The second best croissant in San Francisco, according to the Chronicle’s recent blind taste test, almost didn’t make it into the competition at all.
My personal rankings mirrored the overall results – Juniper at No. 1, One65 at No. 2. I wasn’t shocked by Juniper’s first-place finish; I’ve been wowed by its pastries before, and the Polk Street bakery won a San Francisco croissant competition in 2024. But when it was announced that One65 Patisserie and Boutique was behind the croissant that many of us had ranked in our top three, there were gasps and shrieks. I invite you to picture a packed screening of “The Sixth Sense” as the audience realizes Bruce Willis is, indeed, a dead people.
During deliberations, the croissant that would be revealed as One65’s entry stood apart from the pack. Many of the contenders pushed at the limits of bien cuit, their exteriors more mahogany than golden, the pointy ends crunchy and, in some cases, slightly singed. I view this as a contemporary Cal-patisserie style arguably pioneered by Tartine, and one could see it as a facet of a broader flavor-blasting trend. Browning is flavor, and flavor is good, therefore browner is better.
But One65’s croissant, while by no means pale, was noticeably light in color. There was something about its flaxen hue that telegraphed its Frenchness, as if it rolled out of bed with mussed hair and sauntered straight to the boulangerie display case. The structure of the inside was a well-proofed marvel, a honeycombed lattice of open pockets spread evenly across the interior. The flavor? My colleague Tara Duggan quoted me as saying, in all my eloquence, “tasty,” and I stand by it.
The interior of One65’s croissant. (Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle)
So why the surprise? No one even knew that One65 was included in the sample group.
One65 is the ground-floor bakery at 165 O’Farrell St., a narrow building across from the Union Square Macy’s that’s also home to Elements Bar and Lounge, an Alexander’s Steakhouse and, most notably, fine-dining restaurant O’ by Claude Le Tohic. O’, which until this summer held a Michelin star, is the type of place with cheese, mignardises and after-dinner drinks all served tableside on carts. For bread service, diners can choose from a mini baguette, sesame shokupan, an incredible buckwheat canelé, a croissant and three types of brioche. The place takes bread and viennoiserie seriously.
But I had been disappointed by my 2024 visit to One65. For a Wednesday morning, it was quite full, and I overheard several patrons speaking French. Individual pats of Bordier butter were offered for $3. Salads on café tables and bonbons behind the display case looked enticing, but the shop’s attempt at sleek modernism, which included recessed lighting that cycled through various vibrant colors, read as dated. It felt like a bakery you might encounter in one of the UAE’s secondary airports.
I purchased two pastries for my colleagues on the food and wine desk to sample. The ham and cheese croissant was so overloaded with béchamel it was downright soggy, and a pistachio and chocolate croissant, while beautiful, with a glossy green swirl and a star on top like a laminated Christmas tree, boasted a filling that was light on pistachio, heavy on sweetness. “Not very good!” I wrote in my notes.
The first floor macaron counter is illuminated by color-changing lights inside One65 in San Francisco, Calif. Tuesday, May 14, 2019. (Jessica Christian/The Chronicle)
So when it came time to assemble the list of bakeries for our blind croissant tasting, One65 did not initially come up in our team’s conversation. But I remembered that while reporting my story about Parachute Bakery, owner and baker Nasir Armar (whose croissant just won this year’s San Francisco competition) had paid One65 and its pastry chef, Clément Goyffon, a passing compliment.
A week before the tasting, I flagged One65 as a potential dark horse candidate. My editor remained skeptical, saying she’d be open to including it if I wanted to pick up the samples myself. I didn’t feel strongly enough, based on my previous experience, to add them to my croissant collection itinerary, so I said no more, assuming that was the end of the road.
But unbeknownst to us, editor Janelle Bitker decided to stop by One65 the morning of the tasting, given its proximity to two other assignments, Le Carousel and B. Patisserie’s Union Square kiosk. She snuck the croissants in, and none of us were the wiser until the results were announced.
It’s possible that a good plain croissant does not a good filled croissant make – nor vice versa. I’m passionate about Arsicault’s filled croissants, yet, like the majority of my colleagues, I ranked its plain croissant quite low. It’s also possible that One65 has improved in the past two years, or that I visited on an unusually humid day, or any number of other scenarios that would explain why my second favorite croissant in the city is made by a bakery I had almost written off.
With the number of restaurants, bakeries, sandwich shops, bars-with-bites and food trucks in the Bay Area, first impressions matter. Sometimes – more often than not, in all honesty – a food business has one shot to make its case to a critic. If it shows promise, we’ll return. If not … our scout lists are long. The triumph of One65’s croissant is a personal reminder that even establishments striving for excellence have off days (see: the New York Times’ review of Bistrot Ha) or menu items that aren’t representative of its capabilities. I’m pleased to be able to update my notes for One65: Pretty damn good.
One65 Patisserie and Boutique. 165 O’Farrell St., San Francisco. one65sf.com
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This article originally published at How this underdog S.F. croissant took second place in our blind tasting.