3 West 18th Street, New York • 212.366.1414 • thecitybakery.com
City Bakery is known as one of the best bakeries in NYC, primarily due to its original Pretzel Croissant. What in the world is a pretzel croissant, I wanted to know. My friend Elke who works in NYC had never been there and was excited to check it out as well. We walked into the large bakery/café and were immediately greeted by numerous treats tempting us from the display cases. There were so many delicious things to try!
City Bakery bounty – Baker’s Muffin and Pretzel Croissant
We ended up with a chocolate chip cookie (to continue our goal of finding New York’s best cookie!) and their other original, the Baker’s Muffin, which is like a cinnamon bun but add in apples, raisins and walnuts. It might have looked a little better than it tasted – it wasn’t as gooey and flavorful as I was expecting. So while it was still quite good, I think they have a few better items to get. Such as… the Pretzel Croissant, which of course we got as well.
According to legend (ok according to an interview with City Bakery owner/chef, Maury Rubin), the Pretzel Croissant was created when a German graphic designer rented some space in City Bakery’s kitchen to jump-start her pretzel business. The combination of the croissant and pretzel ingredients sparked some imagination by the pastry chefs and the Pretzel Croissant was born! And you will be glad it was –
When looking at the croissant, it just looked like a regular croissant with some sesame seeds on top. But then you take a bit – oh wow! I am not a huge salt fan, but this was an incredible concoction! Crisp, flaky outside, soft, buttery pillow of dough on the inside, and then all of a sudden you get this kick of salt. It wasn’t overboard on the salt, but just enough to make it taste like a pretzel. It was like nothing else I’ve had and I certainly will be going back to try another one the next time I’m in New York!
What to Get:
- Pretzel Croissant: sweet and salty unite! If you like croissants and you like salt, this will be your heaven
- Hot Chocolate: “ultra-creamy melted chocolate” is how they describe this drink, and man they are not kidding. If you are craving chocolate, this is the way to get it – creamy, warm and delicious, even topped with a homemade marshmallow!
- Chocolate Chip Cookie: Runner-up in our NYC Bakery Crawl Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge; this large cookie was crispy and had really great soft large chocolate chips, though it was a bit too sugary (you could taste the granulation) for my liking – Brice thought it was perfect however – you can be the judge J
City Bakery display case
Other Facts:
- Hours: Mon-Fri: 7:30am-7pm; Sat: 8am-7pm; Sun: 10am-6pm
- Seating: City Bakery is quite spacious – they have 2 stories and about 30+ tables, though it was still pretty busy on the Sunday afternoon when we went and hard to find a place to sit
- They also have lots of great lunch food such as an incredible-looking salad bar, sandwiches, soups, and pizzas
- Other Locations: Their “Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery” is not really a location, but a bicycle-powered cart that offers delivery of breakfast, lunch desserts and specialty drinks
Oh the pretzel croissant! One summer in college I had an internship in NYC and worked right around the corner from City Bakery. I ate quite a few of those croissants. I still crave them actually.
Fressen Bakery in Portland has some pretzel croissants that are a little different from City Bakery but also really delicious! I definitely recommend it!
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