Node-webkit works great. Our build process is simple: minimizing js files and copying files into a release folder. Grunt node-webkit takes care of creating binaries for Mac and Win. Making changes in development is easy. You basically just refresh the page in node-webkit and new version is loaded.
We use the same code base in the desktop app and online [2]. The only difference is that desktop app has additional code for working with local files and native windows.
At first I was doing it with Chrome packaged apps. But the security model there is more complex and working with local files and supporting the ability to open & edit pages from the internet required jumping through many loopholes and passing messages around between frames with different security privileges.
With node-webkit everything simply just worked from the start.
[1] http://pinegrow.com [2] http://pinegrow.com/edit.html?page=index.html
Cordova is the open source project uses the same code magic that phonegap does, and can be installed on your local machine. I have not mixed it into the grunt built tool yet, but I think the hardest part is installing cordova & ready the documentation
To answer a few questions posed here: 1) It worked great for me, but we were doing a very simple presentation type app
2) grunt-node-webkit-builder is pretty great, saves ~15 minutes for each build, grunt takes a little bit to get going, but is easier than most php / ruby tools I've used
3) You don't have to use Angular, Jade, or Coffescript
4) While I did not take advantage of using a database, I suspect someone else has and it's not a big deal.
Also for anyone interested the same code we ran through node-webkit, worked well with build.phonegap.com, which means it would also work with Cordova (http://cordova.apache.org/) adding mobile device support into the build process would be very impressive, as would a node-webkit GUI build tool.
If I had all the time & attention span in the world, combining a node desktop+mobile build tool with an IDE like light table into a complete package that had a simple installer & GIT integration would be pretty great, and mostly assembling parts instead of re inventing the wheel.
However, I have bills to pay so I need to get back to figuring out how a big corporations's imaginary friends will make purchasing decisions ;)