Plain Croissant? Chaumont in Beverly Hills. Some wonderful pastries as well.
Republique has some great items as well, but not for their Croissants
Thanks. Still haven’t been to either but Maison Giraud was, for me, the best croissant. I will try those two soon for the pastries.
Thanks, Be there soon.
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Mixed Company, while not a pure bakery per se, it still does very fine pastries in the morning hours.
Thank you. Looks great.
Update 2:
On the last day of our trip, we attempted a quad x bang. (What a terrible idea in the end!) 
Tartine Bakery (Revisit)
Even though we arrived a few minutes after they opened, they had very few items for sale, which seemed odd. We really enjoyed the Almond Croissant from our last visit, but like our first visit’s plain Croissant, this time, the entire batch of Almond Croissants was partially burnt(!). 
(As in black char on top.)
We asked the server about that (they had just opened), and he looked down, as if noticing them for the first time. He blurted out, “Oh yah… they do look burnt. Sorry, that’s all we have right now.” 
So we skipped that and went on to…
Croissant:
Time from Oven: 15 minutes.
This time, the plain Croissant wasn’t burnt on top (they seem so inconsistent), and it had a light crispness and some good butteriness. This was probably the best rendition of Croissant we’ve had at Tartine to date. 
Lemon Poppy Tea Cake:
Their Lemon Poppy Tea Cake was wonderful. Moist, yet crumbly, dense enough to be like a good Pound Cake, but with some delicate Lemony sweetness.
Tartine Bakery
600 Guerrero St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: (415) 487-2600
Arsicault Bakery
We arrived at Arsicault next, home of our favorite Croissant in SF. We couldn’t wait to try it again (and there was a line out the door).
Croissant:
Time from Oven: 15 minutes.
Flaky, crisp, so airy inside, with a deep Butter flavor. It still remains our favorite Croissant in San Francisco! 
SO GOOD! 
We bumped into Baker-Owner Armando Lacayo who was chatting it up with all the customers. He seemed so jovial and friendly.
He mentioned he was going to try opening up a Sandwich shop (baking their own Bread(!)) soon, which sounds like an awesome place to visit on our next trip. Hopefully it’s as good to Sandwiches as Arsicault is to Croissants. 
Thank you again @ipsedixit for the great rec!
Arsicault Bakery
397 Arguello Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 750-9460
This was a great start to our morning already. But our quad x bang continued on… (next thread)
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Update 2:
This trip up north could be subtitled “The Redemption” in some ways, given how some previous disappointing issues seemed to have turned around on this visit.
Arsicault Bakery (Revisit)
Now on our 4th visit, we can really see why @ipsedixit likes this place so much: Arsicault has been consistently great with their amazing Croissants.
Croissant:
Time from Oven: 20 minutes.
A feather-like crispness on the outside, yielding to a distinct, fragrant buttery and fluffy interior! SO GOOD!
It remains our favorite Croissant in the Bay Area.
Kouign Amann:
On a previous visit, Arsicault’s Kouign Amann was too sugary and a touch too dense for me. But we wanted to give it another try, especially since they just finished up a batch as we arrived early in the morning.
Taking a bite, it was still sugary and definitely on the sweet side, but it had a beautiful buttery taste that just coalesced together. I think Sycamore Kitchen’s Kouign Amann is the style I prefer more, lighter, more airy, but Arsicault’s is very good in a more dense, compressed style.
Morning Bun:
Their Morning Bun is an interesting Pastry: A cross between a Sugar Donut and something more dense. The initial bite tastes like you’re biting into a Sugar-Coated Donut, but it’s a touch crunchy as well, but then you get this amazing Orange Zest, real fragrant citrusy notes, as well as some Marzipan.
Even on a rainy day, there was a line out the door first thing in the morning, and with good reason: Arsicault Bakery remains a stellar little corner Bakery, in a quiet residential neighborhood, that happens to be creating some of the best Croissants I’ve ever had.
Arsicault Bakery
397 Arguello Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 750-9460
B. Patisserie (Revisit)
Our initial visit to B. Patisserie on our previous trip was a slight disappointment, because one of their most famous items, the Kouign Amann, was stale(!). But we enjoyed some of the other offerings (like @BradFord’s recommended Passion Fruit Bostock), so we wanted to give them another try.
Kouign-Amann:
We arrived shortly after opening. The Kouign Amann looked gorgeous, a beautiful golden hue similar to @PorkyBelly’s pics. Taking a bite…
Delicious!
It wasn’t stale (like last time), but instead tasted fresh-baked, with a nice crispy exterior and a real, big Butter hit on the palate. It was also lighter and less sugary than Arsicault’s, but really both styles were great on this trip. Thanks @PorkyBelly!
