Best bet for breakfast

One bite of a dinner plate–size maple Texas doughnut from the Cottage Bakery & Deli (pictured; $; 118 Pacific Ave. S., Long Beach; 360/642-4441), and the kids will never cry for pancakes on Christmas morning again. Run by moonlighting Mayor Bob Andrew and his wife, Judi, since ’74, this sweet-smelling place is mobbed in the summer—but you can step right up now. Then follow the scent of burnt caramel a few blocks south to Long Beach Coffee Roasters (811 Pacific; 360/642-2334), where owners Mandy Metzger and Kelly Walker fire up the Diedrich roaster, and locals settle into sofas to sip Discovery Coast Dark, finish a puzzle, or play the piano.