The best bakeries in San Francisco with cult followings

With the city’s wealth of top-notch bakeshops serving everything from cookies, cakes and tarts, to muffins, buns and loaves, carb lovers don’t need to wander far to find a fix. Long lines are often a given, but fresh-baked goodness is always worth the wait. In San Francisco, bakery shelves can be bare by noon, so come early and come prepared — a surprising number of shops are cash-only operations.

If you’re looking for a sweet or savory fix, the following standout bakeries are but a slice of what San Francisco has baked up over the years. Some have kept their ovens hot since the Gold Rush, and others have popped up in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but all are doing their part to keep San Francisco a delicious destination.

In 2023, the James Beard Foundation added an Outstanding Bakery category to its annual awards. Among the 20 semifinalists for this inaugural honor, one San Francisco bakery made the short list: Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop, a family-owned, modest pastry counter that’s been running in Japantown’s Super Mira Market since 1974. It was Yasukochi’s first James Beard nod and anyone who’s ever had the Sweet Stop’s coffee crunch cake was like, “Yep. It’s about time.” The treat is reminiscent of a cake from the fondly-remembered Blum’s chain of sweet shops, and it’s as quintessentially San Franciscan as Ghirardelli chocolate or cioppino.

You won’t forget your first bite: Soft vanilla cake with a whisper of lemon, slathered with airy whipped cream, then covered with a crispy coating of crushed coffee (some folks say toffee) candies. If coffee isn’t your thing, Yasukochi’s crunch cakes also come in lemon and chocolate varieties, and an assortment of roulade cakes and fruity Danish round out their bakecase. But trust us, it’s the coffee crunch cake that will take your breath away. 

Diners sing the praises of Jewish bakery Loquat and its flaky bourekas (think savory turnovers) and just-sweet-enough cakes that pair perfectly with coffee. This Hayes Valley bakery is a relative newcomer to the scene, but Loquat’s baked goods passed taste tests when they were first featured on menus at Four Barrel Coffee in the Mission and the Mill in NoPa before taking center stage in a standalone bakeshop all their own.

Loquat spotlights baking traditions from across the Jewish diaspora. The results include picture-perfect babkas, which take three days to make and offer layers of flavors, from traditional poppy seed and salted chocolate to ricotta and cardamom. An olive oil spelt cake drips with Earl Grey frosting and begs for a piping cup of Loquat’s mint tea. A not-too-sharp tart of preserved lemon arrives crowned with a raft of rosemary cream to outshine any icebox pie you’ve ever had. And on the savory side, Loquat’s bourekas pack triangles of phyllo with savory ingredients like eggplant, spiced potatoes and kabocha squash.

Find it: Loquat, 198 Gough St., San Francisco, CA 94102; 415-932-6816

“Siri, what is créme chiboust? No, not kimchi balls — créme chiboust.” The offerings at Craftsman and Wolves will have you asking this sort of question as you agonize over every gorgeous option. At the sleek pastry shops in the Mission and Bayview, it’s evident that “craft” is the keyword. Nearly every menu item lists an unexpected ingredient to question (tajín in a macaron?); a pastry style to inquire about at the counter (what is bostock?); or a form of patisserie you’ll discreetly google, too timid to hold up the line with endless questions (what is namelaka?). 

No matter what treat you settle on, it will be sure to showcase a baker’s skill and an artist’s eye, and must have taken the patience of a saint to pull off. Case in point: the shop’s celebrity-status muffin called The Rebel Within. It’s a cheesy, savory cake made with sausage and scallions and at its center is the so-called rebel: an intact soft-boiled egg that oozes a warm, golden yolk as your knife glides through it. There’s a vegetarian version, too.

Find it: Craftsman and Wolves

746 Valencia St., San Francisco, California 94110; 415-913-7713
1598 Yosemite Ave., San Francisco, California 94124; 415-423-3337

Arsicault Bakery was named America’s best new bakery in 2016 by Bon Appetit magazine and time hasn’t dulled its shine or shortened its lines. Its signature is the humble croissant, perfected by owner-baker Armando Lacayo. Yelp reviewers again confirmed Arsicault’s supremacy in January 2023, naming the bakery’s croissants the fifth best in the nation. 

