Ondine Clark-Bonk

I f you have a sweet tooth like me, this may help you. I’ve always loved the treats in Marquette, but it’s not just the food, it’s the places and people that make our town special. Now if you’ve lived in this area for a while, this guide might not be quite as helpful then it is for visitors. Even if you don’t need this guide, others might. So if you have a friend visiting who loves sweets like me, share this column with others. Now let’s begin.

My favorite sugar station in Marquette is hard to place, but here are things I’d like to think of as the epitome of sweet (and delicious) in our town.

231 West has the best macarons. They always have cool flavors and change them frequently. If you don’t know the flavors, always feel free to ask an employee (I ask every time). When you walk into 231, everything is so bright. They have chairs that are literally ski lifts. There are cotton clouds on the ceiling and beautiful glass paintings with tie-dye colors all smushed on glass and-sorry. I’m getting distracted. Hopefully, I’m making you want to stand up, walk out your door, and go to 231 Washington St. Just because this is a sweet treat guide, doesn’t mean I won’t tell you about savory treats. 231 also has burritos (meat and vegetarian) to fill you up. I’m not the best at describing things, but the food at 231 tastes almost…rainbow? Hey, I’m not lying!

Contrast Coffee Co. is up next. Contrast has the BEST crepes ever! The savory choices include; Red Rooster Crepe (chicken, swiss, spring mix & house-made creamy sriracha.), Italian Job Crepe (ham, pepperoni, salami, pesto, goat cheese, spring mix) and the sweet(most important) include Strawberry Fields and many others. They also serve so many different drinks. The kitchen, which serves the crepes, only stays open until 3 p.m. so be warned. The people there are so friendly, I got three of their autographs. They have a to-go service too. Wow, I sound like an advertiser.

For ice cream, there is Jilbert’s. The Lakeshore Depot and Phil’s 550 also serve Jilbert’s ice cream. For more frozen desserts consider Frosty Treats (open seasonally) Provisions (although they serve gelato, not ice cream), and Yoop-phoria (although they serve frozen yogurt).

For candy, ice cream, and food, go to Doncker’s. My go-to candy order is either chocolate-covered raisins or nonpareils. The sweet stuff is on the first floor, and the food is on the second. My go-to ice cream order is Zanzibar, which is a really rich chocolate ice cream.

Baby Cakes offers muffins including my favorites, which are; chocolate chip, and almond poppy seed. They also have different tarts and drinks. They aslo always have a trivia question written on the chalkboard you can try and solve. Muffins with a side of trivia! What’s better than that? But most of all it’s the cozy, calm, feeling Baby Cakes has when you enter that makes it so lovable.

Well, I think my column is coming to an end. I hope you are officially starving. I’m going to go order an almond poppy seed muffin from Baby Cakes. Bye!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ondine Clark-Bonk is 10 and loves drawing, hockey, and tacos. She has two spoiled cats and a hilarious big sister.