When I last tasted dozens upon baker’s dozens of croissants around Chicago, two sisters at one bakery stood out among an impressive field: Lizette and Marisol Espinoza at Pan Artesanal.
They co-own the business, as business administrator and chef, respectively. Technically the bakery is in the Logan Square neighborhood, but it feels more than ever like Hermosa.
The pastries were inspired by their Mexican heritage and the chef’s training at The French Pastry School, once the only culinary school dedicated to pastry in this country, formerly in the Loop. The sisters work on everything together and they’re still known for their creative croissants.
But they’ve become something else. When you see the sisters at the bakery, they seem soft-spoken. Their pastries are anything but.
They’re as bold and expressive as the music that plays loudly over the speakers in the shop.
The sisters opened Pan Artesanal in 2018. Back then it was a quiet neighborhood cafe. Sometimes you’d find specials, a chicharron croissant or a Cheetos concha. They celebrate their sixth anniversary July 25.
With the Paris Olympics opening July 26, and the rise of viral croissants, we thought it was time to revisit the sisters, and for a guide to the new golden age of croissants around Chicago.
And one of the best things about this new age? You can order all these buttery croissants online or by phone.
“Everything is done from scratch in the bakery,” Lizette Espinoza said. “From doughs to fillings and preserves.” They import butter from France (AOP butter sheets), but many other ingredients are from Mexico. “Like the chocolate, the guava,” Espinoza added. “And chiles, the hot, spicy chiles.”
“So it’s a French croissant with Mexican ingredients.”
The double-stuffed chile relleno croissant with a radiant house-made salsa has become their signature savory dish.
“If we try to take it off for a weekend, because of the season sometimes, oh, no, no,” she said. “We have to put it back on the next week. Because they ask for it. So it’s there every single weekend.”
Each chile relleno croissant starts with a whole poblano chile pepper.
“We put it into the comal,” Espinoza said. The griddle chars the skin all around in the oven. “And we peel it, and then we stuff it with cheese, queso fresco. A lot of people do it with queso chihuahua or cream cheese, but the actual way is the queso fresco.”
They dredge the cheese-stuffed pepper in flour, dip it in egg and fry it.
“And then we wrap it up in croissant dough and it goes into the oven for a second bake,” she said. “We also do our homemade salsa with tomato, onion and chicken bouillon.”
“It’s a whole process,” she added. It’s a process they repeat 100 times every weekend.
Have it at the bakery, served warm on colorful plates. Splurge on extra salsa for 75 cents more. Sit outside in the morning sun.
The chile relleno croissant at Pan Artesanal tastes of sunset on a stretch of beach somewhere between Baja and Provence.
On the sweet side, a new arroz con leche croissant has become a fierce fan favorite in just a month.
“They actually fight over it in line,” Espinoza said. The bakery increased production to 80 pieces of the rice pudding-filled croissant, finished with a milky white glaze, but it still sells out quickly.
“Then we introduced the arroz con leche chocolate croissant that has Moctezuma chocolate from Michoacán incorporated into the rice,” she said.
It replaced their crookie, a croissant crossed with a chocolate chip cookie. But they created a crookie before the crookie went viral just this year.
The sisters made what they called Cookie Monster in 2022 for a fundraiser to benefit Kitchen Possible, the charitable organization that teaches kids to cook.
It was a chocolate chip cookie inside and out with chocolate ganache, Espinoza said, and amazingly delicious.
They still offer a cruffin filled with peaches and cream.
And then there were the wheels, or spiral croissants. “We actually did it in a passion fruit with dark chocolate,” Espinoza said. “And we also did it with Nutella and cream, and our cajeta with white chocolate.” There are no immediate plans to bring them back so get the stunning seasonal cherry croissant while you can.
And the bakery is still only open on weekends.
“Before the pandemic, we were open Wednesday to Sunday,” Espinoza said. “Then everything changed, from employees not coming back, to ingredients that we had to replace, and some ingredients that we had to just remove, because we weren’t able to find them anymore.”
“In order for us to restart again, we said OK, just Saturday and Sunday,” she said. “But then we were working there Tuesday to Friday, just to open up for the weekend.”
“We’re at home on Monday, but we’re still working,” she added. “Because we have to order everything for Tuesday.”
They make 80 to 100 items, including bread, for every weekend. That’s a total of about 3,500 pieces for a regular weekend.
“And if we do like a very busy weekend, let’s say for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Día de Muertos or Día de Rosca, we’re talking about double,” Espinoza said.
That’s a staggering 7,000 pieces in a small neighborhood bakery.
“And sometimes we just have to stop, because we don’t have any more space. I have seven refrigerators because I don’t have a walk-in cooler.”
What started with just two sisters now includes their father, brother, a husband and three more employees.
Customers start lining up on weekends around 7:30 a.m.
“It’s very rare to see someone at 7:15,” Espinoza said. “Maybe somebody that has traveled two or three hours.”
