Ramblin' Randy Award: Best Pastry

I’ve been to a lot of bakeries—hundreds, in fact. From the historic, flour-dusted kitchens of France to the legendary patisseries of Vienna and Munich. I’ve seen it all, tasted it all. So, imagine my surprise when a tiny bakery in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, gets my top honor for pastry. But that’s the beauty of this whole eating thing—being caught off guard, stumbling onto something unexpected, something that makes you stop and wonder if you’ve just had the best bite of your life. Yann Haute Patisserie’s apricot passion fruit kouign-amann? Yeah. That’s the one.

Yann’s place is a bit of an institution in Calgary. Locals call it “The Yellow House,” and once you arrive, you’ll get why. It’s a candy-colored shrine to everything sweet—macarons, chocolates, croissants, and cakes so gorgeous you might hesitate to eat them. But, hell, what’s the point in admiring them? The decision was tough, but when in doubt, I always go for the passion fruit (or maracujá, if you want to get fancy with it).

There’s something almost magical about that Danish. The apricot is sweet—almost honeyed—and then boom: the passion fruit hits you with that sharp tang, like a slap across the tongue. Sweet and sour. It leaves you a little confused, but in the best way possible. The pastry itself? Flaky yet somehow dense, like they’ve smuggled an entire stick of butter into that single bite. I’m telling you, it was so good I went back for a second, and if you know me, I don’t go back. But for this? Hell yeah, I did.