Let’s Eat: Best bakeries in Seattle

Twice-baked croissants, scones, bear claws, fresh morning buns; is your mouth watering yet? This week on Let’s Eat, host Terry Jaymes and Seattle Times restaurant critic Providence Cicero take a look at some of Seattle’s best bakeries, plus a new service that lets you subscribe to baked goods.

Both Terry and Providence say the one problem with bakeries is that you have to get up so early to get the best taste and selection. Providence says the baked goods at Crumble & Flake Patisserie go so fast that one Wednesday she wandered in around noon and found the cases completely empty.

“You would never have known there was a baked good in the display case. That’s how clean and empty it was,” says Providence. “I said, ‘What time do you have to get here to get something?’ He said, ‘Well today we sold out at 10.'”

Terry says you also have to get up early to get one of his favorite Seattle baked goods, the chocolate bread at Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle. He says he also loves their twice-baked croissants.

“Whatever it is, the twice-baked deal that they do, it leaves it so crispy on the outside and so gooey on the inside. I mean I crave it. The powdered sugar. I want to sleep in that stuff.”

At least Providence can stock up quickly at a couple of her favorite bakeries that happen to sit right next to one another in Ballard, Tall Grass Bakery and Cafe Besalu.

“The croissants at Besalu are exquisite. He does wonderful little cookies, too. Everything he does is wonderful,” says Providence.

She recommends the hominy bread.

Besalu warns the lines are typically long, but you can enjoy the smell of fresh baked goods as you wait.

One Seattle bakery you may not have to stand in line for is Macrina. While Providence loves the cafe, she says some of their products can be found in grocery stores.

“Their products are so good, wherever you can buy them,” says Providence. “They have them in the grocery stores too, so that’s nice.”

But Columbia City Bakery is the easiest way to get your bakery items, delivering them to your neighborhood with their CSB program.

“You know what community supported agriculture is, where you subscribe to a farm and you get a box of produce once a week?” says Providence. “They’re doing the same idea with baked goods, so you subscribe and you get a box of breads and pastries for the week.”

The weekly box of baked goods is customizable or you can go with the baker’s choice. The service allows people to subscribe to receive the weekly boxes, which at the cheapest level come with two loaves of bread and a sweet treat like cookies or a teacake.

Providence thinks it’s a great idea. Plus there’s no worry of oversleeping and missing out on your baked goods.

Let’s Eat can be heard on KIRO Radio at 4 p.m. Available anytime ON DEMAND at MyNorthwest.com.