On Sunday morning, I was playing in a volleyball tournament at Alki Beach in West Seattle. As I was heading out there, I was thinking about what to do for breakfast. My normal ritual when heading out there is to either stop at Starbucks, or possibly get there and walk down to the Alki Bakery. This time though, realizing I had a little time, I decided to check out a place that I’d read and heard a little about; Bakery Nouveau. This turned out to be a great decision all at the same time.
Bakery Nouveau is a small bakery located on California Avenue, tucked in amongst some other shops. Had I not been using my GPS, the chances were pretty good that I would have driven right past it and not even noticed. As fate would have it, I noticed just in time, and got a parking spot right by the front door. The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of my car was the smell drifting toward, almost like a finger just beckoning me to come in. And so I obliged.
Walking in, I took in as much as I could. The interior was pretty simple, with a few seats for people. But the display cases were quite the opposite. Complex and delicious looking desserts and candies filled the first case. Breads were in the second area. And then in the third were the pastries. It was here that I focused my attention on. After a short amount of deliberation I opted for the Pineapple Croissant along with the Almond Croissant, probably the most famous pastry to come out of this quaint little shop. I figured that since I was playing volleyball all day, I could splurge on two pastries. I also got a cup of coffee, the entire bill coming to about $10. I paid, and then took my bad of croissants with me to the beach.
Once I got to the beach and got myself situated, I dove into my breakfast. The pineapple croissant was delicious. Very flaky crust, but still soft and moist on the inside. The pineapple maintained its texture and integrity, and added that perfect amount of balanced sweetness. Not to mention the entire thing was in the shape of a pineapple. But, as good as the pineapple croissant was, it couldn’t stand up to the Almond croissant. Talk about delicious and fantastic and incredible and all of those other adjectives. The first bite was one of just flaky, melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. The flavors just explode in your mouth, the butteriness of the croissant with the just right almond flavor. It was just right, a perfect breakfast to start the morning.
Without a doubt the almond croissants are as good if not better than advertised. I will be planning on making a stop at Bakery Nouveau pretty much every time we go to West Seattle for at least one croissant. And if we ever end up moving to West Seattle (which isn’t out of the question), it is going to be incredible difficult to not stop by every morning on my way to the office. Guess that means I better figure out a workout plan now…
Final Verdict – 5 Stars
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