Desserts by Clement was recommended by two "FOYs" (John Dowd and Stephanie) in the comments on my post on Patisserie Melanie. Seeing that the Missus has been wanting all these newfangled croissants since we visited Le Deli Robuchon in London trying the Instagram "superstar" cube croissant, which btw was a disappointment. Still, the Missus has been wanting to try these new spiral croissants. So, I decided to head into PB early on a Sunday morning, the patisserie opens at 8 and I figured I could then hit up TJ's on the way back home.
Being a Sunday; it seems that PB wakes up a bit later on that day of the week, plus the rain we had earlier in the morning, the streets were empty. Check out what Garnet looked like!
I parked on Garnet and walked on over to Desserts by Clement. The nice young lady had just unlocked the door.
The shop was clean and bright; the two young ladies were super friendly as well.
I got one croissant and asked the young ladies for something not overly sweet; they recommended the Pistachio Rolled Croissants and also said the Swiss (Pain Suisse) was very popular.
So, I got all three….man, three pastries, over $21….who'd have thought?
I got home and the Missus was anxiously waiting and immediately went for the Spiral Croissant, which looked quite Instagram ready.
The Missus loved this! And made me have a taste. While more bready than the flakey-crisp of a regular croissant; the exterior was nicely lacquered with a bit of a crunch, the inner layers not overly doughy. The pistachio filling was on the lighter side; with a mild nuttiness and not overly sweet. This was pretty good!
The Swiss was a bit too sweet for the Missus, so I passed.
As for the Croissant?
Well, this was pretty good. I prefer my croissant aux buerre a bit more crisp, but this was not bad. It was light , fairly fluffy, and not overly doughy with a nice, balanced butteriness, and a mild hint of salt. While not in the same league as our favorite in Paris, La Maison d’Isabelle, this was easily the equal of Ernest & Valentin.
I was happy with my croissant as was the Missus. Man, I need to head on back to Wayfarer and can't wait until Izola opens at their new location.
You can read about Soo's visit here.
Desserts by Clement
1380 Garnet Ave.
San Diego, CA 92109
Current Hours:
Tues – Sun 8am – 6pm
Closed on Monday
Thanks again for the recommendation John and Stephanie!
So, how was this? It was more flaky then what I’d had before, though the texture is on the chewy side. Decent salt and mild sweetness, though it seemed to lack a nice yeasty nose and could have used more butter….at least for me. This was decent in terms of San Diego croissants; though I wish Izola was open for a comparison….maybe I need to head back to 
It did seem like my sandwich was sticking "its tongue out at me"……perhaps mocking me? To use a single word to describe this would be "light". From the slightly crusty, yeasty-airy bolillo to the filling. Other than a good amount of heat from the jalapenos this was quite light. In my mind, it could have used a bit more salt (when was the last time I wrote that?), tomatoes, and onions. Still, it was a decent breakfast and the price was right.
This came on a by-the-book, yeasty telera roll. The chorizo was nice and smoky, with a hint of spice. The jamon was a rather thin slice and was made irrelevant by the chorizo. The gooey cheese was the glue (no pun intended) that added a slight milky flavor to things. There was a bit of jalapeno for some zip, but I could have used more beans on this. I think I'll have the papas con chorizo version of this next time.
No, this wasn't cheap, but the meat, while being a tad more chewy than I prefer was quite beefy, the broth had a nice beefiness, was decently rich, with good five-spice tones, not overly salty, with a mild spice to it.
The dumplings were quite large; the wrappers too brittle and chewy. The filling for the jiaozi were very beefy, with nice celeri tones, seasoned quite well, but quite tough. We were surprised that the black vinegar-soy dipping sauce was not half bad. This was our least favorite dish of the meal.
CroBean has been here since November 2019. It's family owned.
There are menus on the wall, we wanted to try everything.
There were many choices of fresh bread. We ended up with a basic baguette and it was very good.
There were display cases and choices all looked good. We were overwhelmed this first visit.
So, we ended up with a ham and cheese croissant (you 
On the counter under a dome were these sort of cookie bars. The shortbread crust was made with oatmeal flour and butter…It was thick and salty and then turned delicate, crumbling when you bit it. The layer of raspberry jam was super flavorful and not sweet. The strudel topping was also buttery and sweet and really nice.