# 2026 Best New Bakeries in America > Chicago’s Bad Butter, LA’s Chainsaw, Brooklyn’s Diljān and SF’s Parachute Bakery lead Eater’s 2026 awards. - Title: 2026 Best New Bakeries in America · Eater | Shortify - Summary: Chicago’s Bad Butter, LA’s Chainsaw, Brooklyn’s Diljān and SF’s Parachute Bakery lead Eater’s 2026 awards. - Keywords: bad butter, chainsaw, diljān, parachute bakery, eater awards, 2026, bakeries, chicago, los angeles, brooklyn, san francisco, baking - Source: Eater — https://eater.com/dining-out/993548/best-new-bakeries-2026-eater-awards - Author: Eater Staff - Published: 2026-11-10T15:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 1 min - Topics: bad butter, chainsaw, diljān, parachute bakery, eater awards, 2026, bakeries, chicago, los angeles, brooklyn, san francisco, baking ## The Rise of Bakeries Bakeries have stepped up their game with personal expressions of identity and innovative flavor combinations. > If there’s one thing we’ve noticed over the past several years, it’s how much bakeries have stepped up their game. ## Bad Butter in Chicago Bad Butter’s line cascades out of its Chicago storefront, with former Soho House head baker Dan Koester launching his online bakery in 2020. > Formerly a head baker at Soho House Chicago, Dan Koester was stuck at home like the rest of us in 2020, handing off excess home-baked sourdough loaves to friends and family and making some available for free pickup. ## Chainsaw in Los Angeles Chainsaw, a Venezuelan-inspired bakery in Los Angeles, opened in November 2025 with a menu featuring arepas, guasacaca, and passionfruit-lime icebox pie. > Born as an underground dinner party operated out of Karla Subero Pittol’s Echo Park garage, Chainsaw finally got its own digs in November 2025 in the form of a lively cafe in Melrose Hill. ## Diljān in Brooklyn Diljān blends Afghan and Latin American flavors in Brooklyn with items like halwa sticky buns and saffron cream-filled crescents. > With both Afghan and Latin American influences, Diljān gives New Yorkers a bakery with a point of view and innumerable reasons to become a regular. ## Parachute Bakery in San Francisco Parachute Bakery in San Francisco combines fine dining training with seasonal pastries like lychee-laden bowtie croissants and cube croissants. > At his Ferry Building bakery, pastry chef Nasir Armar marries his fine dining training, honed at Michelin-starred Sorrel and Saison, with flavors that make everyone sit up and take notice. ## The Pastry Project in Seattle Seattle’s The Pastry Project offers free pastry education and career training for individuals with barriers to employment, serving 41 students across nine cohorts. > So far, 41 students across nine cohorts have participated in the program. ## Eater Awards 2026 Eater’s 2026 awards highlight bakeries that excel in innovation, community impact, and seasonal menu offerings. > The 2026 Best New Bakeries in America ## Bad Butter’s Menu Bad Butter serves scallion furikake focaccia, twice-baked almond croissants, and spicy harissa monkey bread with labneh. > Still warm, charred, and dimpled flats of focaccia showered with scallion furikake rest on its shelves. Impossibly crisp and exquisitely laminated twice-baked almond croissants burst with subtle, aromatic almond paste. ## Chainsaw’s Impact Chainsaw’s icebox pie and Venezuelan dishes have become cult favorites in Los Angeles’s Melrose Hill neighborhood. > The cafe’s impact on Los Angeles feels clear in the near-constant crowds that hover outside, reading their newspapers over an espresso or tucking into the latest of Subero Pittol’s ideas. ## Diljān’s Specialties Diljān features saffron cream-filled crescents, halwa sticky buns, and Afghan flatbread with halal beef bacon. > For the Saffron Shah, laminated pastry holds delicate saffron cream in the shape of a crescent, an important Islamic symbol. ## Parachute’s Seasonal Creations Parachute Bakery creates seasonal pastries like mango on vanilla tapioca pudding and fennel jam with sheep’s milk ricotta. > A summertime mango is sliced into a bulging mound atop a bed of vanilla tapioca pudding, with a croissant pastry shell as its base. ## The Pastry Project’s Mission The Pastry Project in Seattle provides free pastry education and career training for 41 students across nine cohorts. > So far, 41 students across nine cohorts have participated in the program. ## Key takeaway Eater’s 2026 awards spotlight four innovative bakeries: Bad Butter in Chicago, Chainsaw in Los Angeles, Diljān in Brooklyn, and Parachute Bakery in San Francisco.