It’s a little concerning to me to walk into a Whole Foods and see Rustic Bakery products for sale in the bakery section when everyone knows never to buy baked goods at a Whole Foods. Can the same people who are selling mass-produced flatbread crackers at Whole Foods really deliver beautiful, delicious, hand-crafted pastries at their four pastry shops in Marin County? Somehow the answer is yes. If you can’t believe it either, just try their kouign amann once.
The entire Rustic Bakery story is a mystery to me. It’s the creation of Carol LeValley and Josh Harris, who had successful careers in Los Angeles in the fashion industry. They founded Rustic Bakery to make crackers on which to eat cheese on what seems like little more than a whim. Carol at least learned from her grandmother that the only thing that matters when making a pie is the crust. But that’s it. No formal culinary training. No years toiling away in restaurants and bakeries. Some experimenting with bread recipes at home, and baking for her family, but nothing more. Carol is some kind of natural-born baking genius. I’m not aware of any other explanation.
When Carol and Josh found a kitchen in Larkspur in which to bake their crackers for cheese, it happened to have a front-of-house café space so they started selling croissants and coffee there while baking crackers in back. Yada, yada, yada. They have four cafés turning out the most incredible pastries. There are chefs in this country who sweat their whole lives in culinary school and abusive kitchens and never come close to what Carol and Josh have created — seemingly by accident. It’s the best story in pastry in this country.
They could not be doing what they’re doing without a total devotion to the best quality ingredients, and the very careful work of creating organic artisan pastries. They clearly are true professionals who found a way to make up for a lack of experience and formal training.
They also take great care in hiring nice people to guide you and serve you in their four cafés. All four are open, clean, airy, light, comfortable. You can stay. Seating in the Larkspur shop on Magnolia and the Tiburon shop is more comfortable than that at the Larkspur shop in the Marin Country Mart. (While we’ve eaten multiple times in each of these three locations, we have never been to their Novato café.)
Against all odds — and in spite of the connection to Whole Foods — Rustic Bakery is the real thing.
