Façade Bakery

Sourdough, croissants and a Nicaraguan single origin

The bread is the spine here, and everything else in the case leans on it. Façade Bakery works from a sourdough base, with French pastry built on top of it and a kitchen that buys seasonally and from local farms rather than working to a fixed menu. Coffee belongs to the same idea instead of sitting beside it: organic single-origin beans from Nicaragua, chosen for drinks meant to hold their own against butter-heavy pastry. The room in downtown Coral Gables gives little away from the street, a tinted glass door and a small sign, so the first thing you register on the way in is the bakery counter and the smell coming off it.

A daytime room, busiest at breakfast

Façade reads as a morning and midday place rather than an evening one. Breakfast and brunch are the strongest hours and the room fills quickly for them: the design is minimalist and close to elegant, all clean lines and natural light, but the service is walk-up bakery, with ordering at the counter and tables that turn over steadily. The staff work the room warmly enough that it functions as a neighbourhood habit rather than a design piece. The menu invites repeat decisions across the day, coffee and a croissant early, a fuller breakfast plate at brunch, then something sourdough-based at lunch. The bakery opened in 2025 and moved fast enough from quiet debut to local fixture that a second location in North Miami followed.

Order matcha, then ham and cheese, then cake

The Ham & Cheese Croissant is the item most identified with the counter and the clearest first order for anyone who wants the savoury side. On the sweet side the French vocabulary is straightforward: pain au chocolat, an almond croissant, a chocolate croissant balanced rather than sugary, a caramelised onion and ricotta danish that splits the difference, a cinnamon roll, and an olive oil cake for anyone past the pastry stage. Technique carries all of it, buttery lamination and careful finishing rather than a wide sweets counter, and the sourdough loaves themselves are worth taking home if the pastry has already gone. For drinks, the Cornflake Matcha is the distinctive non-coffee order and the Tiramisu Iced Latte the sweetest coffee one; otherwise the Nicaraguan single origin is the thing to drink, and it was picked with flaky pastry in mind.