Madison Park Bakery — Restaurant in Seattle

Saffron and butter risotto Milanese savored in the golden hour glow of Lago di Como.

Perfectly fried seafood jalea, ocean fresh ceviche and crunchy, golden yucca the reward for a long journey through Lima's grittier barrios.

Memorable experiences, but not surprising. Not like the fact that some of the best French pâtisserie can be found right here on the wild frontier, a block from Lake Washington.

With the superb Madison Park Bakery within a frisbee toss of home, I have an excellent reason NOT to sit on a plane for 12 hours en route to Paris. With pastry this good, why budge from Mad Park? Now let me zoom out a bit...

My recent "discovery" of the Madison Park Bakery must be a karmic pay-back for maintaining such low cholesterol and triglycerides for decades...

And as D.H. Lawrence ends a famous poem, I too "have something to expiate, a pettiness." Meaning assumptions way off the mark: the few times, years ago, I bothered to peer into MPB's hazy window (I could only make out a few lurid cupcakes and frosted cookies), I assumed this bakery was of the stale 1950s relic variety.

So never did I cross the threshold during my first 14+ years residing in MP. Even though I'm close enough when I crack open a window, I can catch a waft of the yeasty ovens.

I can't speak for what this bakery used to be, though judging from others' reviews, the MPB has changed mightily since new owners came along a couple years ago. That's a long time to have unknowingly deprived myself of Provençal baker Cecilia Lystad's exquisite almond croissant and her other decadent pieces-de-resistance, including her crème brûlée croissant and Basque cheesecake.

You will need to muster up supernatural self-discipline to refrain from finishing this chef's masterful confections in one sitting. They are that good, my fellow gourmands and goinfres!

Always a fan of competition between virtuosi (think Messi vs. Ronaldo), I recently pitted MPB's almond croissant against one baked by that Colossus by the Bay, San Francisco's world-renown Tartine Bakery.

The result was like Lionel blasting home a penalty kick with my grandma (RIP) defending the goal. While Tartine's almond croissant was uninspiring, even stodgy, nothing lifting it above the quality of say, the kind of croissant baked who-knows-when that you might find at Oakland Airport (we feel for you, Oakland!) while waiting for a redeye flight delayed indefinitely, MPB's almond croissant exemplified the magnificent, everything about it 5-star: the crisp, flaky crust, the interior a master class in light-yet-filling butteryness, and the almond filling generous and redolent of fresh, hand-ground almonds. Take that, Tartine!

At $6.50+ including tax, think of MPB's almond croissant less as a mere pastry, and more like an investment in your culinary education—so if you're fortunate enough to later taste-test Paris's best offerings, you'll have a very high standard by which to judge. Though you might want to just save the airfare and instead invest those $$$ in furthering your education right here in Madness Park, proceeding to MPB's crazy-good crème brûlée croissant invention. They were long gone by midday when the lovely staff member Marie first brought them to my attention, so I strategically crow-barred myself out of bed at 6:45 the following Saturday morning and just barely beat out MPB's loyal line-up of crack-of-dawn pastry zombies...and to my delight snagged one of these coveted treasures.

A cylinder of crisp croissant perfection topped with, yes, a deep, diet-crushing skating pond of eggy, custardy crème brûlée, complete with torched brown sugar glassy top. As your unofficial lipid guardian, I challenge you to halt when you've inhaled just half of Chef Cecilia's crème brûlée croissant. Sharing is a virtue. Bon chance!

PS: I've barely begun to indulge in MPB's many tempting choices. My understanding is that the chef is always experimenting with interesting twists on French classics, so I'm sure as a gourmand/goinfre/gastropod-in-training I'll find much to enjoy—I need to make up...

I feel really really bad writing this but I feel like it's important to share. Went here for my very first time today and it was just a stressful experience left and right. Firstly, I was greeted by a lady with gray hair and glasses who talked very rapidly and tersely while taking my order. So I didn't feel welcome. I instead felt rushed. When she was clarifying with me what my order was she would sharply point to the board as if I had to say right away what the choice was. Again....felt rushed as if I was being hurried out of there. I ordered an 8 oz hazelnut latte which was supposed to be $4. I instead got a 12 oz. which is supposed to be $4.50 plus 75 cent shot but for some strange reason the total was $6.73? Did they automatically add tip on the computer without giving me a choice??? Plus the tip option didn't come up as it usually does in MOST bakery and coffee shops which is the second reason to my suspicion. Then there's the latte....been drinking hazelnut lattes for years and this was the worst I've ever had. I have never in my life thrown out a latte but this was the first time. I hope that this bakery can be more conscientious in being more customer service friendly, be more aware with what they charge customers and do more quality control on...

I never thought I’d be writing this about my favorite bakery. I’m so disappointed with how things have changed, and generally I’m all FOR change. But this small, local bakery was so incredible before. Prior to the new situation, MPB made these delicious sugar cookies with royal icing. The charm of the shapes and colors (baseballs, unicorns, cats, hearts) only added to the uniqueness of this bakery, and separated it from every other place I could go for baked goods. The people in charge were incredibly kind and even allowed me to place a super uncommon cookie order for my baby shower. Now, they are completely gone. I understand wanting to change things up, but why get rid of things that were so great in the first place? Having a place in Madison Park that felt homemade, local, warm, and welcoming made the environment feel so much more friendly. Bummed out for sure, and feel like if I want classic French baked goods, there’s many places I could go that aren’t out of my way. Don’t think I’ll be back, and I’ll be dreaming of cookies in the...