Baker's delight.
To the uninitiated, San Francisco is more likely to prompt thoughts of Apple than apple galette, the Golden Gate over gilded cakes, and rolling fog more than cinnamon rolls. But the Northern Californian city is blessed with an abundance of remarkable bakeries. These five bakehouses stand out for their exceptional treats, offering everything from traditional French pastries to directional confections not found elsewhere.
Chad Robertson, a baker, and his wife Elisabeth Prueitt, a pastry chef, have an almost mythic status in food circles, which is reflected in the long queues that form outside their venture every day of the week. The acclaimed pair is responsible for buttery croissants and morning buns, decadently light quiches and outstanding sourdough breads. Mercifully, the line at their flagship Mission store moves quickly, and they just opened Tartine Manufactory, a sprawling all-day eatery with a lot more space.
Chef William Werner is one of the most inventive pastry chefs in the US. Consider his “Rebel Within”, a showstopping savoury muffin with a runny egg embedded inside – an Instagram sensation. But the cerebral Werner has more delicious tricks up his sleeve, including chocolate cube cakes, chilli and tomato gougères and matcha and ginger cookies. The stores, there are three including a new one in Nob Hill, are sharply designed, artfully arranged and ardently patronised.
This Tenderloin destination is famous for its “cruffin”, a croissant-muffin hybrid, whose flavour changes daily – from caramel cream to Ferrero Rocher. Patrons are only permitted to buy two, but that doesn’t seem to stop them visiting in droves. The store’s neon sign, “I got baked in San Francisco” is now more widely photographed than the city’s sinuous Lombard Street.
Pastry chef Belinda Leong has a masterful way with viennoiserie, the French term for baked goods such as croissants, brioches and kouignoù amann – the flaky, buttery Breton cakes now found in every reputable bakery. But Leong, based in Pacific Heights, is no slouch when it comes to pastry, and the venue’s display cabinet is arrayed with calorific temptations including fruit tarts, vanilla cassis cakes and macarons.
The grand cafes of Eastern Europe are the leitmotif for this three-year-old Hayes Valley gem. Pastry chef Michelle Polzine, who works the room in forties garb, cat-eye glasses and red lipstick, is especially adept at turning out delicacies like poppyseed babka, sacher torte and seven-layered Russian honey cake. Art deco pendant lamps, bentwood chairs and jazzy tunes complete the retro Prague picture.
