There’s a lot to love about croissants. Warm, airy and delicately flaky, these French pastries are made with a lightly sweetened dough and laminated (folded and rolled) with butter over and over again to create impossibly thin layers and a lightly crisp outer shell.
Operating hours can change so make sure to check their websites before visiting.
Madeleine Bakery & Bistro
Wilkinsburg
High-quality ingredients and a commitment to technique makes Madeleine Bakery & Bistro’s croissants out of this world. Usually, the Wilkinsburg bakery has traditional butter croissants and pain au chocolate croissants available every day, along with Danish, morning buns and pull-apart breads. Owners Abigail and Andrew Stump say that they’re currently working on bringing more options to the counter in the near future. (609 S. Trenton Avenue)
Jean-Marc Chatellier’s French Bakery
Millvale
Established in 1992, Jean-Marc Chatellier’s French Bakery is the place to get seriously good, classically made croissants. Everything at the bakery is made in-house daily from a traditional French recipe, including their croissants. They’re available in plain, chocolate, almond and chocolate almond ($3 each). (213 North Avenue)
Mediterra Café
Sewickley and Mt. Lebanon
Every day, Mediterra Café’s bakery offers traditional butter croissants, along with chocolate, almond, bacon cheddar, ham and cheese and cruffins (a pull-apart croissant-muffin hybrid). On the weekends, they add a special seasonal croissant to the menu; this March, they’re featuring a white chocolate matcha-dipped croissant. (multiple locations)
Driftwood Oven
Lawrenceville
On weekends, Neil Blazin’s stellar pizza shop Driftwood Oven adds fresh-baked pastries to its menu, serving up regular croissants, chocolate croissants, ham and cheese croissants (topped with a mustard glaze), sourdough brioche cinnamon rolls, and a rotating list of cruffin flavors, including tasty options like orange curd with vanilla, lemon curd and meringue and raspberry-chocolate truffle. (3615 Butler Street)
Five Points Artisan Bakeshop
Point Breeze
Family-owned and operated, Five Points Artisan Bakeshop has a cult-like following in Pittsburgh — and for good reason. Everything from their loaves of bread to their gorgeous croissants are handmade using high-quality eggs, butter and other products. Croissants come in plain, chocolate, hazelnut, ‘everything’ and ham and cheese, and are available daily. They also have almond croissants and chocolate almond croissants, which are available on Saturdays and Sundays. (6524 Wilkins Ave., Point Breeze)
La Gourmandine
Multiple Locations
One bite into a La Gourmandine croissant, and you’ll know why it’s one of Pittsburgh’s favorites. La Gourmandine (with locations in Lawrenceville, Mt. Lebanon, Downtown and Hazelwood) offers butter, flaky plain croissants, chocolate croissants, croissant aux amandes (almond-cream filled croissants, topped with toasted almonds) and their signature La Gourmandise, a flaky croissant dough filled with vanilla pastry cream and chocolate drops.
Periwinkle’s Bakery
O’Hara
Periwinkle’s Bakery, which opened in 2021, offers from-scratch plain croissants, chocolate croissants and almond croissants in the store daily. Owner Kelly DiNatale says that the bakery also occasionally offers special flavors, including Nutella, blueberry and strawberry. (900 Gamma Drive)
Allegro Hearth Bakery
Squirrel Hill
Plant-based bakery and sandwich shop Allegro Hearth Bakery uses traditional techniques to make their house-made breads and pastries from scratch, including their croissants, which are laminated with house-made sunflower butter. Croissants are available in plain and chocolate, and they also have an almond palmier on the menu, using their croissant dough and spiked with powdered sugar and almond extract. You can also pick up Allegro Hearth Bakery croissants at their sister restaurant, b52 in Lawrenceville. (2034 Murray Avenue)
La Petit Tour de France Food Truck
Roving
Food truck La Petite Tour de France can be found in spots across town (just check their website for their calendar), serving French pastries made with their own from-scratch dough, using hand-pounded fresh butter to laminate their doughs, creating the buttery and flaky layers in their croissants. Butter croissants and chocolate croissants are available year-round, and their croques-monsieurs and other sandwiches are made using their plain croissants. Seasonally, other flavors, including pumpkin chocolate, peppermint chocolate and cinnamon, are also available.
Gaby et Jules
Squirrel Hill and East Liberty
While they’re best known for the hand-made macarons and delicate desserts, Gaby et Jules also has an array of French breads available daily, including plain butter croissants, chocolate croissants and their decadent croissant aux amandes, made with almond paste cremè and dusted with slivered almonds. (Multiple Locations)
Know of any other amazing croissants that we missed? Let us know in the comments!
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