I’ve wanted to make the pilgrimage to Mr. Holmes Bakehouse even since I read the mystery of the stolen recipe in the New York Times.  I was captivated by the story.  Who would break in just to steal a recipe?  How cool is that made-for-Instagram sign?  And what even is a cruffin!?!

 

There are two locations of Mr. Holmes Bakehouse in the world – Los Angeles and San Francisco – and thus there are two places in the world to get a cruffin.  After lusting over the bakehouse for over a year, through an unusual set of circumstances I got to go to both locations last week!  In Los Angles, we roused ourselves from bed at 6:30 am in order to make it across town right as the curtains came out of the oven at 9:00 am on the dot.  The cruffins reliably sell out in the first few hours, with people queuing around the block hours before the cruffins make their morning debut.  We were not disappointed.  The sign was beautiful, in all its pink neon glory, and as for the cruffins?  They were a pretty delicious mix of a flaky, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth croissant and substantial, chewy muffin.  While that sounds like an oxymoron it was really a delightful mouthful of goodness, all wrapped up in a sweet pink paper bag.