue little treats are an act of self-care and achievable luxury.
In a world where prices continue to rise and current events feel unstable, the proliferation of little treat culture signals a small-but-mighty act by its advocates to exert a modicum of control (and joy) over their day. Little treats buoy us against the storm.
As Bon Appétit editors traveled the country for our Best New Restaurants 2026, many of us had downtime to wander and research meals beyond dinner. When we reconvened at the office, we discovered that each of us had indulged in a little side scouting action, seeking out something savory, sweet, and spirited to kill time between restaurant assignments. Here are our favorite 11 little treats, an ode to the tiny edible luxuries that lifted our spirits and made us smile when we were far from home. –Joseph Hernandez
The Best New Restaurants of 2026
Our definitive list of the year’s top US openings is here.
Peanut Butter Shoyu Pie
The Wayland Mill (Best New Restaurant 2026)
Seattle, WA
Once you make it to the front of a (very long, very worthwhile) line at The Wayland Mill in Seattle, you’ll be greeted by a friendly server and a gleaming pastry case. The daily rotation of baked treats means you’re always in store for a little surprise. Perhaps you’ll see a stack of pastry chef Ellary Collins’ Gohan gooey butter cookies, a plate of hojicha canele, or some flaky ginger-scallion bacon scones. The best course of action is to get as many selections as your party can handle, but please, don’t skip a slice of the shoyu peanut butter pie. Its chocolate-and-black-sesame sable crust is filled with an airy whipped peanut butter, cream cheese, and shoyu filling that’s boldly salty-sweet, but still definitely a dessert. The crème fraîche whip and crunchy candied peanuts on top cut the richness without muting the flavor. On second thought, skip the slice and just order a whole pie. —Kelsey Jane Youngman
Passionfruit lime icebox pie from Chainsaw in Los AngelesPhotograph by June Kim
Passionfruit Lime Icebox Pie
This passionfruit lime icebox pie may not have launched a thousand ships, but it certainly started the cult following that is Chainsaw Cafe. A toasty graham cracker crust sets the base providing a buttery, salty counterpoint to the silky, chilled filling. The creamy consistency gives the pie a dreamy texture, with little pops of crunch from the passionfruit seeds flecked throughout the custard. It’s topped with a crema whipped cream and finished with plenty of lime zest and a crunchy citrus-infused coarse sugar. One bite is a suckerpunch of bold, tropical flavor: tart, sweet, floral, and utterly addictive. It’s the kind of pie that feels simultaneously indulgent, impossibly light, and easy to understand why it became the dessert that put Chainsaw Cafe on the map. —June Kim
Banana Rum Cake
You’ll be able to smell this banana rum cake before it even hits the table even amidst the many smells of the dining room at Cotoa. The banana cake comes in the form of a rectangular slab (which I wish was quadruple the size) that gets topped with deeply caramelized coins of banana, salted toffee, and cacao nibs, and sits next to a scoop of ice cream—it might be cacao sorbet one day and banana stracciatella gelato the next. Every dish at this soulful Ecuadorian restaurant in Miami Shores utilizes ingredients that are not only common in Ecuadorian cooking, but are also staples in Miami, whether bananas, cassava, or cacao, and this grand finale-worthy dessert is no exception. —Kate Kassin
Sticky Toffee Pudding
On Hillhurst, a hip street in Los Angeles, you’ll find a crowd surrounding Wilde’s crimson front door. And while you should give almost every dish a whirl, you must, must order the sticky toffee pudding to end your meal. Delicate and restrained, the dish feels original. A generous slice of pudding sits atop a crème fraîche custard, its surface brûléed beneath a coarse sugar crust, and is anything but stodgy or cloying. The crunch of the sugared crust, the airy yet rich texture of the pudding, with deeply caramelized notes of dates soaked in British tea, It’s the perfect ending to a meal at Wilde’s: unmistakably British, with just enough lightness and ease to feel entirely at home in Los Angeles. —J.K.
Agua fresca from OK Chicken & Khao Soi in Portland, OregonPhotograph by Kelsey Jane Youngman
Watermelon Agua Fresca
OK Chicken & Khao Soi
Portland, OR
In the former Pok Pok space, OK Chicken & Khao Soi is a late-night, pleasantly-crammed Northern Thai spot you’ll want to linger in. Paper menus allow diners to tick off orders of lip-tingling laab, luscious khao soi, and juicy pomelo salad, feeling like a never-ending invitation to add just one more course. And while the boozy drinks entice (hello, Dr. Girlfriend, a rummy, ultra-citrusy Dr. Pepper cocktail), the spirits-optional N/A menu confidently takes the prime spot. Tea slushies, lemonades, fruit punches, and aguas frescas are confidently complete on their own; a splash of a spirit is an optional pairing rather than the standard offering. Sipping on the watermelon, calamansi, ginger agua fresca was just the right pairing with my boldly piquant dinner. The tart-floral calamansi and mouth-warming ginger are the kicky foil to the honeyed sweetness of watermelon juice I never knew I needed. —K.J.Y.
