as always, thanks for taking one for the team.
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Your unceasing quest for objectivity in a world filled with subjectivity is very much appreciated.
Perhaps the moral of this Portos croissant incident is to teach us to first question “Who’s making the list, and what do they have to gain?”
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Chaumont has been consistent if not gotten better since they opened.
A couple of weeks ago I got a long twisty chocolate chip pastry that was crazy!
Butter is the word here and everything is delish from breakfast to sandwiches to the wonderful croissants.
Thank you for your commitment to this delicious food.
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This thread makes me yearn for Maison Giraud, I miss it.
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Thanks @pnutbudda. 
I’ll have to try that long twisty chocolate pastry next time.
@yogachik totally agree. Sad they closed.
Crispy, flaky and buttery croissants @ Lou the French on the Block, Burbank
Almond croissant pictured:
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Is that cinammon or something on the top? It looks unusually dark (IMO).
Nope just sugar. The darker spots were awesome crispy edges.
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Dropped by Mr. Holmes Bakehouse at Highland Park before work.
Regular & Churros Croissant
On this morning, the crust if quite flaky since I got there at 8:45 but it doesn’t taste as buttery as I would like
Creamy custard filling and cross between croissant and churro. A bit one noted after a few bites due to the sweetness.
So much of how flaky a croissant is depends on the amount of time it spends out of the oven. It’s hard to compare croissants unless we consume them right out of the oven IMO.
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ermagod guys, Lou the French on the Block is on absolute fire right now - the almond croissant I had this morning was insane.
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Ugh, was in Burbank yesterday for a movie. Will have to try next time.
@Chowseeker1999 Have you had the chance to try the croissant at Konbi in Echo Park?
Looks like they are baking them in house.
I live closeby but have not tried any of their baked goods yet. I’m interested in hearing you thoughts.
I did try the egg salad sandwich. It was not good. The bread was tough and lacked the softness that I find crucial to the Japanese egg salad sando that they are paying homage to. Hopefully I just got a sandwich with day-old bread. However, at $8+tax it will be difficult for me to give that sandwich another chance.
I completely get what you’re saying, but the Konbi version (photo below is from my writeup) involves toasting the bread nicely. Maybe the bread quality is just not up to snuff here in L.A., so the crew had to improvise. Nonetheless, I thought the overall sandwich was tasty in its own merits.
@J_L I had the Egg Salad Sandwich, not the Layered Omelette Sandwich pictured above.
Picture of Egg Salad Sando from Yelp:
Ah, I see now. Thanks for the clarification. Sorry the bread there wasn’t so great. That does look a bit sad.
Gotta try those!
Here’s my Journey within the past week:
Proof Bakery - 12:30PM Visit
Brioche
Light, airy, buttery
Almond Croissant
Quite buttery and flaky on the outside and especially so on the edges…creamy custardy almond paste in the center with just the right touch of sweetness.
Pain au Chocolat
Crazy flaky exterior but lacking a bit of structure in the center since it’s completely empty. Almost perfect!
Apple Hand Pie
Decently flaky crust and a touch too sweet. Triple Beam is where you need to go for a perfect rendition!
Chaumont - 10:30AM Visit
Croissant
Lightly flaky on the outside but decadently buttery and plenty of soft and pillowy honeycomb air pockets in the center.
Almond Croissant
Good flavor and especially so with the sweet almond paste but the bottom half of the pastry was overly wet and soggy. Unacceptable!
Pain au Chocolat
Again, lightly flaky with plenty of layers. Best of all, it’s got just the right amount of melty chocolate in the center.
Dominique Ansel at The Grove - 11:30AM Visit
Croissant
Looks great with the soft buttery center but there is only minimal flakiness on the outside. Did we come too late at 11:30AM??
Kouign Amann
Maybe we did come too late? It’s lightly salty sweet but it’s only got a decent crunch on the outside unlike the one we had at their NYC flahship which was a revelation in terms of texture. Still tasted great though.
Pain au Chocolat
Looks fantastic in the airy center with chunks of half melted chocolate but not a lot of flaky layers on the outside.
Cronut with cherry jam, caramelia ganache, cocoa nib sugar
The OG of the croissant/donut hybrid. It’s a layered donut with a bit of exterior crunch. The combination of cherry jam and ganache made it too sweet for my taste though.
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Nice report back @moonboy403. And it was great you did a nice cross-section on all of them. Glad you liked Chaumont’s Plain and Chocolate Croissants. Bummer about the Almond though; we’ve never run into a soggy bottom before.
For 189 by Dominique Ansel, yah we are not fans of their Croissants; we had a similar experience to you. Not even close to Chaumont or Arsicault (or other good-to-very-good places around L.A.).
Definitely bummed out by Dominique Ansel’s croissant. Just looking at the cross section though, they definitely have the best looking one.
I might hit up Mr Holmes tomorrow morning since my few visits there were always positive.