First Look Inside Craftsman & Wolves, Opening Saturday

A block and a half away from Tartine Bakery, there’s a new patisserie player in town: Craftsman & Wolves (746 Valencia). Pastry chef William Werner’s patisserie-café is a more modern concept, with savory and sweet baked goods and confections that are more Paris 2012 than they are Paris 1912, but with a clear Californian slant. As of Saturday morning, the place will be selling muffins, croissants, financiers, brownies, sandwiches, salads, and fresh bread, much of it with idiosyncratic twists.

Take, for example, their “chocolate croissant stack”: three layers of flaky croissant dough, cut in squares, layered with dark chocolate. “We were talking about how chocolate croissants just never have enough chocolate in them,” says sous chef and baker Wendy Thomas. “They always just have that little bar. So we went with layers, and lots of chocolate.”

Then there’s the muffins with surprises inside: The Rebel Within, a savory muffin with scallion, cheese, and pork with an oozy soft-boiled egg inside; and the Devil Inside, a chocolate muffin filled with ganache and foie gras.

Also, their sesame-passionfruit croissant is not to be missed. Check out our full preview slideshow, and see it all for yourself this weekend.

Craftsman & Wolves - 746 Valencia Street, between 18th and 19th - Open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; Saturdays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m, starting June 16.

Earlier: Craftsman & Wolves Will Open Its Doors June 16
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In the center, those would be the chocolate croissant “stacks.”

Werner’s signature cube cakes ($28). From left: Raspberry, coconut, early gray, and almond; chocolate, caramel, Viennese cinnamon; and peach, buttermilk, lemon verbena, and granola.

Cube cakes will also be available sliced.

Craftsman & Wolves’ version of the ham-and-cheese croissant, the pain au cochon, with prosciutto and asiago cheese.

Picnic Boxes for one will be offered with a half-sandwich, fresh fruit, pickled vegetable, and a small piece of cake. In general, Werner has tried to keep portions, and cake-slice sizes, modest.

Spicy salmon rillette, served in a jar, comes with savory zucchini madeleines.v

From left: Jess Galli, sous chef Wendy Thomas, William Werner, and Leah Chin-Katz.

Craftsman & Wolves is part of a boutique hospitality group that calls themselves Outfit Generic. This is their truck.