**** Patisserie Melanie has closed
Man, has it been over 2 1/2 years since I’ve done a “Croissant Files” post for a place in San Diego? Yeesh. I will say however, that I thought the Croissant from Izola was pretty good. Sadly, Izola is currently closed, though it’s good news that they are updating their bakery!
Anyway, waaaay back in late July/early August of last year “FOY” Kenneth was nice enough to send me an email (thanks as always Kenneth!) mentioning that folks had recommended Patisserie Melanie to him. Now, why did that name sound familiar? Well, I checked and apparently, this is the same Melanie that was operating out of what seemed like a home kitchen on Park Boulevard way back in 2020. In fact, you’ll find mention of the place in the comments of this post if you’re interested. My good “FOY” and fellow blogger “CC” (I know you’re almost exclusively on Instagram these days CC – but we miss your posts!) mentioned that she wasn’t impressed and I then went and tried the croissant and wasn’t very impressed. But that was before the upgrade in location and what I assume is equipment as well. And since I’ve been missing croissants (yes, I have a category for them). Especially from my favorite boulangerie in Paris, I thought it would be a good time to check out Melanie.
The pink highlighted shop is located right on the corner 30th and Gunn, on the same block as Swami’s and Mabel’s Gone Fishing. I was really lucky on this morning, finding parking right on 30th across from the shop.
The shop is bright, with a view of the baking area. There are various coffee concoctions and Viennoiseries available in the morning (this was 8am) and I believe hot sandwiches/tartines/quiches during the day and even a dinner menu as well.
I was just looking for a croissant aux buerre and didn’t notice one in the pastry case…..
Until I looked carefully and noticed it was keeping a “low profile” behind the paparika and cheddar croissants. The young lady working behind the counter was smiling, friendly, and very fast when I ordered my croissant. I was out of the shop in less than 5 minutes!
I recall the croissants from the “original location” of Melanie were pretty small and these did fill the bill.
For perspective, the Croissant Aux Buerre was $5.50. Can you imagine paying over 5 Euros for a croissant in Paris? For a scale comparison, it seems my reading glasses are about the same length as the croissant.
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 Wayfarer? And I’ve been promising to return to Asa Bakery and (hopefully)trying their croissant. Thanks again for the email Kenneth. I’m wondering if you had a chance to check out Patisserie Melanie?
Plus, if any of you have a recommendation for a good croissant aux buerre in San Diego, I’d love to hear it!
And you can check out Soo’s post on Patisserie Melanie here.
Patisserie Melanie
3750 30th St.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Tuesday 8am – 2pm
Wed – Thurs 8am – 2pm, 5pm -9pm
Fri – Sat 8am – 2pm, 5pm – 10pm
Sundays 8am – 2pm, 5pm – 9pm
Closed Mondays
Same location, same way of ordering, another success story of making it through Covid-19.
Similar menu with higher prices.
Choose your items by looking and pointing while walking along the order line.
Watch your order go into the fire filled oven, pay and find a seat. Soon items will be brought to your table. 
I wanted to try the 'new' Folded dough garlic cheese bread ($5.95). Garlic herb butter, Mozzarella and Romano on freshly made dough, folded over. This was kind of a perfect bite for me. Tasty and filling…very cheesy with the garlic butter making a perfect condiment. 
The 3 Topping Signature Pizza ($11.35) on the original crust, house made red sauce, mild Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushrooms was our choice for a pizza. I gave The Mister most of my pepperoni and sausage and enjoyed the cheese and mushrooms on the crisp, chewy yet fluffy light crust.
Which was cooked perfectly in that stove. 
The Mister and I made the trek West, to Old Town, a few months ago, so that I could have the breakfast I was craving and He could fulfill His cravings.
His order was F10- the Italian sausage frittata ($15.99). A simple baked (in cast iron; thicker than an omelet) egg dish of Italian sausage, tomatoes and mixed cheese. A nice, mild sausage, fresh tomatoes and plenty of cheese and eggs…filling and tasty.
Instead of toast, He chose biscuits and gravy- house made, fluffy inside with a crisp crust covered by a creamy, breakfast sausage filled gravy.
Also part of the meal were hash browns. Nice and crisp.
Here's my Fish and egg meal ($16.99)-cod fish, lightly floured and pan fried, two (properly) poached eggs and crisp Home fries. The fish was served with the appropriate condiments of tartar sauce and lemon. 
Instead of bread, I chose the muffin of the day (blueberry). It's light and cake-like and filled with fresh, plump blueberries.
That's what things looked like when I opened up the boxes back at the office. I did a quick taste of the tomato topping which was super bland, you couldn't even really taste tomato. The version of Mul Kimchi provided was weird as it had a real strong anise/clove flavor that wasn't very pleasant.
And not a hint of truffle flavor to be found.
The wings had held up better this time. I tried the sides first. The corn slaw was terrible, the "dressing" was really watery and this lacked flavor. Very little corn, you might as well just give me raw coleslaw mix.
The batter had peeled away from two of the pieces, which had been turned face down in the box. The sauce was not overly sweet, but I still would have preferred a bit more saltiness, this was much milder than the versions at other places. The chunks of chicken were on the dry and tough side.
I'm not going to beat a dead horse about that Mul Kimchi. I just don't care for the flavor.
This time the crepe was delivered with a fork and knife. I wasn't sure I'd enjoy chicken in a crepe, but it wasn't bad at all. Actually, the bite of tangy-sour heat from the sauces/salsa really made it enjoyable to my palate. The sweetness was tempered and the cheese really helped to balance out the flavors. I do think this could have used a bit more salt. And heck, even more spicy too!
I'm glad I tried Hola Paris. While it's not something I crave, Benjamin and Gabby are so nice and friendly. I really enjoyed chatting with Benjamin about Paris.
And yes, it was quite full of Cha Lua, Thit Nguoi…… What I think banh mi purists' will appreciate, I'm looking at you "Billy" is that Phoung Nga still includes cucumbers in their banh mi, a rarity these days. The bread, as usual is a bit heavily baked (onsite), making it more hard and crusty than having a nice balance of light, crusty-flaky. But these days, this is almost a blessing, as much of what I've had is soft and doughy. There's a good amount of pickled veggies, the jalapenos were present, but not overly spicy on this visit. This was a nice lunch for me.
Arriving home, I quickly unpacked things and immediately went for the item I 
