Named for co-owners and chefs Lya and Jeff Becnel’s beloved daughter, La Petite Sophie offers what may be the area’s best croissant selection. Both Becnels bring their extensive training (she: Le Cordon Bleu; he: CIA) and experience in both American and German restaurants to bear on sweet and savory varieties of the French breakfast staple, including chocolate almond, kumquat, ham and cheese, and kouign amann, Brittany’s salted caramel take on the pastry. Also available: sweet buns, quiches, muffins, palmiers, and soft German pretzels. 

Now in its third generation, this family-owned bakery is best known for the tens of thousands of king cakes it produces each Carnival season (many of which are shipped out of state) and its custom designed confections, including wedding cakes. While other bakeries on this list may look to Europe for inspiration, Haydel’s remains firmly rooted in New Orleans and Cajun country with Saints-themed cupcakes and the Cajun Kringle, a praline-filled couronne topped with a caramel glaze and pecans.

Warm, woody, and welcoming with seating inside and out, this neighborhood bakery has become a popular weekend breakfast spot for the Riverbend since opening in 2012. Always popular for its vegan and gluten-free options, last year Breads on Oak made the switch to 100 percent vegan, serving up delicious versions of crusty artisanal rolls, decadent sweet rolls, brioches, quiches, cakes, and hot and cold sandwiches.

Nancy Nguyen’s Uptown bakery flies under the radar, situated in a house set back from the street next to a small shopping center on Magazine, but inside she churns out light-as-a-cloud buttercream cakes. Nguyen is more accommodating than many bakers, often trying to get that last-minute cake ready (and sometimes she has some ready in the case). If committing to a cake is a bit much, be sure to scoop up a few of her lovely petit fours, or organize your visit around lunchtime and leave time to devour the chicken salad on a croissant.

Bellegarde is the ubiquitous and beloved bread that’s been found in New Orleans restaurants, grocery stores, and wine shops for years, but now residents can pick up Graison Gill’s remarkable wares direct from the source at his Leonidas bakery. In addition to its famous loaves, Bellegarde sells sweet and sabory croissants, cookies, baguette sandwiches, and excitingly, pizza on Thursdays.

Windowsill Pies is a “Southern-styled, French-inspired, New Orleans bakery,” serving sweet and savory pies on Freret Street. On the sweet side, year-round standards include vanilla bean bourbon pecan and dark chocolate tart with Earl Grey caramel, and for savory options, pot pies and hand pies will change often.

No shortage of Uptown huff has surrounded this longtime Magazine street bakery since Donald Link and partner Stephen Stryjewski took over from the previous (French) owners in 2015. What is undeniable: La Boulangerie’s impressive selection of hearty breads, among them the splurge-worthy olive fougasse, the blue cheese, and rosemary with sea salt loaves. Sandwiches served all day, including Boulangerie’s uptake on the egg McMuffin. Pastry Chef Maggie Scales’ handiwork includes no shortage of wondrous sweets and cakes. (Scales is the pastry chef for the whole Link Restaurant Group.) Notable: La Boulangerie uses locally milled whole wheat flour, Louisiana honey, and raw sugar.

This bakery and cafe has found a sweet spot (sorry!) in a pocket of Broad (at one time, it was actually on Laurel Street) that for years was in desperate need of one. Step inside sunny and hip Laurel Street Bakery, and it’s hard not to feel an uptick in good vibes. More than anything, it’s bagels that rule the day with a solid selection including spreads, all made in-house. Schmear options include shallot and bacon, date and honey, pimento olive, and lox. And yes, sweets do abound: cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, rolls — you get the picture.

Mayhew is an absolute delight, opened two years ago in Bayou St. John by former Brennan’s baker Kelly Mayhew. His creations are endless — sweets like lemon cream cheese brioche, sweet potato cream cheese bars, and pumpkin muffins; breads, croissants, breakfast and baguette sandwiches, German pretzels, and pizza for savory options, including French bread pizza, Detroit-style, round, NY-style pies, and most recently Sicilian.

Link Restaurant Group alum Christina Balzebre opened her own bakery to great fanfare earlier this year, having gained a name for herself at farmer’s markets and then popping-up for Saturday brunch at Mosquito Supper Club. In addition to Balzebre’s stunning tarts, pastries, cinnamon rolls, and crusty loaves of bread, Levee currenyly offers a few breakfast and lunch items (like a garlic croissant bun with prosciutto and asiago cheesewine).

This is the home of Mignon Francois’s famed sweet potato cupcakes, a perfectly balanced bite of depth, spice, and sweetness. Other flavors are equally simple but somehow extraordinary, like strawberry and lemonade poundcake, which can also be ordered for special occasion cakes. Visit the shop on Magazine Street, Francois’s second location after Nashville location.

Initially known for its handmade candies like salted caramels and chocolate bark, Bittersweet Confections is now a New Orleans favorite for cupcakes, custom cakes, tarts, cookies, breakfast pastries and coffee. Owner Cheryl Scripter has upped the bakery’s breakfast and lunch game, added a Mid City location, and introduced a weekend brunch at both shops; its savory options alone now make a location worth a visit.

Look down as you enter to see the tiles embedded in the sidewalk from when this French Quarter storefront say “Angelo Brocato.” Indeed, the space once belonged to Angelo Brocato’s, the city most beloved gelato and cannoli maker. Croissant has kept its vintage tiled walls and handsome Italian looks, and the result is a classic breakfast and lunch cafe with a secret courtyard worth seeking out. Aside from tarts and mousses, traditional French baked goods include quiches, and of course, croissants. Sandwiches also available.

For years this New Orleans East Vietnamese bakery’s perfectly crisp on the outside, soft on the inside take on french bread has been the undisputed reigning champ of po’ boy loaves. Always worth the drive for its banh mi, the bakery also offers a sampling of Vietnamese sweets such as moon cakes, and in season, some of the most sought-after king cakes in town.