South Arlington has it sweet.
Two new bakery-cafes stepped up the sugar levels in 2012, and make sure you know the difference:
Glazed Doughnuts & Cafe is Tarrant County's first of the new "extreme doughnuts" shops.
The yeast doughnuts are bigger and fluffier than any you've ever imagined. The cake doughnuts come in a dozen exotic flavors like a red velvet creme or a finely dusted "peace powdered."
Specialties include everything from maple-bacon bars (or doughnuts) to this month's "Royal Sin": a cinnamon-brown sugar doughnut drizzled with caramel and pecans.
Glazed isn't all sugar: It also serves sandwiches on fresh baguettes and pours Portland, Ore.-based Stumptown coffees.
It's open daily for breakfast and lunch at 4306 Matlock Road, 817-557-2400; glazedcafe.com. (A new location is open on Camp Wisdom Road east of Texas 360.)
BFF Bakery, Bistro & Bar , on the other hand, is more drinkery than bakery.
This is an all-hours hangout: sort of like a grocery-store bake shop attached to a Vietnamese restaurant and bar.
BFF serves sushi, sandwiches and rice plates, but it also has one bakery specialty: croissants.
The pain au chocolat is one of the best croissants in the market. Customers were grabbing for the almond croissants.
Mostly, BFF is a big, confusing mess.
Why isn't a French bakery open at breakfast? Besides the croissants, where exactly is the "French" side of this so-called French-Vietnamese restaurant? What exactly is French or Vietnamese about red velvet cake (a local Arlington favorite)? Why is everybody in the bar?
Try a chocolate croissant anyway; 6501 S. Cooper St., 817-617-3450, bffbistro.com.
Fort Worth needed a bit more Grace.
With his fine-dining restaurant thriving, Grace owner Dain " Adam" Jones now plans a casual grill nearby: Little Red Wasp.
Little Red Wasp will serve "American classic" dishes at lunch and dinner daily along with wines, cocktails and a choice of 100 beers, Jones wrote this week.
He can't say much more yet, but Little Red Wasp won't be far from Grace, 777 Main St.; gracefortworth.com.
With Il Cane Rosso opening a new restaurant in Dallas soon, this week is the pizza truck's final Friday appearance at Swiss Pastry Shop in Fort Worth; 3936 W. Vickery Blvd., swisspastryonline.com.
Cane Rosso will continue making Thursday visits to Times Ten Cellars; 1100 Foch St., 817-336-9463, timestencellars.com.
The new Chop House Burgers in Mansfield should open this weekend or next week; 2860 Farm Road 157 (South Cooper Street).
Bud Kennedy's Eats Beat appears Wednesdays in Life & Arts and Fridays in DFW.com Weekend. 817-390-7538
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