10 Best French Bakeries in San Francisco
Does anyone else judge a city by its bakeries? Because I do and San Francisco has stolen my heart! When in the city, my first stop has to start with a cup of coffee and a pastry. Culinarily speaking, the city may be notably known for things like sourdough bread, cioppino and bread bowl clam chowder but its bakery culture is just as iconic with patisseries like Arsicault Bakery and B Patisserie.
Here are my top 10 list of French-inspired bakeries in San Francisco:
I used to work a block away from Tartine and had my fair share of enjoying a croissant or two every so often. As stated on their website, "Tartine began with a mission: bring bread with an old-soul into the lives of our friends and family in California" and so they have! There's no escaping the heavenly smell of freshly-baked bread early in the morning as I walk down the block to work. My experience with Tartine is best described as SF Chronicle wrote it "Buying a loaf of Tartine Bakery’s bread is nothing less than a pilgrimage...". Among my favorites are pain au chocolat, frangipane croissant and orange sesame teacake.
Named "Best New Bakery in America" by Bon Appetit in 2016, Arsicault does not disappoint! With croissants described by Bon Appetit as "simultaneously so preposterously flaky it leaves you covered in crumbs, so impossibly tender and buttery on the inside that it tastes like brioche, and so deeply golden that the underside is nearly caramelized." There is often a line whenever we pass by the bakery so be prepared to wait, but I promise that it'll be worth it!
Photo Credit CNN.com
When scavenging on Instagram for my next pastry adventure in San Francisco, Mr. Holmes Bakehouse is only second to the iconic sourdough bread. With its bright neon light quote "I Got Baked in San Francisco", Mr. Holmes Bakehouse is an Instagram sensation! Known mostly for their cruffins of various flavors but oddly, my favorite is their brioche donut!
When my husband and I were just driving around the different neighborhoods of San Francisco, we stumbled upon B. Patisserie and boy we were surprised with what we found inside! It is patisserie heaven! Kouign Amann was immediately recommended by the staff as the best seller. It's a denser version of the croissant with an addition of sugar between layers that caramelizes once baked. There are other bakeries in the city that bakes kouign amann but to me, B. Patisserie does it best!
The Mission District in San Francisco is one of the most culinarily-vibrant neighborhoods that houses many of my favorite bakeries and dessert shops. Craftsman and Wolves is a contemporary patisserie serving mostly classic French pastries with an elegant and modern twist. Everything about this place is elegant from the tall open ceiling to the display case that looks like that in the jewelry store. My favorites include the square chocolate croissant, Vahlrona brownie bar and sesame praline vanilla creme stone mousse.
Choux Bakery SF specializes in choux au craquelin. As a baker, I was trying to describe what a pate a choux was to my husband and amidst the fancy and technical terminologies, he understood it as the "crunchy cream puffs" - and he was right! A thin layer of colored craquelin is placed on top of the choux prior to baking giving it that crunchy texture. There were 6 flavors of choux au craquelin on our visit, my favorites are salted caramel and hazelnut. I love their packaging making it an excellent gift!
Photo Credit SF Eater
Out of all the bakeries I've visited in San Francisco so far (and I've visited a ton), Vive La Tarte had the most variety of flavors for croissants from the classic almond frangipane croissant to coconut croissant and strawberry shortcake croissant. Despite the overwhelming array of these buttery croissants, I can't stay away from an excellent brioche donut! My favorite is the espresso filled brioche!
La Boulangerie de San Francisco
The bakery's mission since its opening is "to bring a little taste of France to every customer every day", and to be honest, they might have accomplished that! I've frequented the location on Hayes and everything about this place speaks French. From the French-inspired awning outside to its delicious menu. Among my favorites are the almond croissant, cheese danish and lemon tart.
The open kitchen concept is trendy right now but Neighborhood Bakehouse took it to a whole new level! As soon as you step in, you will be greeted with the smell of freshly-baked bread and just inches away from the staff in the kitchen making me feel like I'm actually part of the production, the taste-test section! Most baked goods are classic and rustic! My absolute favorite is the pistachio blackberry twice-baked croissant!
I'm not sure how "Thorough Bread and Pastry" haven't gotten on my radar in my quest to find the best bakeries in San Francisco. Of all patisserie listed here, this is the only one I haven't actually been to yet but decided to include it on my top list because of the rave reviews online. A fellow pastry chef highly recommended this bakery! Scouring on both Yelp and TripAdvisor, their almond croissant is the crowd favorite!
So if you're ever in the city, don't skip on stopping by one of these awesome bakeries! Also, pin this to save for later! Cheers!