The bakery opens at 8 a.m. and closes when they sell out, usually before noon.
Espinoza also goes live on Instagram at 7 a.m.
“I show what we have on that weekend, what specials we have, because there’s always new people,” she said. “People do ask questions, and I answer them.”
The live feed shows the line, which is always busy. You can order online for pickup or delivery, and even note requests, which will be granted based on availability.
They still don’t know what they’ll do for their sixth anniversary, but it will be something special. Last year it was a birthday concha. And yes, of course, they’ve made colorful concha croissants.
“But I think people like the traditional concha in the bakery since we have all these different flavor croissants.”
Pan Artesanal Bakery
3724 W. Fullerton Ave.
312-286-5265
instagram.com/panartesanalchicago
Open: Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to noon or when sold out
Prices: $8.75 (chile relleno croissant with extra salsa), $6 (single pastries), $52 (box of 10, plus 10% off whole purchase)
Noise: Conversation-friendly
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible with restrooms on single level
More viral croissants in the city and the suburbs:
Cronut at Beacon Doughnuts
Pastry chef Dominique Ansel created and trademarked the cronut at his self-named bakery in New York City 11 years ago. The original modern-day viral croissant crossed with a doughnut has been copied with varying degrees of success and failure, the latter category including the discontinued croissant donut at Dunkin’, which disappointed anyone expecting either. The vanilla bean cronut at Beacon Doughnuts in Lincoln Park, however, exceeds expectations, with a delicate glaze over buttery flaky layers. But it’s vegan! It’s all the more extraordinary when you find the magical window in an alley.
810 W. Armitage Ave., (in the alley), 773-698-2839 (text only), beacondoughnuts.com
Cruffin at Publican Quality Bread
Former aerodynamicist Kate Reid invented the cruffin at her bakery, Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, Australia, in 2013. It’s typically a tall cross between a croissant and a muffin. A recent raspberry sweet tea cruffin at Publican Quality Bread, filled with fruit-infused cream, captured summer on a porch swing. Do note that PQB only make cruffins as weekend specials and they sell out fast at both locations in West Town and Oak Park.
1759 W. Grand Ave., 312-605-1618. 211 Harrison St., Oak Park; 312-736-1981, publicanqualitybread.com
Suprême at Cake N’ Bake
Executive pastry chef Scott Cioe and head bread chef James Belisle are both credited with the creation of the Suprême at Lafayette cafe and bakery in New York City just two years ago. It’s also widely known as the spiral or wheel croissant in this country, but the New York roll in France. The rolled croissants at Cake N’ Bake in Palos Hills come loaded in eight daily flavors, but pistachio is the local favorite in the southwest suburb. They’re packed pastries so pace yourself or prepare to share.
10456 S. Harlem Ave., Palos Hills; 708-971-1777; facebook.com/Cakenbakebywasfia
Crookie at La Boulangerie
Pastry chef Stéphane Louvard invented the crookie at his bakery, Maison Louvard in Paris, in 2022. His cross between a croissant and a chocolate chunk cookie didn’t go viral until just this past February thanks to an influencer named Johan Papz on TikTok. The crookies at La Boulangerie top croissants with chocolate chip cookies and stuff them with more cookie dough or almond filling, and furthermore merge the crispy and chewy schools of chocolate chip cookies. Find them at the locations in Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Ravenswood and later this year in Hyde Park.
Multiple locations, laboulangerieandco.com
Flat croissant at Sweet Moon
According to the esteemed Chicago food writer Dennis Lee, bakeries in South Korea have been making flat croissants for at least two years, “where they’re sometimes referred to (as) croissant nurungji.” Nurungji is the coveted crunchy scorched rice sometimes found at the bottom of the cooking pot. The flat croissants at Sweet Moon in the Ravenswood neighborhood transform the pastries beautifully, perhaps with a dip in hazelnut glaze, sprinkled with delightfully crisp caramel and milk chocolate pearls. They’re wonderfully done at the cafe and bakery owned by a couple who emigrated from Kyrgyzstan.
1964 W. Lawrence Ave., 773-654-1095, mysweetmoon.com
Chicago-style hot dog croissant at Daisies
Only in Chicago, will you find multiple critically acclaimed chefs who’ve made Chicago-style hot dog croissants. At Loaf Lounge, home of “The Bear” chocolate cake, they made one to celebrate the city’s fake birthday last March. And at Floriole they made a weekend special, albeit with house-made relish, in June. The Chicago-style hot dog croissant at Daisies was a collaboration with The Wieners Circle that was only supposed to run in January, but executive pastry chef and partner Leigh Omilinsky has quietly continued her creation. It’s flaky poppyseed pastry rolled around a Vienna Beef char dog with yellow mustard, white onions, celery salt and neon green relish, all speared with a dill pickle, a sport pepper and a cherry tomato. They only make a half dozen or so per day, but a few more on weekends, and no, there’s no ketchup.
2375 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-697-9443, daisieschicago.com
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