The Cruffin Arrives in Highland Park

The singular, surprise-in-the-middle treat has been quite the sweet hit in San Francisco.

You wouldn't be taken to task if, upon hearing The Cruffin was heading into Los Angeles, you turned your eyes skyward to watch for some sort of fictional winged creature, the kind of beast who befriends a wizard and performs good deeds around the forest.

The forest in this case, though, is Highland Park, and a cruffin is not a mythological dragon but rather a confection that's seized the sweet-seeking hearts of many San Franciscans. Look more deeply into the name and you'll see a "cr-" — that stands for "croissant" — and the "-uffin" hails from everyone's morning friend, the muffin.

Mr. Holmes Bakehouse is the creative force behind these layer-luscious, gooey-middled, carb-comforting wonders, and whether you call cruffins breakfast or dessert, or bressert, is up to you and your particular approach to viewing what you eat.

It's a shop that's been much anticipated since the 2015 reveal that Southern California would get its own delightful sugary shower of cruffin-based magic, a magic that is coming to pass just in time for the most magical month of all, October: Mr. Holmes Bakehouse is making its debut, with a party, on Thursday, Sept. 29.

The dealie is RSVP-only, but if you don't make it, be sure to swing by 111 S. Ave. 59 in the days to come to purchase your first cruffin (we'll assume it is your first, if you haven't tried it in the Bay Area or South Korea, where cruffins have also gained fans). 

Might you select a peppermint? Or strawberry milkshake? The creamy center has the flavor pop, while the delectable's outer shell keeps the multi-layer croissant character front-and-centered. It's a hybrid, yes, which is a word that also sounds a bit like a mythological creature.

Of course, "hybrid" is trucked out a lot these days to describe one sort of traditional foodstuff meeting another traditional foodstuff in a new way, which seems like a bit like happy hocus pocus to us. 

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Maybe The Cruffin does spring from the pages of a fantasy book, the kind of book that ends with the cruffin enjoyer wiping crumbs from his shirt while pondering if he should order another cruffin to go.

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