Dessert Still Makes Us Happy

Last year, USA Today posed the question: Is dessert a dying category? It seems, according to NPD Group, a market research company that conducts an annual “Eating Patterns in America” survey, that fewer diners are eating dessert.

That doesn’t appear to be the case in the Mile High City: Last week, Ace Eat Serve pastry chef Nadine Donovan released her largest menu, complete with a yuzu dreamsicle, to date. On Valentine’s Day, the Humble Pie Store (pictured) started slinging sweet and savory pies on Colfax Avenue. Three weeks before that, Temple Bakery in Curtis Park began stocking the pastry case with monkey bread, cookies, doughnuts, and pies. And that’s not to mention the influx of ice cream in this town: Sweet Cow opened in Platt Park; Little Man is expanding into Congress Park; High Point Creamery is opening its second space in Central Market; Frozen Matter is coming in Uptown; and Boulder is getting Heifer and the Hen.

Dessert is clearly still big business here, perhaps because we play hard enough in the great outdoors to believe in reward. For my prize, I’ll take Humble Pie’s very southern chocolate-chess or the dreamy blackberry-pear. The mini size (pies also come in medium and full) is big enough to feel like an indulgence but small enough so I don’t have to share.

Tip: If you eat there, ask the staff to warm the noncustard pies—and, if it’s evening, pair your selection with a cocktail.

3550 E. Colfax Ave., 720-479-8690