Croissants at Mademoiselle Colette on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in Atherton, Calif.(Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
The world will turn its focus to Paris later this month, as the city of light — and culinary delights — hosts the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad. What better time to showcase some of the Bay Area’s best croissants and their buttery brethren? Of course, we can’t promise they’ll bring good luck to U.S. athletes, but it can’t hurt to be noshing on a French pastry when Simone Biles hops onto the beam and Katie Ladecky dives into the pool.
Here’s a creative array.
La Chataigne, Lafayette
The flaky croissants at this tiny patisserie in Lafayette’s La Fiesta Square are so craveworthy, owner Michael Faircloth rations them. For real. You can’t buy more than four at a time, whether they’re the classic variety ($3.25) or almond ($4.75), chocolate, cheese, ham and cheese or — you get the idea. The bonne nouvelle: The limit applies to each variety — bonjour, mixed dozen! — and there’s plenty of other pastries to tempt you too, from kouign-amann to quiche.
It’s a jewel box of a bakery, with lavender bunches hanging overhead, jam jars lining a hutch along one wall, and space for maybe four people to queue, hence the line out the door. Get there early!
Details: Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 35 Lafayette Circle in Lafayette; 925-283-3324.
Manresa Bread, Los Gatos, Campbell, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz
See the Michelin luster on these croissants? Manresa Bread was launched in 2013 as farmers market stands by acclaimed chef David Kinch and head baker Avery Ruzicka, so that locals could buy breads they had enjoyed at that stellar Los Gatos restaurant.
The first brick-and-mortar opened in 2015, and 2020 James Beard finalist Ruzicka has gone on to open others in the South Bay and on the Peninsula.
For many Bay Area fans of baked goods, Ruzicka’s beautiful croissants and lacquered kouign amann are the pastries by which they judge all others. The kouign amann, crafted with butter, barley malt sugar and high-gluten flour, comes in individual ($5.50) and XL family dessert sizes ($35). There are traditional croissants ($5); often savory ones (ham and cheese, $6.50) or sweet filled ones (key lime, $7); and pain au chocolat ($6).
Fairly new in the bakery case is the escargot-shaped almond croissant ($6.50) and its savory cousin, the artichoke escargot ($6). As with all of Ruzicka’s top sellers, reserve your favorites by ordering online in advance or early in the day.
Details: Find hours, addresses and pickup info for all locations at www.manresabread.com
Forma Bakery, Oakland
What’s a croissant look like passed through Mexico? Stuffed with flan and strawberries, perhaps, or baked with seasonal veggies and mildly spicy poblano cream.
Jackson Schnetz’s father cofounded Oakland’s Mexican restaurant Doña Tomás, and he is continuing that legacy a few doors down with a new bakeshop devoted to French-Mexican pastry. Schnetz has a deft touch with his dough, having worked at Berkeley’s Fournée bakery under award-winning pastry chef Frank Sally. His plain croissants are made with Isigny Sainte-Mère butter and are rich and full of uniform air pockets. However, it’s the fusion pastries you’ll want to experience: those savory croissants loaded with tomatillo, chayote and morita chiles.
On the sweeter side, there are excellent pistachio or chocolate croissants and conchas – the crackly-topped Mexican sweet bread – and coffee made with star anise and cinnamon piloncillo.
Details: Open 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland; formabakery.com.
Mademoiselle Colette, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Atherton
Debora Ferrand opened her first Mademoiselle Collette location in Menlo Park in 2015. Since then, she’s expanded to locations in Redwood City, Palo Alto and most recently, the Atherton Public Library. Because why shouldn’t the town with the most expensive zip code in the country have a public library with incredible French pastries?
These croissants will give any Parisian bakery a run for its money for elegance, butteriness and the sheer number of flaky layers it can stack into a single pastry. If you can’t decide between the flaky almond croissant ($7) and the also-flaky pain au chocolat ($5.80), here’s delightful news. There’s an almond-chocolate version ($7), too.
Details: Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at 2 Dinkelspiel Station Lane, Atherton; additional locations in Redwood City, Menlo Park and Palo Alto; mademoisellecolette.com.
Maison Benoit, Danville
Launched earlier this year by Benoit Vialle, a Lafayette resident who grew up in Paris, this French bakery already feels like a piece of Paris in downtown Danville. The aroma of fresh pastries wafts outside, drawing in visitors tempted by the shelves upon shelves of golden, pillowy pains au chocolat. Give in to temptation early — or order online ahead of time. Rumor has it this spot often sells out.
A highlight here is the Pain Suisse ($6.50), a croissant dough filled with chocolate chips and pastry cream. The chocolate is distributed more evenly throughout the pastry than in, say, an also-divine Valhrona-filled pain au chocolat ($4.50), and the top of the Suisse pastry is covered in layers upon layers of paper-thin golden flakes, which add lovely, crispness to each bite.
Details: Open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at 402 Railroad Ave., Danville; maisonbenoit.us.
Patisserie Rotha, Albany
The bakery that’s rumored to have the East Bay’s most sublime croissants – reported by both newspapers and locals – is only open four days a week. And sorry late sleepers, it closes at 11 a.m. But it’s worth lining up at the crack of dawn for patissier Rotha Ieng’s croissants, so flaky and buttery you’ll think you’re still asleep and dreaming of Gay Paree.
Ieng studied at the Ecole Ferrandi pastry school in Paris and then mentored under famed pâtissier Pierre Hermé, and it shows in every scrumptious, calorific bite of his classic French pastries. They’re so good, he sometimes has to put limits on buying. So that’s extra incentive to grab all you can – not just the croissant au beurre, but kouign amann, Portuguese egg tarts, bostock with orange-almond cream and Far Breton (Brittany flan with prunes).
