Church Door and Croissants

Had to drive into San Francisco today for an early morning appointment and on my way back I passed by the St. John’s Presbyterian Church that I didn’t pay much attention to in the past but the red doors caught my eye and I hadn’t prepared a Thursday Door post yet so the wheels started turning.  Normally, when I’m in this neighborhood I always notice the Synagogue across the street from this church because of it’s really huge size.

I drove past the church debating whether I should stop and go back for the door photos and then noticed a bakery that was recently in the news so the decision was cast; park the car, walk to the church to take some door photos and stop at the bakery (what a plan).

Apparently, St. John’s had an interesting past and eventually relocated to this side of town opening its doors for service at this location 3 days before the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.  You can read more about its history at this link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Presbyterian_Church_(San_Francisco,_California)

The doors were quite nice and there was a huge stained glass window to complement it.

St. John’s is in the foreground and the Synagogue across  the street in the background.

I noticed that St. John’s had a plaque attached noting that it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Well, the first part of the plan was executed so on to the bakery.  The bakery, Arsicault, located in the Richmond District of San Francisco, made the news recently because its owner finally perfected his croissants recipe and unknowingly served someone affiliated with the Bon Appetite magazine.  The magazine gave its seal of approval and overnight (literally) a food star was born.  Long lines were reported to be the new norm but today the lines looked manageable so I decided to try to get a taste.  They bake their pastries in batches because they have a small kitchen and they now limit their sales because they sell out by 1:00 p.m. or 2:00 p.m. and they don’t want to disappoint all the people who stand in line for almost an hour or more.  This is the link of the newspaper story:  http://www.sfgate.com/food/eatup/article/Arsicault-Bakery-adjusts-to-life-as-nation-s-9179897.php

The door to this bakery is a regular glass storefront door but its what’s inside that makes the door important (you have to pass through it to get the good stuff).

 

You can tell that this is a bakery, the sign at the door is written on bakery parchment paper.

Waiting in line your senses get the aroma of butter, when you enter the door your visual senses align with the olfactory senses and you see the prized pastries that you were waiting in line for.

Finally got to the clerk, ordered 4 pricey croissants and got my taste.  Was it worth the price and wait?  I’ll say it was good but if the line is as long as they report it to be on weekends, I would probably not wait an hour or longer.  I got mine in over 40 minutes and it was the back story adventure that made it worth it.

Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks to Norm 2.0 for his Thursday Doors blog.  For more blogs and photos of doors by others please go to: Thursday Doors.