Larsen's Bakery — Restaurant in Seattle

I first stopped by this place about 5 years ago and had one of the best home made danishes I've ever had in many years of danish eating. Unfortunately, I'm really never that far north & was only there at that time because the person I was dating then lived just down the street. Many years later & 2 relationships down the line... My current boyfriend & I were meeting a friend down the street & we drove by on a whim because we got a little turned around & there it was; Larsen's Bakery! I squealed w/excitement & yelled for my boyfriend to "pull over & park!" When he obliged w/a confused expression I responded w/ " Just trust me," & made him follow me inside where we were greeted w/an amazing display of everything I wish I had the pleasure of eating every single day. After we each gazed over the 4 separate cases they had so graciously filled completely to the brim (despite it being late afternoon on a Saturday, wow!) we were greeted w/a younger females smiling face, kindly asking if we were ready & what we would like. My boyfriend got a maple bar (his all time favorite doughnut which are hard to find freshly made tasting & not any hint of staleness at that time of day, especially on a weekend!) & I ordered some sort of flat twist dessert, & got to choose between raspberry & some sort of cinnamon delishness that I'm sure is great but since there was only one raspberry left, I knew the route I had to take. (Oh gawd... It literally was so deliciousy amazing, I took the entire rest of the day to eat it because I wanted to savor every last morsel. No joke, it was purchased right before 3p & I didn't take the last bite of it until almost midnight which is extremely rare for me to do considering I'm someone that would live solely off of pastries if it didn't mean I'd have horrible death & be prone to health issues I want nothing to do w/if I can help it) & as my boyfriend went to pay (we decided to get out of there as fast as we came in before we bought the rest of the entire place) I was grazing the cases one last time simply to catch one last glance at all their beauty when something caught my eye; Challah! I said to our kind employee; is that Challah!!? "Yes!" She replied & before I could say anything else,it was like she read my mind because she stepped away from the counter to wrap a loaf up for me. Now, mind you, I am not Jewish, but one of my best friends growing up was half Jewish & her & I used to get in trouble because we'd eat the entire loaf to ourselves when it was supposed to be saved for Shabbat. Since then, I've always told myself I'd never have it unless it was truly the real thing & the reason it caught my eye, wasn't because I saw it's label, but because of how it was beautifully braided & was reminiscent of those same loaves from many years ago that ultimately made me realize why I was deemed w/having "baby fat" way past my years of being a baby. I ended up saving the loaf to make Challah french toast topped w/fresh raspberries & homemade whip cream for my boyfriend & his mother & they were both very pleased w/the outcome ("It's going to be very hard to ever have 'regular' french toast after this," his mom said) All & all, I would recommend everyone & their mom (& dad, of course!) go to this place at least once in their life, you will not be let down in any sort of way, I...

THE BEST BAKERY IN SEATTLE, IN WASHINGTON AND PERHAPS THE ENTIRE WEST COAST. The last of a very few, classic-yet-trendy modern bakeries left in Seattle. Larsen's has goodies that sell themselves (see my pictures). A Seattle Tradition for decades--this place is always packed around the holidays. Expensive, but worth it products. $2.50 cookies and about the same for individual pastries. 1/4 sheet cakes are very reasonable at $32 or so (that's about 15-18 pieces). The only place left in Seattle that I know of to get Marzipan cake--that's an almond coating on top of white cake with either raspberry, lemon or rum flavoring. OMG, out of this world, beyond delicious. No pun intended--Larsen's cannot be topped. Just spend the money, you've earned it. A word of warning: parking along side NW 80th Street is tricky, as the street is barely wide enough--either you or your car can take a hit so be careful. I recommend parking in the lot just to the south on the corner of 24th and NW 80th. The bible college folks won't mind, and so they shouldn't if they practice what they preach. Absolutely, the best chocolate chip cookie and best Snickerdoodle to be had in this area. The state. The country. The...

You've just died and you're sitting there in the waiting room and you notice they're serving pastry. You see it has the Larsen's logo. You know you've ended up in the good place because their pastry is divine.

Larsen's is such a wonderful place. The smell is a combination of home and heaven. If you get there in the morning hours, you can watch the massive ovens baking and the baker's applying their art to flour, water, sugar, yeast, and whatever is in their imagination. From traditional sweet and savory pastries to staples of homemade bread, they are simply one of the best places to go.

And their filled croissants are out of this world.

The Royale (they call it "royal croissant" , but it's definitely a Royale) is 37,000 layers of buttery crispy, moist, melt in your mouth dough, almond paste filling, glazed and allowed to caramelize, covered in toasted almonds and then to send you into a complete sated coma, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

It's a croissant you get cut into quarters because you can't manage the whole thing in one sitting unless you are a professional hedonist.

If you are within 10 miles of this bakery, it's worth every moment it takes to get...