Crowning the croissant king of Los Angeles

Who makes the best croissant in Los Angeles? Apparently, that has been a subject of hot debate on the news side of the Los Angeles Times staff. To settle the argument, they came to the experts — the Food team.

They brought in their favorite 10 croissants from various sources and four judges — Jonathan Gold, Betty Hallock, Noelle Carter and I — settled in for a tasting. Often with contests like this the votes are widely scattered as the differences tend to be minimal. Not so in this case. All four of us picked the same top three croissants, though the order of finish varied slightly.

So who makes the best croissant in Los Angeles? It’ll probably come as no surprise that it was Maison Giraud, Alain Giraud’s new café in Pacific Palisades, where pastry chef Noubar Yessayan has been nominated for sainthood by Gold.

His pastry was everything you want a croissant to be — crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and with a rich, developed flavor of butter.

Second place is also easily guessed: Euro Pane, where Sumi Chang has long worked miracles with butter and flour.

Third place was another relative newcomer – Proof Bakery on Glendale Boulevard in Atwater Village. Though it’s only been open for a couple of years, owner Na Young Ma has already made a name for herself.