SF Bakery Tour
I'll be visiting San Francisco for three days at the end of July. We'll be staying near Union Square, no car. I'm a pretty good home baker, so I'd really like to visit some of the best bakeries in the city. Tartine is on the list. Any other suggestions? Your help is greatly appreciated.
LAmonkeygirl
Jun 24, 2008 09:02PM
Lotta's on Polk is really good. Try their Princess Cake and their version of a San Francisco classic, Blum's Coffee Crunch Cake.
http://www.lottasbakery.com
I also really like Destination Baking Co. on Chenery in the Glen Park neighborhood (easily reachable via Bart.) Their fruit tarts are fabulous -- my favorite is the cornmeal crusted mini apple tart.
Also, for great breads try Thorough Bread and Pastry on Church (reachable via the Muni streetcars K,L,M, T and F.) These products are baked at the San Francisco Baking Institute (http://www.sfbi.com) in South San Francisco, a school that has trained and helped many, many fine San Francisco bakers. Their baguettes and ciabatta are both superb as are their croissants.
1720 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
598 Chenery St San Francisco CA
San Francisco, CA
South San Francisco, CA
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Well, you can't come to San Francisco and ask about bakeries and NOT go to Tartine.
600 Guerrero St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
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"Tartine is on the list.Any other suggestions?"
Thanks for the link.
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Agreed. Whatever you do, you must visit Tartine. If you have any friends in SF, bring them all because you're going to want to try one bite of everything they sell. Take a few meringues to go, and if you can compare them to the meringues at Dianda's.
Delessio is another favorite of mine, especially if you like rich chocolate cake with a dense dark chocolate ganache. They have many delicious pastries as well. Adorable assortment of mini cupcakes. They'd be great inspiration for a home cook, but I find them to be too much topping and too little cake. I prefer the more homey creations with a big latte.
Citizen Cake gets mixed reviews, but my experience has always been that eating desserts at the shop is a disappointment but cakes that people order for parties are stellar. I find the lemon cupcake to be usually good.
Miette also gets mixed reviews, and since the Ferry Building is a must stop for food lovers you should at least go take a look. I've had good cupcakes and macaroons. I've also had bad cupcakes and macaroons. Yes, consistency is not their forte.
Kara's Cupcakes if you happen to be on Ghiardelli Square doing the tourist thing. This is yet another cupcake shop like so many others that are cropping up in all major cities, but it's lovely and the fleur de sel chocolate cake is quite good if you are in the area.
Delanghe on Fillmore for traditional French desserts. Good princess cake by the slice, or sometimes in petit fours form.
Any of the various Bay Bread branches. They are called Boulange de __street name___ so you are bound to stumble across one. One of the few places that sell caneles. http://www.baybread.com
And keep your eyes open. It's a great city for bakeries!
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Thanks for those suggestions! I'd heard about Citizen Cake, but it sounds like your experiences there don't bode well for a visit. Also, I'd read about Miette on someone's blog, but if we are in the Ferry Building, I will give it a look. Delessio is now on the list, and I'll keep an eye out for a Bay Bread.
It's a good thing we're going to be walking, otherwise I'd come home with a giant butt as my souvenir!
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If you are at the Ferry Building on a Saturday morning, then you might want to try Frog Hollow inside the building. They have a variety of baked goods, including a very good fresh cherry turnover right now. I'd go for a warm turnover there if available over anything else. There are also a few bakeries selling their goodies outside, although I recommend you skip the Noe Valley Bakery stand (although the rughala - sp? - they make are very, very good, albeit sinful.)
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The Frog Hollow pastries are amazing. I haven't had the cherry turnover, but I had the peach turnover a few weeks ago and couldn't get over how good it was. Downtown Bakery is also at the Ferry Plaza market, and they have good doughnut muffins and other baked goods.
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It depends on what you are interested in. If breads, Acme at the Ferry Building; if fancy traditional cakes, Victoria/Stella in North Beach and Dianda's in the Mission. There's also a myriad of places making frivolous pastries, plus Irish, Russian, Asian and Latin American, etc. bakeries.
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My husband is the bread baker, and I do the desserts. I'm looking for places with a similar vibe and aesthetic to Tartine. I'm from L.A., so we have a good variety of ethnic bakeries around town.
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I believe Tartine does only a single bread, and that one only in the PM, so your husband may want to look beyond Tartine. I know it amounts to heresy around here to not be enamored of Tartine, but I personally could care less about sweets, but love The Staff of Life.
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Doesn't Acme do more than 1 bread?