Brave the long lines to try the San Francisco croissant that Bon Appetit editors gushed is “simultaneously so preposterously flaky it leaves you covered in crumbs, so impossibly tender and buttery on the inside that it tastes like brioche and so deeply golden that the underside is nearly caramelized.” Try any flavor — there’s plain, chocolate, ham and cheese, almond, and chocolate almond — at Arsicault’s San Francisco bakeries on Arguello Boulevard in the Inner Richmond or McAllister Street in Civic Center.

Find it: Arsicault Bakery

97 Arguello Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94118; 415-750-9460
87 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102; 415-926-5155

Tartine Bakery’s original address is technically on Guerrero Street, but it might as well be listed as “at the top of every best-of list.” This San Francisco bakery has become the darling of home bakers thanks to Tartine’s co-founders sharing the secrets of their rustic loaves in easy-to-grasp manuals like Tartine Bread. However, swing by Tartine — at its flagship Mission bakery, its nearby manufactory or its outpost in the Inner Sunset — and you won’t even have to turn your oven on. 

Tartine’s secret lies in its moist dough, leavened with a touch of sourdough starter, then stretched and pulled, rather than kneaded. Loaves bake up craggy and crusty on the outside, with a lacy openness on the inside and only the faintest hint of sourness in each meltingly tender bite. 

Find it: Tartine Bakery

600 Guerrero St., San Francisco, CA 94110; 415-487-2600
595 Alabama St., San Francisco, CA 94110; 415-757-0007
1226 Ninth Ave., San Francisco, CA 94122; 415-742-5005 

The Outer Sunset’s Pineapple King Bakery is known for its crispy, crumbly Chinese confections called pineapple buns. No love for pineapple? Don’t swipe left too fast. These Hong Kong bakery classics contain no pineapple and boast a variety of flavors. The pineapple name comes simply from the bun’s resemblance to pineapple skin, with its golden domes and crunchy, crackly, cookie-like topping.

These milk-bread buns owe their flavor to the fruity butters and custardy fillings they hold. Depending on which you choose, your bun may come filled with an ice-cold slab of butter made with guava, chocolate marshmallow or pandan coconut; pumped full of delicious fillings like salted egg custard, matcha mochi and mango; or exploding with savory barbecue pork, curry beef and teriyaki chicken. If you can’t pick just one, order a butter supreme box of four to sample the best of the bunch and add a hot milk tea to wash them down.

You may find sourdough on menus throughout San Francisco, but to experience it as Californians would have 150 years ago, you’ve got to head to Boudin Bakery. Synonymous with sourdough and dating back to the California Gold Rush, Boudin requires little introduction. For going on two centuries now, Isidore Boudin’s namesake bakery has made fresh sourdough each day from the same starter dough he perfected in 1849. Pop by any of Boudin’s locations today to experience this storied San Francisco bread in all its glorious forms, from sandwiches and bread bowls to croutons, pizza crusts and loaves to go. 

Find it: Boudin Bakery, flagship location, 160 Jefferson St., San Francisco, CA 94133; 415-351-5561

Editor’s note: Liguria Bakery is currently closed due to a fire on Aug. 8. A voicemail recording at the bakery says the business will be closed until further notice. 

“Pick one thing to do and do it right” could be the motto of Liguria Bakery. This old-school North Beach bakery does one thing and one thing only: pillowy-soft sheets of Italian focaccia bread. Founded in 1911 by Ambrogio Soracco, Liguria remains a family business a century later, and still sends patrons on their way with armfuls of focaccia wrapped in parchment tied up with string. 

Every focaccia loaf riffs on the Soracco family’s original recipe. Their traditional varieties — plain, along with scallion, raisin and a tomato-topped pizza version — have grown over the years to embrace flavors like mushroom black olive, rosemary and cheesy jalapeño. Lines queue up in the early morning hours and once the doors open, the focaccia could be gone by noon, if not before. 

Find it: Liguria Bakery, 1700 Stockton St., San Francisco, CA 94133; 415-421-3786

This story was edited by Hearst Newspapers Managing Editor Kristina Moy; you can contact her at [email protected].