Favorite croissant in the city?

What are your faves?
Special request for a delicacy I discovered in Los Feliz in Los Angeles -- the "cinnamon croissant"

floriole!

I've tried a lot of croissants. Many are good, few are amazing. The best I've had in the city were just this past week, at Southern France, which I posted about here. As for cinnamon croissants, I'm not sure, that might be one unlabeled in the middle of the display counter in my photo in that topic. Regardless, if it's a cinnamon croissant you want, get their monkey bread, all cinnamon-y and made from croissant dough. It's fantastic. Note, the monkey bread was not on display when I went, just a sign, I think they keep them in the rear or something.

Another place making top notch croissants is just over the border in Evanston, at Patisserie Coralie. No cinnamon ones there, though.

Floriole, Cellar Door Provisions

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Floriole!

Hendrickx!

chunker wrote:Hendrickx!

My very close #2 but I adore that place also!

chunker wrote:Hendrickx!

My go to choice as well.

older thread seeking croissants in the loop

I have always been intrigued by the frozen croissants at Williams and Sonoma as well as Trader Joe's. Let them proof overnight and bake in the morning.

Regards,
Cathy2

I'm a big fan of Floriole, but more so for other items (basque cake, miche, pot de creme, panna cotta) rather than their croissants. And while I still stand by my nomination of Southern France as my favorite croissant in the city, and especially their monkey bread as the best version of a cinnamon croissant... I couldn't help but think about this topic a couple of hours ago, when I was buying the perfectly decent cinnamon croissant pictured below, at Maison de Castelnau on West Bryn Mawr.

the monkey bread suggestion made me think of another West Coast find that is actually similar to the cinnamon croissant request -- we knew it there as the "morning bun" -- does this look familiar to anyone?

Cathy2 wrote:I have always been intrigued by the frozen croissants at Williams and Sonoma as well as Trader Joe's. Let them proof overnight and bake in the morning.

The ones from Trader Joe's are quite good. I mean, they're not going to compete with the best, flakiest, richest croissants from local bakeries, but for a product that offers the convenience of your freezer, they're surprisingly good. I just wish they hadn't discontinued their kouign amanns (which were pretty darn great)!

HP Glutster, is that Tartine? Swoon.

HPglutster wrote:the monkey bread suggestion made me think of another West Coast find that is actually similar to the cinnamon croissant request -- we knew it there as the "morning bun" -- does this look familiar to anyone?

Cellar Door serves morning buns, if you get there early enough. They usually sell out.

The bakery at Beatrix has a great morning bun

I haven't tried croissants at too many local spots, but I really like the almond croissant at La Boulangerie next door to Lycee Francais Chicago (1945 W. Wilson). Nice and crisp with good almond flavor and a light dusting of almonds and powdered sugar. They also sell bread, macarons and some other items.

I had one at Maison Parisienne in Lakeview this morning, and it was outstanding. I'd still put Southern France and Patisserie Coralie at the top, but theirs are pretty darn close.







Maison Parisienne
3307 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60657
maison-parisienne.com
MONDAY closed
TUESDAY-FRIDAY 8:00am-6:00pm
SATURDAY 10am-6:00pm
SUNDAY 10am-4pm

As a fun fact, if you're in France only straight croissants (not curved) are made with butter. The crescent-shaped are made with margarine or other fats.

spinynorman99 wrote:As a fun fact, if you're in France only straight croissants (not curved) are made with butter. The crescent-shaped are made with margarine or other fats.

Doesn't that mean that the ones made with butter shouldn't be called croissants?

spinynorman99 wrote:As a fun fact, if you're in France only straight croissants (not curved) are made with butter. The crescent-shaped are made with margarine or other fats.

Not exactly.
It is true that in France there is a law that a margarine or oil croissant has to be curved, but an all-butter croissant can be either straight or curved.

Now I'm hearing in my head Weird Al's (unwritten) Springsteen Parody, "It's so hard to find croissant in the city"

Cellar Door still reigns supreme in my book, and I really don't think it's that much of a contest (ok, I've had some items from Maison Parisienne, but I haven't tried their croissant since I've never been there at a time when I'd expect them to be at their prime - I hope to fix that soon).

La Boulangerie's croissant-making is not what it once was. I've tried the ones at the newish Wilson location twice (the second time to give them, well, a second chance) and I've been horribly disappointed . . . horribly.

And this morning I finally got the chance to try one from Southern France Patisserie on Irving Park. It was very good, definitely among the top tier in Chicago. In terms of texture, it was outstanding-a light crispness, flaky and yet so tender. So why isn't it the best and what could be improved? I prefer the flavor at Cellar Door (the butter!). Also, it was a tad too greasy (I could get over this really easily, but still). The only other issue was too little salt, perhaps just an oversight with this batch . . . it happens. You can see I'm nitpicking here -- it's among the top five in Chicago and with an extra dash of salt, it would be competing for top 3 or so. Maison P, I'll be visiting you soon.

BR wrote:Cellar Door still reigns supreme in my book, and I really don't think it's that much of a contest (ok, I've had some items from Maison Parisienne, but I haven't tried their croissant since I've never been there at a time when I'd expect them to be at their prime - I hope to fix that soon).

Finally visited Maison Parisienne for the croissant - fantastic! Buttery, flaky, soft layers . . . 2nd best I've had in Chicago. But yes, Cellar Door's is still the best. But Maison Parisienne probably wins the baguette game in town - very impressive.

BR wrote:Finally visited Maison Parisienne for the croissant - fantastic! Buttery, flaky, soft layers . . . 2nd best I've had in Chicago. But yes, Cellar Door's is still the best. But Maison Parisienne probably wins the baguette game in town - very impressive.

Maison Parisienne also wins the kouign amann game in town, as noted here.

I rarely buy croissants, but the best ones I've had outside of France have been at La Patisserie P. If you get there at 8:00am, the croissants and pain au chocolat are still warm from the oven. Yum!

La Patisserie P
1050 W Argyle St
Chicago

FrankP wrote:I rarely buy croissants, but the best ones I've had outside of France have been at La Patisserie P. If you get there at 8:00am, the croissants and pain au chocolat are still warm from the oven. Yum!

La Patisserie P
1050 W Argyle St
Chicago

Hmmm . . . FrankP, Patisserie P . . . you sure you have no affiliation with the place that you'd like to disclose?

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