This West L.A. institution dates back to 2002 thanks to chef-owner Ryuta Toyoshima, who hails from Yokohama, Japan. Ivy covers the facade of the breezy café, which features pastry cases at every turn, including a section of croissants. His compact butter croissant incorporates butter, milk, eggs, salt, sugar and flour to form an airy result with distinct layers of flaky, buttery pastry. Amandine also sells almond, chocolate and cinnamon croissants.
12225 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025

Ran Zimon, an Israeli-born baker who set up shop in Downtown L.A.'s Arts District, runs this industrial café with a glass-fronted kitchen and inviting back patio. Breads and sandwiches star, but b also serves some delectable croissants, none better than their ham and cheese croissant studded with poppy seeds and sesame seeds. A flaky dome cradles a soft core of caramelized Swiss cheese and thin-sliced Black Forest ham that combine for a savory hit. Zimon credits three keys to successful croissants: “good ingredients, attention to details and we care about what we do.”
700 South Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90021

Pastry chef Elizabeth Belkind and business partner Lisa J. Olin supply some of L.A.’s top coffeehouses with baked goods. They specialize in twists on classics and croissants are no exception. If you prefer savory, consider their Sage, Gruyere + Sea Salt Croissant, which features chewy melted cheese and soothing aromatics. Twice-baked croissants showcase crisp pastry that sport pistachio paste coats filled with pistachio cream and house-made kumquat preserves. Belkind says, “These are sweet and decadent, super crisp from their second stint in the oven, and moist and chewy in the center where the fillings have just barely saturated the dough.” Belkind favors “real butter with a low water content” and prefers to let hand-made dough rest overnight. “This allows the flavor to develop, balancing the sugar, salt and yeast in the dough.”
877.640.CAKE (2253)

This Beverly Hills bakery from a young French couple, Frederic and Laila Laski, features a classic look with marble tables, mirrors on the wall and a glass-fronted counter framed by fashionable copper columns. Frederic Laski touts French butter and proofing the dough in a humidity- and temperature-controlled environment in order to produce superior croissants. Their Almond Chocolate Croissant is especially tantalizing, with flaky pastry sporting a toasted frangipane cap. The interior hosts a pair of crunchy 44 percent dark chocolate batons from either Belgium or France.
143 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Chef Sumi Chang runs a pair of Pasadena bakery/cafes. The newer branch is located across from Paseo Colorado and houses an inviting wood slab communal table. Euro Pane produces both French and American baked goods. Their Croissants often sell out early in the day, with good reason. Their croissant is not especially flaky, but is fairly substantial, with a pleasant buttery chew.
950 East Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91106

This multi-faceted Brentwood Country Mart culinary destination from chef Jeff Cerciello and business partner Michel Darmon features the pastry talents of Jeffrey DeLeon. He credits patience, “from the selection of your ingredients, through the laminating, to the proof and bake in order to create a better croissant.” The satisfying results are evident in their Ham and Cheese Croissant, which is sliced and stuffed with braised beet greens, Fra'Mani Handcrafted Foods ham and molten Tomme, a smoky Italian cheese.
Brentwood Country Mart, 225 26th St, Santa Monica, CA 90402

Maison Giraud is a workhorse French restaurant in picture perfect Pacific Palisades from chef Alain Giraud and wife Catherine. Pastry chef Noubar Yessayan makes croissants daily, including a stupendous Pain au Chocolat. Yessayan tips his toque to rich French butter he imports from Normandie and the three-day process, which includes dough and laminating, shaping, proofing and baking. The result is outrageously good, flaky and buttery, filled with two molten batons of dark Belgian chocolate.
Pacific Palisades Commercial Village, 1032 Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Na Young Ma graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and features an enticing pastry selection on the marble counters of her Atwater Village bakery. She sells ham and cheese and “plain” butter croissants, which are compact and tightly coiled, with crisp, flaky, golden crusts and beautiful contrasting texture when you bite their pillowy cores. When sharing her secrets to croissant success, Ma points to “temperature, making them every day, and baking them until they are a dark golden brown.”
3156 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

This multifaceted restaurant and bakery fronted by chef Walter Manzke and pastry powerhouse Margarita Manzke features an overflowing display of tempting baked goods each morning. Croissants make regular appearances in the pastry case, and fillings vary depending on the season and favorite flavor combinations. The Cubano Croissant is Margarita's recent entry to the croissant pantheon, a play on a Cuban sandwich with buttery pastry cradling cornichons, caramelized Gruyere, silky ham and whole grain mustard. No matter the filling, she strives for “quality of butter and flour and of course the attention to detail” when making croissants.
624 South La Brea Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036

Sharon Wang graduated from The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone and spent eight years working for the lauded Thomas Keller Restaurant Group before launching Sugarbloom Bakery. Her baked goods are available at specialty coffeehouses like Blacktop, Demitasse, Stumptown and Copa Vida. Kimchi SPAM Musubi Croissants are a fun play on a Hawaiian classic. Buttery pastry cradles savory strips of SPAM accented with kimchi and nori. She also bakes a brilliant pretzel croissant with whole wheat and sesame seeds. Wang said, “When making our viennoiserie, I try to imagine the perfect croissant: flakes of shattering crust and pulling apart a soft, chewy center.” To achieve this, Wang said you need three things: “1. The dedication of a bread baker and the finesse of a pastry chef. 2. Good butter and higher-grade flour. Don't compromise on ingredients. 3. Patience. Laminated dough can't be rushed. Just let the dough do its magic.”
Blacktop: 826 E 3rd St Los Angeles, CA 90013

Pastries are not always as they appear at Superba Food + Bread, the non-stop café and bakery from Paul Hibler and his talented team of chefs in Venice. Lincoln Carson is the resident pastry star, and in his hands croissants typically deliver twists. For instance, Superba’s ham and cheese croissant featuring sliced testa, which executive chef Jason Travi makes in-house using pig’s head, garlic, fennel seed and salt. Almond croissants utilize Marcona almonds, American almonds and frangipane to complete an “almond trifecta.” Superba’s top croissant just might be their Everything Croissant, which riffs on the everything bagel, with pats of cream cheese inside a caramelized crust that hosts “bagel spices,” including black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic, onion, black pepper and Maldon sea salt. According to Carson, “We try to showcase the developed flavor of the dough over the flavor of the butter.” His process includes a 12-hour pre-ferment, slow final fermentation and dough that never sees the inside of a freezer.
1900 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291