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. 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 The limit applies to each variety — 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! Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.
m. Wednesday-Sunday at 35 Lafayette Circle in Lafayette; 925-283-3324. 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.