1 Ferry Building San Francisco CA
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It's not heresy. I always thought Tartine was very sloppy. I've never found anything there that wasn't done better elsewhere, but my friends mostly disagree with me. It's good for seeing Mission hipsters.
When I am in SF (I live in LA), my ideal would be to go to Boulette's Larder and lard up on their goods esp their caneles, Boulette's is a favorite place of mine but it's really pricey.
I prefer going to Acme bread in Berkeley because then you can go to Cheeseboard right after. Actually Cheeseboard has some breads I like, and the best selection of reasonably priced cheese in CA. I actually love that one Crixa Cakes as well, in Berkeley. Can't really think of anyplace like it in LA, at the moment.
I've heard such good things about Thorough that it's on my hit list for my next visit.
I think the Boulange on Pine is better than the one on Polk but that's just me. Pine's macarons are quite good.
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Crixa is fabulous and unique. Arguably worth a trip to Berkeley. It's 3-4 blocks from Ashby BART, Berkeley Bowl is right across the street, and on Tuesdays there's a farmers market a block or two away.
Tartine's bread is spectacular. I'm really looking forward to the expansion, Chad Robertson used to make the best whole-wheat bread I've ever had. The only other bakeries that are more or less in the same league are Acme, Artisan (in Sonoma), and Della Fattoria (in Petaluma).
2748 Adeline St, Berkeley, CA 94703, USA
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Crixa is fantastic, but it's best to go in the morning since they run out of a lot of their goods (especially on Saturdays).
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I wasn't dissing Tartine, just saying it holds little interest for me because I don't have a sweet tooth and don't like a lot of preciosity, and Tartine makes just ONE bread. RL may think it's the greatest bread in the world, but it's just ONE white bread.
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RL said it was WW bread.
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No, as I said several times it's white bread.
They made the best whole-wheat bread I've ever had at the Point Reyes bakery.
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For bread, I heartily second Nancy's suggestion of Thorough Bread & Pastry. The bread is stellar. I can't overemphasize how great their bread is. I can't think of a better baguette.
Skip Dianda's--in my opinion, there's nothing they do really well. Skip Noe Valley. At the Ferry Building, get there early to sample something from Della Fattoria. And I do mean early--they run out of everything fast.
I also love Destination Baking Co., which segues nicely into Mission Pie, if you like good pie. Their new larger storefront just opened as well. I don't love their staff, but I do like their pie and coffee.
Since Nancy and I agree so strongly on Thorough and Destination, guess I gotta try Lotta.
2901 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
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Aha, the OP is from Los Angeles. I should have noticed her handle. I will edit earlier comments and agree that all cupcake places can be skipped. Delessio's mini cupcakes are still worth taking a look at because they are so creative, but other than that there are plenty of LA cupcake places that are the same as here. Dianda's is also skippable, except that when I'm in the area I like to grab a meringue because they are so cheap and big.
Emporio Rulli has some good eats, but nothing so extraordinary it blows LA bakeries out of the water. You can go to their cafe branch on top of Union Square and see a small sampling of what they have. If it really interests you, take the ride out to the main branch.
Cafe Madeleine is close to Union Square (O'Farrell past the Barney's). I usually only go for their incredibly rich hot chocolate, but the cakes and patries are fun to look at. Maybe more fun to look at than to taste, but since you're staying nearby.
Does Lotta's sell slices of cake? I walk by a lot but I don't know why it gives me the impression that only whole cakes are available.
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For bread, Tartine, Acme, and Della Fattoria (their bakery's in Petaluma, but they have a stand at the Saturday farmers market at Ferry Plaza).
Tartine's supposedly going to expand its bread offerings when it takes over a nearby storefront, but in the meantime they make only the one kind with minor variations (sesame, olive, etc.). Some people have reported you can call to reserve a loaf.
http://www.tartinebakery.com/menu/Bread
For pastries, Tartine, whichever is the best Bay Bread branch (Boulangerie at Pine Street? Boulange de Polk?), and Downtown Bakery (Healdsburg bakery with a stand at Saturday FPFM).
Dianda, Stella, and Victoria may be of interest if you don't have a good Italian bakery in LA. If you're in the area, check out Emporio Rulli on Chestnut.
Liguria in North Beach has great fresh-baked focaccia in the mornings.
I'm not sure Miette is of interest to a good home baker except in a "they want HOW MUCH for that!!!" sort of way.
StarBake is long closed, but Emily Luchetti's still the pastry chef at Farallon.
1700 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA
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I got the "levain" loaf from Della Fattoria at the farmers market, following the cue of the woman in front of me, and it was delicious. Ate from it all week.
