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Field Guide To Boston
Here are 8 bakers' favorite pastry shops around Greater Boston
Nothing is better than walking into a local bakery and being hit with the smell of freshly baked bread, warm chocolate chip cookies or hints of cinnamon. But before you decide which decorated goodies will tantalize your taste buds, you have to first figure out where to stop for a treat — and the Boston area has a wide range of bakeries to choose from.
So, we asked some of the top local bakers to give us recommendations for where they get their favorite baked goods (when they're not whipping them up themselves).
Here are the bakers behind the recommendations:
- Joanne Chang, owner of Flour Bakery and James Beard Foundation Award winner for Outstanding Baker in 2016
- Daisy Chow, owner of Breadboard Bakery
- Soheil Fathi, pastry chef, and Sarah Moridpour, owners of La Saison
- Chris Goluszka, pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton
- Maura Kilpatrick, executive pastry chef and owner of Sofra Bakery
- Or Ohana, cofounder of Bakey
- Tzurit Or, pastry chef and founder of Tatte Bakery
- Nicole Walsh, co-owner of Clear Flour Bread
From festive treats to every day eats, here are the bakeries they frequent most often and their favorite things to order. And you can read on to get advice on how to judge a bakery's quality (good news: it involves croissants).
Bova's Bakery
134 Salem St., Boston — 617-523-5601
- Goluszka's holiday go-to: "If it's a dinner party, Bova's in the North End is my favorite. Their Florentine cannoli is my favorite."
Breadboard Bakery
203A Broadway, Arlington — 781-777-2863
- Walsh's favorite daily treat: Cinnamon rolls.
Clear Flour
178 Thorndike St., Brookline — 617-739-0060
"I love Clear Flour bread in Brookline. You really cannot go wrong; everything on the menu is incredibly delicious, fresh and so well done," Or said. "Whenever I walk in it always remind me of our first [Tatte] location where we baked in the back. I love it."
- Or's favorite daily treat: "I usually buy their seasonal crostata — individual size — and eat it all by myself. It's incredibly delicious and fresh. I always get an Epi [bread] to snack on too."
- Or's favorite loaf: "Back when I started Tatte during the farmers market days and before we started making our own bread, we used Clear Flour bread for all our sandwiches. My daughter grew up eating their bread daily, addicted to their Epis and flower shaped French bread."
- Ohana's favorite loaf: "Easy pick every day is their Sourdough 2.0."
Cocorico Boulangerie
450 Summer St., Boston — 617-476-6664
- Chang's favorite daily treat: "It's hard not to recommend pretty much everything made here. The raspberry cruffin, the classic canele, flaky gorgeous pain au chocolat, cinnamon morning bun."
Formaggio Kitchen
358 Huron Ave., Cambridge — 617-354-4750
94 Hampshire St., Cambridge — 617-714-5758
268 Shawmut Ave., Boston — 617-350-6996
- Chang's holiday go-to: "They are the gold standard for a reason. Their cheeses are unique and top quality; they have a huge selection of crackers and nuts and cookies and chocolates (I love the McCrea's dark chocolate caramels); the staff are all really kind and helpful. It's like Willy Wonka's factory for adults who love food."
House of Lavash
7 Cushing Ave., Belmont — 617-484-1575
- Fathi on their bread: "We're addicted."
Iggy's: The Bakery
130 Fawcett St., Cambridge — 617-924-0949
- Chang's favorite loaves: "They make an ancient grain that has almost a custardy interior that I can't stop eating and their francese is on every holiday table in the city — or should be. My all time favorite is the cranberry pecan. It makes excellent toast with a big hunk of butter."
SALT Patisserie
792 Beacon St, Newton Centre — 617-467-0695
- Kilpatrick's holiday go-to: Their beautiful tarts, in large and individual [sizes].
- Ohana's favorite daily treat: "I really like their traditional butter croissant."
- Kilpatrick's favorite daily treat: "Canelé. It's perfectly toasted, [with a] burnt exterior."
Sofra Bakery
1 Belmont St., Cambridge — 617-661-3161
- Walsh's favorite daily treat: "I never leave Sofra without one of their earthquake cookies. They're like heaven-sent cookies. If I'm wanting something savory I usually get one of their spreads with one of their crick cracks, which are so good."
Tatte Bakery and Café
Over 20 locations across Massachusetts
- Why Ohana goes here for holiday parties: "They have great variety and it's always packed in style and looks amazing."
Yi Soon Bakery
112 Brighton Ave., Allston — 617-254-3099
- Chow's favorite daily treat: Almond cookies. "They're basically flat almond tuiles with an addictive crunch. Their custard buns and roast pork buns are so light and delicious."
VINAL Bakery
222 Somerville Ave., Somerville — 617-718-0148
- Goluszka's favorite daily treat: "Their English muffin breakfast sandwiches are the best (flora with an egg, can never go wrong) and they have a good rotating selection of morning pastries. And they have a good maple scone."
With additional reporting by WBUR's Amy Gorel.
