We just returned from San Francisco, where we celebrated my mom’s 75th birthday. (Happy birthday, Mom!) The weekend was filled with food–shocker!–including dinner State Bird Provisions and Boulevard (the birthday card for my mom was a nice touch), dim sum at Yank Sing, lunch at La Mar–we struck gold when we wandered into this place, looking for a respite from the overwhelming people-ness of the Ferry Building–and a relaxing tea tasting at Vital Tea Leaf.

One of the highlights, however, was the gorgeous box of pastries that we picked up at Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, a bakery just a few blocks away from Union Square. The line out the door attests to the bakery’s fabulousness, with people queueing up early to get one of the cruffins. This croissant/muffin mash-up is pretty much what it sounds like: twisted croissant dough baked in a muffin tin and filled/frosted with one of the ever-changing flavors. Luckily for us, Saturday was chocolate caramel and the taste blew us away, rich and sweet without being too cloying. The croissant dough was flaky and buttery–a total winner.

The goodness didn’t stop there, though. On our march toward total gluttony, we also tried the matcha green tea croissant, the regular croissant, the raspberry-hibiscus kouign amann and the strawberry jam- and lemon cream-stuffed doughnuts. In a fit of generosity (or maybe sugar-induced madness), we gifted the orange blossom-cherry croissant and the California croissant (smoked salmon, ginger, wasabi and nori) to my parents to enjoy. (The savory croissant might sound a bit weird, but my parents said it was quite delicious.)

Mr. Holmes also has a few locations in Los Angeles, which I might have to hit up when I’m there in October.