I suppose it's pointless to reinforce, since you're already going to Tartine, but I'd strongly encourage you to get a croissant. They're far and away better than any in LA (and I just moved from there).
Great macarons at Bay Bread. I prefer the nutty flavors, and seasonal ones like pumpkin or rum-raisin (in fall, not sure what they have now).
I think my friend Daveena also recommended Liguria to me for focaccia. She said something about olive oil all over your hands... this was on a note of approval. She also said they run out fast. Generally I don't recall that LA has much in the way of Italian bakeries (tho you should check out the weekend olive-oil bread at Roma Market in Pasadena), so that could be something to focus on. Also, the SF Baking Institute has a cafe-outlet that's supposed to be good; a chef friend of mine recently took a baking course there and raved about it.
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Liguria is nothing short of a historic culinary landmark. They've been making focaccia for the same way, in the same oven, in the same corner store since 1911. I can boast that I was eating focacccia bread back in 1962 long before it became trendy, but so can nearly anyone who ever found themselves downwind of Liguria Bakery in the morning.
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I second the recommendation of Frog Hollow. They have a risotto tartlet that I'm fascinated by, and again, it's at the Ferry Building, which is a good stop anyway. Before I moved back to NorCal, While you're there. you can visit Acme and Miette. Acme has the most amazing ham & cheese turnover. I used to get cookies from Miette to take home - they have some tasty shortbread that was nice to enjoy a couple days after my trip.
I think Victoria has Italian cookies that put any Italian bakery that I went to in LA to shame.
Citizen Cake is a landmark, so I'd say to go just to have been, but I'm like that. They have a bakery next to the restaurant, so you can just get a coffee and a pastry - I enjoyed their sandwich cookies and a lemon bar recently. You could even just try something at Citizen Cupcake at the Virgin Megastore, since that would be convenient to Union Square. I had a Key Lime Pie cupcake there that was out of this world.
And I'd say that you need a cookie (or 4) from Tom's in the Cellar at Macy's. Another Bay Area culinary landmark.
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I don't believe anyone's mentioned Arizmendi Bakery yet, but in my opinion it's worth a visit. Also, extremely transit-accessible (via the N Judah line).
1331 9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA
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The Arizmendi bakeries are spinoffs of the Cheese Board in Berkeley and use mostly the same recipes.
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Everyone has been so helpful--thank you! I'm really looking forward to sampling San Francisco's bakeries. When I lived in S.F. twelve years ago, I was young and broke, now I'm less young and slightly less broke, so I will enjoy the city's offerings. Thanks again from a grateful L.A. 'Hound.
(P.S. If you are in L.A., *please* do not, under any circumstances, go to Sprinkles. They are dreadful and dreadfully overrated. We have many other cupcake bakeries that are decidely better.)
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Have a great trip! One last addition: cheese wheels and gougeres (they might call the gougered something else) at ACME are wonderful, either on site or slightly toasted the following day. I have even had friends bring them from SF to LA when I lived there, and frozen them in an airtight container. They keep well for as long as a few weeks because of the high cheese (fat) content.
PS. I totally agree!
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How do you like Acme's gougere compared to Tartine's gougere? I think Tartine's are fantastic (and might even make Xiao Yang reevaluate Tartine).
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Acme makes something called a cheese roll, which is very different from a gougeres.
Their savory pastries are very good, but to me the regular levain and the pain d'epis (or if they're out of those, the rustic sweet baguette made from the same dough) are the must-try items for a home baker.
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Doesn't ACME make something that looks more like a gougere? Not the cheese roll, but a big cheesy puff that usually sits next to it? I'm totally blanking on the name, but I will check next time I am there.
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They make a smaller more or less spherical cheese roll and a larger disc-shaped one.
The Ferry Plaza bakery may make some items I haven't seen, mostly I go to the Berkeley bakery.
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They seemed to have more in Berkeley but it just may be is crammed into a smaller space and with the usual line there isn't much time to check out the full selection, at least early in the day.
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A cheese wheel like Acme's (and prices like Acme's) might make me weaken, but what the hell would I be doing in that neighborhood, anyway?
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Just to put a twist on this, some of these bakeries have visible baking activity and others don't.
I love Thorough Bread and Pastry's products, but they only do very minimal work on site, most happens at the San Francisco Baking Institute
Tartine's work area has a big plate glass window facing the street, and they work through the day putting out fresh stuff continually. If you're there around 4 PM you can also see them loading or unloading big loaves of their bread from the bread oven. Next door to Tartine on 18th is Pizzeria Delfina, which has an annex where they make the pizza dough and it can be fun to watch if they're using the conveyor belt kneeding machine.
