Here at Good Food, we love croissants. We love them so much that in 2023, we tasted countless croissants around Los Angeles and picked our top 18. More recently, The Infatuation took on an even tougher task — determining the 10 best croissants in LA.
Does it crackle or shatter when you bite into it? Does it taste like butter? Is it more sweet or savory? These were a few of the criteria that The Infatuation team considered when picking the 10 best croissants in Los Angeles. Sylvio Martins along with his colleagues Garrett Snyder and Brant Cox judged 25 butter croissants in a blind taste test. Martins admits that personal preferences came into play. Some valued texture while others preferred flavor but the team determined their Top 10.
Making the list was the vegan croissant from Bakers Bench in Chinatown, where Jennifer Yee is a pro at baking without butter. The number six and seven spots went to lesser known bakeries, Des Croissants Paris in Culver City and La Chouette on Melrose, which earned their place for buttery flavor and browned crust, respectively.
Fondry, in Highland Park, makes customers of all ages happy. Photo by B FOR BRAND/The Infatuation.
Lou, The French On the Block, a Burbank spot owned by a former French basketball player, was a discovery for the team. Fondry in Highland Park, operated by the same owners as nearby Loquat and Kumquat coffee shops, took third place on the list. Clemence de Lutz's new bakery, Petitgrain Boulangerie, in Santa Monica offers the textbook definition of a French croissant, according to Martins, and took second place on the list. The bakery also does two bakes a day so if customers miss out in the morning, they can get one straight from the oven in the afternoon batch.
The croissant at Friends & Family in East Hollywood topped the list for the city's best croissant. Photo by Jakob Layman/The Infatuation.
Coming in at the top of the heap are the croissants made by Roxana Jullapat at Friends & Family in East Hollywood. The toasted edges and noticeable layers from the outside plus the slight sourdough tang set these buttery half-moons made with whole wheat flour apart.