The first food to slip on its gloves, shake off its robe, and step into the arena? The mighty French croissant. Why? To be honest, I’m not really sure. I actually used to dislike croissants, although I believe that has more to do with the fact that I had only tried the crappy, mushy, slightly-stale variety that have infested the U.S.
I think the inspiration came from my new perch atop Financier Patisserie in the Financial District. Not literally, but almost… my new job is right above the bakery, which is dangerous and wonderful all at once. Financier is a French-style bakery that excels in pastries and beautiful cakes – fortunate for me because my weaknesses are cookies and cupcakes, so at least I don’t feel compelled to buy something there every day.
Anyway, Financier’s croissants are pretty good, but they’ve got nothing on the croissants at my all time favorite bakery, Tartine, in San Francisco. So I decided to go on an little mission to discover if NY has any bakery that can rival tartine. I made a series of early morning visits to lauded bakeries around New York, in search of the lightest, flakiest, crispiest, most buttery croissant. I have compiled a fairly comprehensive list of the city’s top croissants. I’ve decided not to rank in perfect order, because there is no clear order – some bakeries excel at the shatter effect while others excel in a light, buttery flavor. Instead, I’ve ranked in groups: “Best In Show,” “Pretty Good for New York,” “Better than the Coffee Cart,” and “Marginal.” Here goes…
BEST IN SHOW
Bouchon Bakery – Time Warner Center, Columbus Circle
While I’m not assigning a clear winner, if you put a gun to my head and said “Choose!”, Bouchon’s croissant would have to be my pick. However, I’m pretty sure anyone going around pointing guns to people’s heads doesn’t care much about croisants. My choice is not really all that surprising, given the excellence of most of the offerings at Thomas Keller’s mini-café in the Time Warner Center. His croissants are quite large, but so light and airy inside that you don’t feel like a glutton after you have finished every last bite. The croissants also have a magnificent, crisp shatter effect on the outside, surprising given how soft and ethereal they are inside, and how wonderfully buttery – yet not greasy – they taste. The croissants are also quite beautiful – you can see every single thin layer of the croissant.
Chez Laurence – 38th & Madison
At an unsuspecting and rather dark little restaurant on a corner in midtown, you will find one of the best croissants in New York. I don’t know why Chez Laurence doesn’t have the same reputation as Chez Claude – perhaps it’s the location – but he merits it (if he even exists). The shatter effect of these croissants is tremendous, and the layers plentiful. These croissants are quite thick, particularly in comparison with those of from Bouchon, but the strong flavor makes them very enjoyable.
Patisserie Claude – W. 4th between Sixth & Seventh Aves
Chez Claude is much-lauded among New York’s croissant-crazed (which is probably all of about ten of us). His croissants seem to be the hands-down favorites in most circles (I guess this would mean circles of 2-3 people?). My visit to Patisserie Claude yielded the only still-warm, fresh-from-the-oven croissant of my travels. The croissants have a huge shatter effect, and are fairly thick with a strong, buttery taste. There are not at all sweet, as you find at many bakeries, and also not greasy, despite the buttery flavor. I prefer the lightness of the Bouchon croissants, but this is a strong contender.
Petrossian – Seventh Ave between 57th & 58th Streets
The final croissant to make it into my “Best of…” list are from Petrossian, which share the requisite shatter effect of the other top croissants. The inside of my croissant was almost hollow it was so light and airy, but it did not lack for taste. Again, the croissant leaned towards a savory rather than sweet buttery taste, but was not overly greasy.
PLEASING BUT NOT PERFECT
Almondine
Almondine offers a pretty good croissant, with a reasonable shatter effect. The taste is fresh and not greasy, though not particularly strong. I will say that their almond croissant is quite good for New York – the edges were a bit charred but the almond paste was yummy.
Joyce Bakeshop
In terms of texture, Joyce Bakeshop achieves near perfection. The croissants are light inside, yet incredibly flaky and crispy on the outside. However, the croissant lacks the depth of flavor of the top contenders. There’s not really a distinctive buttery taste, neither savory nor sweet. But 4 stars for texture!
BETTER THAN THE COFFEE CART
Financier
Financier’s croissants have a distinctly strong, sweet buttery flavor, which saves them from their lack of texture. I rarely find a croissant with much of a shatter effect (the almond croissants are particularly mushy). Perhaps if Financier & Joyce Bakeshop met and spawned mini-croissants, they would rank up there in the “Best Of” category (or, I suppose, could fall just as easily into the ‘Marginal’ arena).
Tartine
Talk about over-cooked – this thing is better described as “CRUNCH effect” rather than “shatter effect”. However, a very strong, almost olive-oil-like flavor distinguishes this croissant and saves it from dropping into the lower ranks of NY croissants. The almond croissant is pretty decent, and decidedly less crunchy than the plain croissant.
Ceci-Cela
Ceci-Cela suffers from the Financier disease – no texture, strong and sweet flavor. There was absolutely no shatter effect, but the sweet buttery flavor salvaged it a bit.
La Bergamote
La Bergamote’s croissant was quite disappointing, given my high expectations. There was no shatter effect, and the croissant was again quite thick, though not particularly flavorful. Not bad, but nothing to trek back to Chelsea for. HOWEVER, they have a kick-ass almond croissant, one of the best I have found in NYC. It’s not quite as good as Tartine in SF, but it’s also not that far off, which is saying a lot. The edges are nicely crisped and the center is laden with sweet, sweet frangipane. For that, I willl trek to Chelsea.
Silver Moon Bakery
Better than the coffee cart really sums this one up. The texture is so-so and the flavor is decent but also so-so.
Falai
I don’t think I should even include Falai, because they sell cornettis, not croissants, but thought I would mention it as it’s quite enjoyable. However, cornettis are more bread-like and thick in texture, so they don’t have that ethereal quality of a top-notch croissant. If you’re in Soho, though, they are worth a taste.
MARGINAL
Balthazar
I was a bit shocked by the Balthazar croissant, which aside from being badly burned at the edges, was utterly bland and borning. Even though the croissant was cooked to a crisp, there was still only a minimal shatter effect, perhaps because it had been sitting out (although at 8:30 am, I should be able to expect something a little more fresh). On the other hand, the sticky buns are great!
Bouley Bakery
I would have thought that the Bouley Bakery would have shot to the top tiers of my croissant rankings but alas, it pretty much sucked, especially at their high prices. The shatter effect was strong, but the flavor was completely blah. Very disappointing (as, I have found, are all of their croissant-based pastries).
Le Pain Quotidien
I wouldn’t have even stopped at this chain without some strong recommendations, but I don’t think this croissant measures up at all. There was very little crunch, and the flavor was bland and slightly stale. The croissant was also quite thick and chewy – no lightness at all, highlighted further by my visit to Bouchon immediately after.
Marquet
After strong encouragement by several friends, I took a trip to Fort Greene one morning to sample Marquet’s croissants. To be fair, it was raining and quite humid, so perhaps the weather is responsible for the rather sad croissant that I sampled. There was absolutely no shatter effect – not a single ounce of crunch to be found. The flavor was ok, but not particularly strong, and the croissant was quite thick and chewy.
**A NOTE – Tisserie, near Union Square, has a great chocolate almond croissant, but you have to get it fresh. In the morning, it blew my mind. In the evening, it sucked. True of all croissants, I suppose…
SPOTS I MISSED
J’Adore
Payard
Guy Pascal
Fauchon