Acme's Ferry Plaza location has plate glass windows on the back side that faces the bay. I have a particularly fond memory of strolling along the waterfront after a huge meal downtown, and pausing to watch them proof hundreds of croissants for a while around 11 PM or midnight.
I would definitely try to hit the above 3 bakeries, plus maybe Liguria Bakery. I find DeLissio's cakes headache-inducing sweet, but some of their other stuff is good such as chocolate tartes, Brazilian-style french toast (think buttery churro in terms of texture and flavor), and some of the pastries.
If you'll be here on a Saturday, you should definitely go to the Ferry Plaza farmer's market, which is behind the building that contains Acme. If you do that, I'd go first to Della Fattoria toward the back of the market, buy a few pastries to snack on and a baguette and whatever else struck my fancy, then to Acme to see if there's anything Della Fattoria didn't have that I want that day. Acme's products are good, but Della Fattoria's are better.
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Does Della Fattoria make better levain than Acme, or vice-versa? The answer might vary from day to day.
I will state categorically that either is better than the Poilâne that provided the original model.
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Good point on the levain, but if I want that type of bread I lean toward Tartine's loaf--I don't know if it's technically a levain, but it definitely has a long fermentation for complex flavor and good structure. The original poster should consider having dinner at Bar Tartine (561 Valencia, a few blocks from Tartine Bakery), where generous quantities of the bread can be had with dinner. It's so good I almost asked them if I could take the leftover bread off my plate home for breakfast.
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I do the same thing at Delfina, though we always request just the country bread. We are in a constant battle to stop eating the bread so we can make it through all the wonderful dishes we order.
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In a head-to-head with Tartine's country loaf, Acme levain, and Della Fattoria levain, I'd bet on Tartine.
Tartine's is white, Acme's has some whole-wheat, Della Fattoria's has some rye. All else being equal, I prefer a "gray" bread.
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Acme's pain d'epis are much better than Della Fattoria. Seeded wheat is something that Della Fattoria has that no one else has. Levain, it varies.
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I second Bay Bread (usually hit Pine/Fillmore location) I love the canelles there. Cheese Board (Berkeley) is also great in the morning. I like Toot Sweet in Berkeley for Almond Crossiants. Plus even if you have tried ethnic bakeries. You must stop at Golden Gate Bakery (Near Jackson on Grant in Chinatown) they have hot custard tarts that are flaky and melt in your mouth. Just look for the line, and yes they are worth the wait. Not a bakery, but I really like the Pecan Pie at Memphis Minnies. Not too sweet and loaded with pecans. Not sure if Cafe Madeline makes their own cakes, but they are pretty good.
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FiDi frequenters will know this, but I found out yesterday that Bay Breads has a stall at the Thursday morning Crocker Galleria farmers' market. It's a small market that gets started around 9 a.m., though some stalls aren't open until closer to 10. Bay Breads had their caneles, an assortment of croissants (I loved the cinnamon orange), a lot of danish type pastries, apricot almond tarts, a few breads, and some other things. A nice assortment near where the OP is staying.
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And Acme croissants are excellent. Especially the ham and cheese croissant and the apple turnover-thingy they make with the croissant dough. Golden Gate bakery not only makes great egg custard tarts, but also coconut tarts and coconut macaroons.
Note that many people have praised the macroons at various places. Some (but not all) of those places actually make "macarons" (French macaroons, which are a pair of chewy meringue disks with a thin layer of filling sandwiched between them), not what Americans generally think of as macaroons.
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I think macarons are the ones deigned to gross people out with their da-glo colors. Who wants to eat a pink cookie?
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Who wants to eat a pink cookie? Pretty much every child on planet Earth, and then they grow up and most of us still like them.
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You afraid it's going to turn you into a girl? ;-) My main objection to them is not the color but the price. They're pretty darn expensive for a couple of bits of cookie!
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"And Acme croissants are excellent. Especially the ham and cheese croissant"
I think Tartine's is better; at both, I'd only get it warm--cold is less appealing.
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Thorough's ham & cheese croissants are excellent, but MUCH lighter than Tartine's.
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It is annoying that the people at Acme won't slip it into one of their hot ovens for you! And I misspoke slightly. It's not a ham and cheese croissant; as the other RL noted, it's a ham and cheese turnover made with croissant dough.
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I'm not sure I've ever bought a cold ham-and-cheese turnover at Acme. At least at the Berkeley store, they sell out too fast.
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If you're at Ferry Plaza on Saturday morning, the best croissants are at Della Fattoria (until they run out).
Does Acme make croissants? I don't think I've ever seen them. Their apple and ham-and-cheese turnovers are great.