A new Seattle bakery was just recognized as one of the best in the country. The Pastry Project in Pioneer Square (known and celebrated for its summer soft serve window for several years now) just opened a bakery window last fall. Their bakery offerings have already become a local favorite, and now the 2026 Eater Awards have included The Pastry Project in an all-new award category: Best New Bakeries.
The 2026 Eater Awards is now in its 17th year and just debuted several all-new categories “to better capture the breadth of dining in the U.S.” For the first time, the Eater Awards is recognizing the country’s best new bakeries with a separate list. The motivation came from acknowledging “how much bakeries have stepped up their game.” The list included five new bakeries located in cities across the United States, including The Pastry Project in Seattle.
Here’s an excerpt of what Eater had to say about The Pastry Project:
“Various iterations of the Pastry Project have been around for a few years now, but until recently, the public had to pick up a baking kit or wait until summer for the walk-up window to swing open for its popular soft serve ice cream. That changed when founders Emily Kim and Heather Hodge debuted their bakery window last fall, ensuring access to the Pastry Project’s salted chocolate chip cookies year-round, alongside seasonal rotating treats like maple-sweetened pancake croissant wheels and feather-light peanut butter and jelly cakes with whipped peanut frosting.”
Eater also called out The Pastry Project’s greater mission and service to the community. They offer a free baking and pastry training program designed to help individuals facing barriers to employment. The Pastry Project is currently in the process of choosing their tenth class for the training program…