Sausage-Stuffed Olives
Over in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, Radicle is everything a night out should be. From the team behind farm-driven Daisies, it is vibey and buzzy, centering an affordable drinks list of wines under $15 and cocktails under $12. A selection of soft, chewy crusted pizzas share menu space with snacky little things, an adventure for fans of apero hour. My favorite is the deep-fried, Italian sausage-stuffed olives, served with a kicky preserved lemon aioli. They’re crunchy, briny, shockingly filling, and most importantly, a whole lot of fun. I just wanna sidle up to the bar with a big ol’ spritz and an order of these with one of my gal pals, then yap the night away. —J.H.
Black Sesame Swiss Roll
There are plenty of must-orders at Babychan in Nashville, the all-day Japanese café slash bakery from the same duo that owns Kisser (one of our Best New Restaurants of 2024). But if you were to stop by this Germantown spot for one single treat, it must be the black sesame Swiss roll, a nutty and earthy gray fluffy cake swirl that wraps around a silky, cloud-like cream filling. I’d file this in the sweet category (versus savory pastries like the curry egg tart), but it’s just sweet enough, which I say as a true compliment. Pair the Swiss roll with one of Babychan’s specialty drinks, like the miso caramel latte or banana hojicha, or go all in with the black sesame latte. —K.K.
Cannoli from Hilltown Hotpies in Egremont, MassachusettsPhotograph by Chris Morocco
Hilltown Cannoli
This year’s best cannoli didn’t come from any of the Italian-American bakeries I toured while taking my kids on a red sauce roadtrip across the Northeast. It came unexpectedly, in Egremont, Massachusetts at the tail end of our meal at Hilltown Hotpies, a pizza pop-up turned brick and mortar from chef Rafi Bildner. Thin-shelled yet not overly delicate, stuffed with amarena cherry-scented light ricotta bookended by bitter dark chocolate chips. It was extraordinary, a showcase for what balance and restraint can achieve in a dessert that rides the line between sweet and savory. It has been 6 months since that dinner, and the note I took after finishing our meal is still as true today as it was then: “Nobody does cannoli like this.” —Chris Morocco
Yuzu and Jasmine Eclair
The pastry game at Milli by Metric in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood is no joke. Head baker Lou Turner (formerly pastry chef at Obelix, a French bistro in the city’s River North) churns out superb pastries that invite obsession. The place is stunning, and predictably, the coffee game is on point. (Metric roasts its coffee on site, as well.) On my visit, a drizzly Chicago day that forced me to slow down and linger, I went up to the pastry counter three times, eventually buying out 90% of the case, my curiosity unsated until I tried everything. (I had a friend with me; I’m not a gluttonous Studio Ghibli character, I promise.) Don’t expect too many repeats here; Turner bakes with the seasons, with interesting flavor combos. Think pawpaw caramel eclairs during early autumn, or ever-shifting canelé depending on available produce. The highlight of my visit: a yuzu-jasmine eclair that was as delicate as a glass slipper. Impossibly creamy with a crackly, pleasing shell, it tasted like a dream of spring, despite the weather outside. —J.H.
Okinawa Black Sugar Canelé
I’d brought a dining companion to San Francisco’s Ferry Building, promising him we’d share as many pastries as he could handle as we caught up. I think he was slightly disappointed to find that all I could talk about was Parachute Bakery’s black Okinawa sugar canelé. I couldn’t help myself. It was profoundly, soul-settlingly delicious. Black sugar has a distinctly molasses quality which, in a canelé, makes for a deeply caramelized flavor that you just don’t find in other pastry. Small but mighty, Parachute’s canelé is a powerhouse of a little treat. —Sam Stone
Seasonal ice cream at Bar Chenin in DetroitPhotograph by Joseph Hernandez
Ice Cream and a Glass of Wine
Bar Chenin is the little wine bar that could. A wine geek’s fever dream, this teeny tiny 10-seater tucked into Detroit’s Siren Hotel feels like a genuine discovery if you can grab a seat. The name of the game is an energetic wine list favoring biodynamic and natural wines, snacks, cocktails and… ice cream. It’s low-lit, convivial, and transportive—it feels like a French wine cave or a Spanish tapas joint airdropped into the heart of Detroit. The kitchen is small but mighty—don’t skip the Detroit pie, which reminds me of the Scholastic Book Fair pizza party prize of my long-gone youth. Or, keep it simple: Pair an ephemeral bottle of wine with ever-changing scoops of sorbet, gelato, or ice cream in flavors like raspberry-basil, strawberry, even sourdough soft serve if you’re lucky enough to be in town for the occasion. —J.H.
Source: www.bonappetit.com
