No good bakeries in Charlotte?

When it comes to magazine and web sites doing "best of" Southern food lists, we in Charlotte are used to the dis. No, we can't hold a candle to Charleston on a "best food city in the South" list (subject of a poll in Southern Living that will be announced in April - go, Raleigh).

But Charlotte doesn't have a good BAKERY? Maybe 10 or 15 years ago that was true, but we've had an absolute rebirth of baking. We've got Amelie's. We've got Sunflour. We've got good ol' Suarez. We've got Great Harvest and Cloud Nine, Edible Art and Polka Dot, Nona's and Tizzerts and Down Home Baking in Waxhaw. Around here, bakeries are definitely on the rise.

So picture our sadness when we got the January issue of Southern Living, with a big article on Best Bakeries in the South. Atlanta food writer Bill Addison was sent in search of great places for cakes, pies, cookies and breads. And did Charlotte end up with a toe on the list? Nope.

Addison must have driven right by here, too: He went from Atlanta to Durham, for the justifiably wonderful Scratch. He managed to find Maxie B's in Greenboro, and two in Sugar Bakeshop and Wildflour in Charleston. But apparently, our reputation as the White Bread Capital of the South wasn't enough to justify a stop.

I'd have gladly bought him a twice-baked almond croissant at Amelie's. How about it, bakery fans? If Bill Addison had stopped in Charlotte, which bakery favorite would you offer him?