Chocolate Caramel Toffee Mousse:
They had an item we didn’t see last time, a Chocolate Caramel Toffee Mousse, and it was wonderful! The cross section above shows off the strata of delicious flavors: I loved the Dark Chocolate shell combined with the Caramel and the Chocolate Mousse, as well as the nice heart of Toffee inside.
Black Sesame Latte (with Almond Milk):
I fell in love with their Black Sesame Latte the last time we visited, so it was a must order again! And…
Seriously this has to be one of the best Black Sesame Desserts we’ve ever tried! @paranoidgarliclover this is for you (again)! 
It’s so enticingly aromatic, with each sip tasting like you’re sipping light, airy Black Sesame in liquid form, but it’s not as thick as the Chinese Black Sesame Puree Dessert. The touch of Almond Milk enhanced the nuttiness, and it was a nice warming cup of joy during the chilly morning.
Ultimately, both of these Bakeries on this visit redeemed themselves on the Kouign Amann and this was a fantastic start to our trip.
B. Patisserie
2821 California St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Tel: (415) 440-1700
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Glad you got a better batch of KAs this time. If you like that less dense muffin style try the DKAs at dominique ansel.
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Hit two of the three today (Dec 9th, 2017). But have been to Tartine at least 10 times. Arsicault was first and the croissant was good. Flakey with a slight crunch on the outside, soft and moist on the inside, and a nice buttery flavor. The last Kouign Amann was sold just as we got to the counter, but we opted to wait for the next batch to come out in 20 minutes. Hot and fresh when we got it, but we were disappointed with the style. More like a cinnamon roll. If it had a different name, we would have liked it a lot, but it is not what we have come to expect in a KA. However… The chocolate/almond croissant was one of the best pastries we have ever eaten. It was everything you could want in a pastry. It was crisp, soft, chewy, perfect almond paste and chocolate was awesome. They did it in a way that you can enjoy the flavors separately or together. SO GOOD. The Ham and Cheese was also very good, but not one of “the best I’ve ever had.” Wouldn’t kick it out of bed though… Next we walked (2 miles or so) to B Pattisierre. The croissant was so so, but the KA was a knock out. Crisp on the outside, but not overwhelmingly saturated with hardened sugar like Buchon (which we also like for its uniqueness). The inside was soft, buttery, and even had a slightly gooey something that was spectacular. Great KA. For me, Tartine still has the best ham and cheese croissant. They are known for a long bake and I like the super crunchy and flakey outside. The interior is light and buttery. The plain croissant is also a winner for me. Not sure why Chowseeker has had so many misses with these places, especially Tartine. In LA we do like Republique and are sad to see Buchon close. However, while LA is getting better with the bakeries, it is not SF. Full disclosure… We live in LA near Robertson and Pico, but grew up in/near
SF.
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Hi @dsw5000,
Nice report back. Thanks. 
I’d say the “misses” I had might’ve been just off-days, but even after 4 visits, Tartine’s plain croissant has ranged from (awful to good to very good (on one visit)). I didn’t like the burnt aspect on 2 of the visits (one time it was severely dark).
Definitely agree with you about B. Patisserie’s plain croissant (bad), but I’m glad the kouign amann was great the 2nd time we went (same as your experience my @PorkyBelly’s).
I’ll have to try the ham and cheese croissant next time, thanks for the rec.
No.
Save the calories for their French Flan Tart.
Like a Portuguese Egg Custard with a bit of je ne sais quoi flair.
Weekends only.
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HI @ipsedixit,
Ooh! Why didn’t you tell me about this before? 
I don’t think I’ve seen it offered in my visits there, but we usually go early in the morning. Thanks.
I can’t reveal all my secrets. Then you would have no reason to visit …
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Update 3:
Tartine Bakery (Revisit)
For this morning’s bang x bang with Plow, I really wanted to go back to my favorite Croissant in SF at Arsicault, but I had promised one of my best friends to buy her some Tea Cakes from Tartine (Arsicault sadly doesn’t have any), so we ended up at here.
We’re starting to find out after more and more visits that Tartine’s strengths are more in their Desserts & Sweets instead of their Pastries.
Croissant:
Time from Oven: 1 hour 30 minutes.
We had to order their plain Croissant again, just for comparison and to see how consistent they were. Sadly, this was just like our 1st visit: The Croissant was barely crisp, kind of soft, dryish and pretty average. It seems Tartine’s Croissants don’t hold up well at all over time, so get them when they make a new batch / first thing in the morning only. Arsicault’s are so much better (as are Chaumont’s).
Eclair (Valrhona Chocolate Glaze, Pastry Cream):
I love a good Eclair, so I try to order one of these whenever I see one. Tartine’s Eclair is wonderful: A beautiful Valrhona Chocolate Glaze and nice Pastry bite, giving way to this amazing Pastry Cream that is more like a super smooth, silky Custard!
