A Delicious Bakery Crawl Through DC

Pluma by Bluebird

With my husband John traveling and no plans for the weekend, my son Luke and I thought it would be fun to check out some of the bakeries that have recently popped up in the nation’s capital from longtime stalwarts to newer entries with an Asian twist. We embarked on our trip on a cold, somewhat overcast Saturday morning landing in the neighborhood of NoMA (North of Massachusetts) which has mushroomed out from the popular Union Market near Gallaudet University.

Our first stop was Pluma by Bluebird, a bakery specializing in French treats, that opened last year and was a 2024 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery. Luke and I decided to get there when the bakery opened and zoomed up the highway from Annapolis. We were very happy we did. The loaves of bread were fresh out of the oven as were all of the other offerings. The scent was absolutely heavenly from the time the door opened. We tried the butter croissant, which was flaky and absolutely light as air. Definitely the best one I have tried in our area in recent years. This was soon followed by a Pain Suisse, filled with

The pain suisse with pistachio at Pluma

chocolate and pistachio cream. This is the cousin to the croissant with a delightful contrast of an exterior with a delicate crunch combined with a creamy, light center. Really outstanding. We rounded out our taste test with a ham and cheese croissant with a bubbly gruyere crusted top and folds of salty ham inside. The café offers several beverages including an excellent flat white and a Spanish latte made with condensed milk.

Next, we visited Yellow, a Levantine café that is very popular with another location in Georgetown. I had tried the za’atar crusted croissant, which Luke did not enjoy, on a previous visit, so this time, I went for the orange blossom croissant along with a latte. While the latte was excellent, after the delicious croissants at Pluma, the croissant here landed with a thud. While the odor was delightful, the texture was heavy and not at all airy. What looked way more appealing were the many pillowy rounds of fresh pita bread being pulled from the oven. On my next trip, I will definitely be enjoying the pita along with what sounded like a couple of very intriguing entrees including falafel and a really delicious sounding tahini soft serve!

Strawberry matcha latte at Saku Saku Flakerie

Feeling adventurous, we decided to hop on the Metro for a ride to Cleveland Park and a visit to Saku Saku Flakerie. I had read about this bakery which features pastries with a decidedly Japanese French influence. Saku Saku apparently means flaky and crispy in Japanese. We tried the pistachio chocolate croissant and the cinnamon sugar kouign amann. While they were enjoyable, they just didn’t hit the way we had hoped after trying the earlier wares at Pluma. There wasn’t a lightness that we were craving. We didn’t try some of the more unusual offerings, including a blood orange cruffin with a pocky sticking out of it, so we will have to give it another try. On our visit, we loved the iced strawberry matcha, which was very fresh and not too sweet.

Un Je Ne Sais Quoi in Dupont

Our final bakery visit of the day was the longtime established storefront, Un Je Ne Sais Quoi, located in Dupont Circle. This along with Boulangerie Christophe in Georgetown, is one of my favorite bakeries in the entire region. It’s famous for merveilleux, a confection made of meringue, ganache, and whipped cream, but they are only available at midday, so we made do with the many amazing pastries on offer which include madeleines, caneles, brioche, and tarts. On this visit, we stuck with the tried and true and continued to try the same items as we had earlier in the day including a pistachio croissant and a ham and cheese, but we branched out a bit and got a pain aux raisin, and a light as a feather tomato tart which came with some delightful crusty gruyere cheese on top. After our visit we browsed the books in Kramers Books and then hopped on the metro for the ride back to Union Market.

Our takeaway from the bakery visit? We are fortunate to have some amazing establishments in DC serving up some truly authentic pastries reminiscent of France and Japan. Run do not walk to Pluma if you get the chance – it was our definite favorite and fortunately for us, it’s the closest to Annapolis. There were a few others on our list, but they will have to wait until the next time. If you should do a bakery crawl of your own, make sure you hydrate and pace yourself!