Coffee and bakery shop an area standout

Standard in Long Island bakeries are those tempting billowy, powdered sugar coated concoctions always oozing with filling, the New York jelly donut you will simply never pass up once initiated.

I saw them closer to home Friday morning at Panificio Navona in Bethel.

The impossibly tempting dough puff was enjoyed by a friend along with a pumpkin latte, while I treated myself there to a blueberry lemon scone between sips of a standard latte with skim milk foam.

Located in Francis J. Clarke Industrial Park, home to 60 or so businesses and nestled in the Terre Haute property along Route 53, stopping here after a drive through West Redding  made me feel like I was on a country vacation. Easily I can see how I’d twitter a way a morning there and plan to return.

Juxtaposed inside an ordinary, sterile looking building is a lofty space that also houses the commercial studio of photographer Frank Navone who owns the bakery. He's made it homey and inviting elevating this coffee shop/bakery into something particularly outstanding.

There's an imaginative array of appealing historic and other kinds of artwork and furnishings, flags and bicycles – the owner I was told likes biking – among decorative objects.

But what draws your attention, of course, is the sweetly spiced aroma of fresh pastries and seeing the expanse bakery counter with its bounty of breads and pastries, from chocolate, ham and cheese and cinnamon swirl croissants, to biscotti and scones, iced cookies and other sweets.

There are also breakfast options that include egg sandwiches and a Southwestern egg wrap and on Friday and Sunday- hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.- you can have lunch with choices as artisan pizza, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, focaccia and soup, among others.

Panificio Navona well earns your patronage and any outing in the Danbury region would be rewarded with a drive here. It is also open Tuesday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon.

For more information, call 203 730 8620.