By far the biggest bakery opening in the last few years has been the viral sensation, Butter & Crumble.

While this San Francisco bakery has been open for a few years now, lines still wrap around the block with people regularly waiting up to two hours. Despite that, they continue to sell out almost every day that they’re open. Since we all know how Tommaso feels about lines, we’ve never gone even though I’ve been dying to visit since they opened in fall 2023. Each month, baker Sophie Smith and her all female staff create a new menu featuring seasonal ingredients though a few signature items never leave the rotation. I had absolutely no intention of going to Butter & Crumble but we happened to be in the area on a Friday around noon (which is already pretty late for bakery goods) and I thought, “why not stop by and see if there’s a line or if anything is even left?” To my surprise, the line was short (about a 15 minute wait) and there were still some pastries available though I’d estimate that about half the menu had already sold out.

I basically bought everything they had left and the cashier was nice enough to throw in an extra pastry because she liked my ear piercings.

The Spread: Classic Croissant (8/10), Morty P (9/10), Cheesy Ratatouille Bear Claw (8/10), Chorizo & Tot Croquiche (7.5/10), Mocha Graham Butterscotch Cruffin (8/10), Rocky Road Double Chocolate Cookie (8/10), and Brown Butter Toffee Cornflake Cookie (9/10).

Of the laminated pastries, my favorite was the morty p and I’m so glad she gifted us an extra one. Filled with pistachio pesto, mortadella, and Gruyère, all of the flavors melded together beautifully. The vegetarian ratatouille bear claw was another pleasant surprise featuring tomato sauce, roasted squash and eggplant, and a Gruyère béchamel. The only savory item I wish I’d gotten to try was the smoked bbq brisket croissant with smoked Gouda but unfortunately it had already sold out. The cruffin was also quite good. The mocha cream filling was silky smooth and the butterscotch dollops took it to another level. However, the standout sweet item was easily the brown butter toffee cornflake cookie. It was so delicious that I immediately wished I’d bought a second one. There were also plenty of sweet pastries that had already sold out, all of which sounded incredible, including their signature pistachio cardamon sugar croissant, bourbon peaches and cream twice baked croissant, and the passionfruit raspberry pain suisse.

Would I wait two hours for these pastries? No. But considering I only waited 15 minutes, still got to sample a good cross section of the menu, and found everything to be beautifully executed and genuinely delicious, I’d happily return to try more so my rating is an 8.5/10.