Banana Cream Tart (Dark Chocolate Coated Flaky Pastry, Caramel, Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream):
Finally! On this 5th visit we finally saw the Banana Cream Tart again. Taking a bite…
Impossibly light, clouds of super fresh, lightly sweet Cream, then bits of Bananas and this decadent Custard. But it’s the hard Dark Chocolate Shell (hard to see in the cross-section) that holds the Custard and some of the fragrant, toasted outer crust that just elevates this to pure JOY!
This is SUCH a good Dessert! (@PorkyBelly @TheCookie @Bookwich @BradFord @ipsedixit @T3t and others!)
I don’t even like Banana Desserts usually, but this Dessert is outstanding!
Tartine Bakery
600 Guerrero St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel: (415) 487-2600
4 Likes
Update 4:
Finishing up our wonderful SF trip, we stopped by this morning to go out with a bang at our favorite Croissant in the city…
Arsicault Bakery (Revisit)
Getting there right as they opened, there were already 4 people ahead of us.
Croissant:
Time from Oven: 15 minutes.
Taking a bite… there is the same crispiness, airiness, but something is wrong. The deep, fragrant, wonderful Butter flavor is gone! Arsicault used to use a combination of French and Irish Butters and while not as deeply, stunningly buttery in a way that only certain French Butters can be (at Chaumont), but today, it was just plain and very muted! 
We quickly went over and asked the manager, and she told us Arsicault has now switched over to an American Butter! Noooo!
This is a huge downgrade in flavor (the ironic part is that she told us, “We decided to try the cheaper American Butter and felt there was no difference, so we switched.” 
Wow.
Major Downhill Alert. (@ipsedixit @PorkyBelly @BradFord @beefnoguy @Bookwich @T3t @Ns1 @attran99 and others)
So for a very good, but muted Butter flavored Croissant, Arsicault will still scratch that itch, but we’ll be saving our calories for Chaumont (and if in the area when they come out of the oven early, Konbi). A sad day.
Almond Croissant:
Their Almond Croissant has a nice crunch, not overly sweet, and I love their Almond Paste filling (not overly synthetic tasting like some versions we’ve tried). However, it is not as good as @Ns1’s Lou, The French on the Block, nor Chaumont, but it’s very good.
Arsicault Bakery
397 Arguello Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94118
Tel: (415) 750-9460
B. Patisserie (Revisit)
We had some improved Pastries the last time we revisited B. Patisserie, from Pastry Chef Belinda Leong (former Pastry Chef of Manresa in Los Gatos, CA (Michelin 2 Star)) and Michel Suas (Pastry Chef at Restaurant Barrier (Paris, France) (Michelin 3 Star)), so we were hoping it would continue to improve since our last visit.
Almond Croissant:
This was a touch too sweet for me. It wasn’t bad, but Arsicault’s was definitely better, as was Tartine Bakery (SF)'s Almond Croissant the last 2 times we tried it. Definitely a step below Lou’s and Chamount’s, but if you like your Almond Croissants more sweet, this is the version to get.
Kouign Amann:
Now this is more like it! Crisp-crunch outer shell, nice buttery inside, this was delicious! By far the best version we’ve tried now at B. Patisserie (1st time was stale (terrible), 2nd time was better, now this). Having just had Pastry Chef Karen Hatfield’s Buttercup at Sycamore Kitchen in recent memory, we like her version a touch more (and it’s also been more consistent (3 times, all consistently well-made)). But this is outstanding now, and hopefully the norm. We’d be glad to stop by and get more of these next time.
Black Sesame Latte (with Almond Milk):
Oh yah! For Black Sesame Lovers out there (@paranoidgarliclover), definitely a unique morning alternative to Coffee and Mocha Latte’s etc., I love B. Patisserie’s Black Sesame Latte (w/ Almond Milk)! It is nutty, aromatic, and has a beautiful Black Sesame flavor, while still warming you up like a Coffee or Tea in the chilly morning, just differently. Must order for Black Sesame Lovers!
At this point we had one more stop before it was time to fly home later today…
B. Patisserie
2821 California St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
Tel: (415) 440-1700
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What nut job has the balls to say that there’s no difference between French and American butter?
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That would be Bob, from Accounting.
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Bob should be shot. Or bludgeoned.
What a travesty.
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Funny!
Oh well, after all that press in Bon Appetite magazine and those raves. Thanks for the downhill croissant report there! Waiting for the InstaBook stories and selfies outside the shop that say “yeah gotta get my American butter croissant fix on with my hipster coffee!!!”
“we decided to use California roll imitation crab and felt there was no difference from Hokkaido hairy crab”…
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