Palm Ave and the Best Croissants of Our Lives

Welp, I finally did it. After a year of being in a long distance relationship with Russelle, I have left my home town of Los Angeles and moved to the Bay Area to be closer to her. We decided we were stronger together as a photo team, than apart.

Fortunately, I have also found more stable income here as well- shooting food photography and doing other odd photo jobs. The networking and photo opportunities that have been presented to me was what finally convinced me to move up north.

But enough with that… Let’s talk about San Francisco. Contrary to popular belief, NorCal is more than just San Francisco. Just like how SoCal isn’t just Los Angeles. I’m discovering great places each and every day. Despite having a job that requires me to work all over the Bay area, I never find myself in the city, nor wanting to be there. It’s all the one way streets and traffic jams that kill me. I drove into the Financial District during rush hour to meet up with Russelle once. This was in the beginning our relationship… never again.

It has been nearly half a year since the last time I stepped foot into the city; let alone, hung out for a full day there. Recently, we were fortunate enough to receive some sponsorship opportunities and photo assignments. We both agreed the city would be a great place to complete our work, venture around, and have a cute date. Usually, I would be reluctant to go into the city, but there was a bakery that we absolutely needed to revisit. This definitely deserved it’s own blog post.

ARSICAULT BAKERY:

I cannot hype this place enough. I was a big advocate for Porto’s Bakery back in LA… and then I was introduced to this place. It has now ruined all other bakeries for me. Arsicault Bakery is a very small bakery located on Arguello Blvd that only opens until 1:30PM on Weekdays, 2:00PM on Saturdays, and 3:00PM on Sundays. Unlike Porto’s with their extensive menu, Arsicault only has 6 things on theirs (+1 weekly special), and damn do they do it well.

Due to the limited supply, every customer is restricted to 8 items. Unsurprisingly, if you snooze, you lose. If you don’t get their early enough, their most popular items: The Ham & Cheese Croissants, and Chocolate Almond Croissants will most definitely be sold out for the day. After carelessly both forgetting our phones at home and having to drive back in need of directions, we arrived at Arsicault a little later than expected. We parked a block over on Palm Ave and walked on over to wait in the, surprisingly, not so long line.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The Ham & Cheese Croissants were gone, but luckily for us, we were able to snag the last three Chocolate Almond Croissants. What’s so great about these croissants you ask? Honestly, there are really no words I can use to describe them. I have never had pastries this good. Do yourself a favor, come to San Francisco and just try them yourselves. So so so so so amazingly good. I never thought I’d be so happy to spend over four dollars on a measly pastry, but they’re really worth it.

After our sugary filled breakfast, we walked back to our car and realized how nice the scenery and lighting was. Being in such a rush to get to Arsicault, we didn’t take time to notice the beautiful street we had parked on. Both the photographer and boyfriend in me screamed to not waste this opportunity. We decided to take a photo walk down Palm Ave.

PALM AVE:

and of course, take some pictures together.

It really goes to show that photography can be enjoyed anywhere. With my trusty camera by my side, I’ll be able to capture the beautiful surroundings around me. This is including my beautiful girlfriend =D.  It was a wonderful way to start off our San Francisco day.