The Cristo Amann has company. A few weeks after Sugar & Sage Bakery turned Dallas on its ear with a Monte Cristo baked inside a kouign-amann, the little bakery on Lovers Lane has rolled out its fall lineup, and it is the best argument yet for setting an alarm on a Saturday morning.
If you have not been, Sugar & Sage sits at 4314 Lovers Lane, across from Highland Park High School. Alison Weinstein opened it in 2023 with her daughter, Ashley Sage Weinstein, after the two spent years eating their way through New York’s best bakeries. To run the kitchen, they hired Jill Bates, and that was the smartest thing they could have done.
Chef Jill is one of the most respected pastry chefs this city has produced. She spent years alongside Dean Fearing at The Mansion on Turtle Creek and at Fearing’s, ran the pastry program at Café Momentum, and before Sugar & Sage opened, she developed its recipes in a New York test kitchen with Michael Laiskonis, the longtime pastry chef at Le Bernardin. She is one of the hardest-working people in the business, famous for starting her day long before the doors open.
That lamination is the backbone of the fall menu. The Cookie Butter Pear Danish is the one to start with, flaky layered dough filled with cookie butter, spiced pear and a bright fruit chutney. The Honey Crisp Apple Danish goes the other direction, a buttery, crisp pastry topped with thin slices of sweet-tart Honeycrisp apple.
The Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll is big, seasonal and unapologetic, soaked in a rich maple glaze. For something a little more grown-up, the Cardamom Bun is a fragrant knotted bun built on warm cardamom. The Maple Snickerdoodle Cookie gives the cinnamon classic a chewy maple twist, and there are two muffins, a White Chocolate Cranberry Muffin and a gluten-free Apple Spice Muffin.
Then there is the savory side, which may be the real story. The Caramelized Onion Danish is packed with sweet, slow-cooked onions and melted Gruyère, then finished with a toasted sesame crust, and it is the one we are most curious about. The Bacon, Cheese & Green Onion Scone is a flaky, savory brick of a scone loaded with smoky bacon and sharp cheese.
And the Cristo Amann is still on the menu, with its ham, Gruyère and caramelized kouign-amann crust. It has been known to sell out, so if it is on your list, go early.
The fall menu is available now for a limited time, and the bakery says seasonal items rotate daily, so what is in the case on Tuesday may not be there on Wednesday. That is part of the fun. Grab a coffee, pick a few and take a seat.
Sugar & Sage Bakery is at 4314 Lovers Lane in Dallas. Call 469-759-6697, visit sugarandsagebakery.com or follow @sugarandsagebakerydallas on Instagram.