Details: Open from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday-Friday and 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday-Sunday at 1051 San Pablo Ave. Albany; patisserierotha.com.
Croissante, Santa Clara
You flaky-pastry aficionados already know about the traditional croissant and the muffin-shaped, caramelized kouign amann and the escargot-shaped croissant. Now, thanks to this South Bay bakery, cafe and tearoom, the cube-shaped croissant is available in the Bay Area.
This trendy, instagrammable pastry was reportedly invented and popularized in Europe, then made its viral transition across the pond to the United States.
At Croissante, which opened in 2023 on a busy stretch of El Camino Real, the cube croissants feature a crusty, slightly caramelized exterior and a brioche-like interior. The bakers here make them in two sizes (starting at $10), offer filled and unfilled versions (think chocolate cream or pina colada flavors), and even cut them into huge wedges and turn them into French toast.
Although the cubes often sell out, you will never be at a loss for a croissant here. The jaw-dropping array in the pastry case — they’re made with butter and flour imported from France — includes the original ($4.90); sweet croissants filled or topped with chocolate, matcha or coconut (prices vary); sweet-savory croissants like flaxseed/maple syrup or white sesame/honey ($5.25); and savory such as chicken, spinach and cheese ($7.90).
Details: Open daily (including holidays) from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday-Sunday at 2908 El Camino Real, Santa Clara. www.croissantebakery.com
Starter Bakery, Berkeley, Oakland
Brian Wood, the baker credited with introducing the kouign amann to the Bay Area, celebrated Kouign Amann Day, June 20, in suitable fashion with his creative retail team.
They crafted and introduced a number of decadent new flavors made with artisanal ingredients, including Fresh Blueberry with Lemon Curd, Fresh Strawberry with Pistachio Frangipane and S’More with graham cracker, chocolate ganache and a torched Italian meringue.
That Rockridge shop opened in 2023, a decade into Wood’s pastry journey. Read more about his story and what’s next for Starter Bakery in our Q&A with him in this Sunday’s Eat Drink Play section.
Details: 5804 College Ave., Oakland, and 901 Gilman St., and at seven farmers markets. Find details at https://starterbakery.com.
Adorable French Bakery, Santa Cruz and farmers markets
While its brick-and-mortar location is in Santa Cruz, you can find pastries from this bakery at farmers markets across the Bay every weekend. Saturday destinations include Walnut Creek, San Leandro, Sunnyvale and Half Moon Bay’s farmers markets, while Sunday markets include Fremont, Cupertino, Campbell and Mountain View.
The bakery’s name holds up — not only are their pastries adorable, but they’re dang tasty too. They make croissants, spins and twists in flavors such as chocolate pistachio, cinnamon vanilla and vanilla raisin. And if you’re looking for a pastry that truly has chocolate in every bite, you’ll find that dream in the Double Chocolate Spin ($36 for a box of six).
Details: Opens 6:30 a.m. daily at 254 Potrero St. in Santa Cruz. Find the Adorable stand at farmers markets around the Bay Area on weekends; adorablefrenchbakery.com.
Mamahouse Bakeshop, Fremont
Kim Coenen is one of the Bay Area’s masters of the filled version of kouign amann. The self-taught Fremont baker is in her seventh year of running the home-based Mamahouse Bakeshop, and she and daughters Christine and Meaghan bake weekly for three farmers markets and online orders — turning out flaky croissants ($4.25), almond croissants ($5.50) and prosciutto-gruyere ($7), as well as their famous filled kouign amman ($4 to $6.50).
Coenen started with a simple chocolate ganache filling for her kouign amman, but has since gone far beyond. This summer’s repertoire includes an Apricot Almond kouign amann filled with rosemary-infused apricot jam, a Valrhona chocolate cream version and another with pistachios and clover blossom honey mousse.
Details: Order online, then pick up your pastries at the Saturday farmers markets in Hayward (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) or Union City (8 a.m. to noon), and on Sunday in Newark (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.). www.mamahousebakes.com
Maison Alyzee, Burlingame and Mountain View
When your daughter-of-French-expats friend vouches for a French bakery, it’s making the shortlist — but not without sampling some pastries first. The Burlingame location of Maison Alyzee is everything you’d want in a French bakery, including decadent, buttery pastries laid out enticingly behind a gleaming display case at the center.
The bi-colored chocolate hazelnut croissant ($6.50) is a thing of beauty, and the abundant frangipane filling in the almond croissant ($6.50) is appropriately decadent. They do chocolate, triple chocolate and pistachio versions too. (Psst, mark your calendar for next year, and you can enjoy Alyzee’s seasonal stars-and-stripes butter croissants for Fourth of July.)
Details: Opens daily at 8 a.m. at 1208 Burlingame Ave, Burlingame and 212 Castro St., Mountain View; maisonalyzee.com.
Marvel Cake, Campbell and Palo Alto
Marvel Cake first opened in Campbell in early 2020, on the eve of lockdown. But Maryam Menbari and Reza Mirzadeh’s family-run bakery and thrived in the years since, with an assist from a “viral spiral.”
The bakery is credited with bringing the cream-filled supreme croissant to the West Coast after it debuted at New York City’s Lafayette Bakery and went social media-famous.
At Marvel Cake, these variations on the croissant theme are rolled and stand upright, with a wisp of pastry cream filling revealing the flavor inside. On a recent visit, that included pistachio, chocolate and ube options. The result is a trendy textural blend of crispy flakiness and rich cream.
Details: Opens at 10 a.m. Tuesday-Sunday at 1614 W. Campbell Ave. in Campbell, and 250 University Ave, Suite 107, in Palo Alto; marvelcake.com.
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[contact-form] Originally published at Linda Zavoral, Kate Bradshaw, John Metcalfe