The queue for San Francisco’s Tartine bakery weaved out onto the pavement in the city’s hip Mission District on our first morning there. It was just 10am, but we were already late for the bakery’s famous morning buns, little cinnamon scrolls heavy with candied orange and butter. As much as I detest queuing for food, I grumbled and joined the line.
Was it worth the wait? Of course. After elbowing our way to the counter, we left with a brown paper bag loaded with pain au jambon, a savoury croissant filled with Gruyère cheese and salty smoked Niman Ranch ham, a sweet one sandwiched together with frangipane and toasted flaked almonds and a buttermilk scone speckled with bacon and cheese.
This James Beard award-winning bakery was the perfect place to start our search for San Francisco's sweet tooth. I worried as we sat in Dolores Park overlooking the city, that as we devoured our breakfast swag, we had already set the bar too high for the city's best bakes.
Sofie and I had taken five days to make the road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco, on the promise of amazing views and some of the best food in the US. Our trip was the loose cover for my personal pilgrimage to Alice Waters's Chez Panisse. The Berkeley restaurant she founded in 1971 is widely acknowledged as having started a food movement in America based on using local, seasonal produce – and for putting Californian cuisine on the map.
Our experience was everything I had hoped for: a simple but carefully-curated menu created by dedicated chefs who took pride in executing it. It was all beautifully rounded off by a slice of pluot (a tart cross between an apricot and a plum) galette. It was a refreshing contrast to America’s usual over-the-top sweet desserts.
This more refined approach to a sweet appetite was also demonstrated during a visit to Craftsman and Wolves, a bakery and cafe seemingly set in a modern art museum. The sharp-edged counters were laden with contemporary cakes and bakes such as lemon and saffron tea cake, violet vanilla cheesecake and raspberry lime puffs.
A few doors down, the unmistakable waft of cocoa came from Dandelion Chocolate, a small batch, bean-to-bar chocolatier creating chocolate bars, chocolate injected cookies and more. All too good not to sample.
Our Chez Panisse experience set the tone for clever and considered sweets, while visits to Craftsman and Wolves, Tartine and Dandelion chocolate made the case for San Francisco’s modern sweet baking. Here are three recipes ideal for a sweet brunch with a twist.
