Boudin Bakery

Update Review, February 2024

I know, I've said many times that the baked goods from Boudin are not good, and I dislike sourdough, so, uh, why do I go back?  Easy.  Freebies.  They keep giving me a free cookie, because they "miss me".  My perseverance has paid off though - I finally found one that isn't awful.

Royale.  $2.89.

"Macadamia nuts, fresh coconut, chocolate chips."

I actually went to Boudin when my account had a free "Treat" on it, which is different from free cookie, and was excited to try the strawberry cheese danish, the apple turnover, or the chocolate twist.  But, alas, it turns out, "treat" is just the same as "cookie", and I was only able to select a cookie.  Since I didn't like the chocolate chip, peanut butter, or white chocolate macadamia, even a tiny bit to get a free one, that left me with the snickerdoodle or royale, the former of which I rarely like even if they are well made, so, Royale it was.

The Royale was loaded up with shredded coconut, which gave it a texture sorta like an oatmeal cookie, but with coconut flavor instead.  I liked the crunch from the macadamias. The little chocolate chips gave a pop of chocolate goodness.  These things actually all combined together quite well, considerably better than the white chocolate macadamia or chocolate chip had fared on their own.

The base was still a fairly hard cookie, and it was clearly very sweet and processed, but, it kinda worked.  It was the kind of cookie that goes well dunked in a hot chocolate or coffee.  

I wouldn't go out of my way for this, but it was the first Boudin cookie I was actually willing to finish.

***.

Pumpkin Swirl Cake. $2.99.

"Enjoy a slice of our pumpkin swirl cake- with seasonal flavors of pumpkin, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, and clove."

I decided to mix it up and give a different kind of sweet treat a try, opting for a slice of loaf cake.  I was not interested in the regular offerings, chocolate marble or lemon, but couldn't resist the seasonal pumpkin slice.  I was feeling, um, pumpkin spice season in full effect.

It was ... well, a loaf cake.  Not exactly dessert in my mind (since no frosting), not exactly breakfast bread appropriate either (since it was a pound cake base after all).  It didn't taste particularly fresh, and, unlike the bread and cookies, I don't think it was baked there on site.  It did taste like pumpkin spice.  I'm not sure what the white swirl parts were.

I tried to like this several times, once even warming it up, but, it always just tasted kinda, well, not good?  Hard to pinpoint exactly what, mostly just not fresh tasting, even if it looked reasonable.  **+.

Original Review, February 2022

Did you know that a company has a trademark on sourdough bread in San Francisco?  Yup.

"San Francisco Sourdough™"

Officially, the property of Boudin Bakery.  Boudin Bakery *is* an institution in San Francisco, as it has been in business since 1849 and has earned the title of the "oldest continually operating business in San Francisco."  While I can't say that locals talk much about Boudin, their flagship store in tourist central Fisherman's Wharf is always remarkably busy, and you can't walk through SFO without seeing baguettes poking out of people's bags (which, yup, you can buy from multiple locations in the terminal, in case you didn't stock up in the city itself).  Apparently they have about 30 cafes in California, including at Disney.

Bread

Boudin is most known for the breads, specifically, the sourdough.  It is their thing.  Available in many shapes and sizes, ranging from 1/2, 1, or 1.5 pound classic sourdough rounds, to a slightly crustier long, to an even crustier baguette, and the biggest, the 2 pound oval.  They also make dinner rolls (yup, sourdough), sandwich bread (yup, sourdough), a seeds & grain loaf (I think not sourdough?), and cinnamon bread, along with a few specials from time to time.

Given that I dislike sourdough, Boudin's bread offerings are mostly lost to me, even though I'm a member of their rewards club, and thus get a free 1 pound (or less) loaf of my choice every month.  I have tried the classic round, the long, and the baguette, and, while I can appreciate the different crusts and the crumb structure inside, they taste like sourdough, and I really want nothing to do with them.  If you came here looking for a review of the sourdough, sorry, I'm not the girl for you.

Sourdough Turtle Bread.

"Only our most experienced bakers can create these wonderful Turtle breads."

Boudin always has different "critter" breads FOR DISPLAY ONLY, such as crabs, alligators, teddy bears, even SF cable cars, plus seasonal offerings like santa and christmas trees for Christmas.  Kid's soups come with cute little sourdough fish, but otherwise, these creatures are mostly for looks it seems.

But one day, they had little turtles actually for sale, so I got one, even though I knew it would be sourdough.  Ok, in full disclosure, I got it for a friend who I knew would both like sourdough AND find this to be cute.

It was indeed cute, and easy to pull off its arms, legs, and head to eat.  It had a nice crust to it, and otherwise was standard Boudin fluffy sourdough inside.  A fun item for me to give away, not something I want for myself though.

***.

Dutch Crunch Roll. $2.99.

"Classic chewy sandwich rolls, slightly sweet with a crunchy crackle crust."

One day when I visited, I asked about any non-sourdough options I could use my free loaf for.  I was told that literally the only option was a special they had that day, dutch crunch rolls.  I do love a good dutch crunch, very much an SF thing for me, so, I was pretty happy to have this option, even though not maximizing the value of my free loaf (since a single roll was much cheaper than a large 1lb loaf of sourdough).

Anyway, it was fine.  It had a great crackling crust, a nice chew to it.  Decent bread.  Not much flavor though.  Not the best dutch crunch out there, I prefer a better exterior, but, it was fine.

***.

Sweets & Treats

The part of the Boudin menu I am of course most often interested in is the sweet dessert offerings, although, to be honest, they never look that great.

Sad Cookies.

Boudin's lineup always includes some cookies and bars (raspberry, lemon, brownie), and sometimes some pastries like apple turnovers, banana bread, or croissants.  They never really look very good, and I wouldn't normally purchase them, except that from time to time Boudin throws a free cookie or treat reward on my account, and thus, I've tried a few.

Spoiler: they are as lackluster as they look.

White Chocolate Macadamia. $2.99.

"Say aloha in one bite."

Meh.

None of the cookies looked particularly good, but, I do like white chocolate and macadamia.  Sadly, yeah, this was not very good.

Kinda hard, not hard hard but not soft.  Sweet chunks of white chocolate, but just ... sweet. Meh.

A pretty normal sized cookie, not massive in any way, 390 cal.  Again, meh. 

**+.

Peanut Butter Cookie.  $2.99.

"Peanut heaven."

If at first you don't succeed ... 

Yup, I tried another cookie from Boudin, when I had a free one on my account (because they "missed me").

I ordered chocolate chip, but alas, they were out, so I went for my fallback, peanut butter, although again, none of the cookies looked particularly good.

And, yeah.  Meh.

Peanut butter cookies in general come in many forms, some soft, some with bits of nut in them, others with classic fork marks on them, etc.  Or, my favorite, peanut butter blossoms, with chocolate in the center.  All have different merits.

This cookie didn't have much going for it though.  It was a hard style cookie, I prefer soft.  It didn't taste freshly baked.  It didn't have bits of peanut in it, rather, it had peanut butter chips, you know, the waxy things containing very little actual nut product.  It tasted sorta peanut butter like, but, yeah, lackluster to say the least.

Perhaps if it was fresh, perhaps if soft, perhaps if warm it might be ok?  But, it gets a big "meh" in the form it was served in.

*+.

Chocolate Chip Cookie. $2.99.

"Semisweet chocolate goodness."

If at first you don't succeed ... try for a simple classic.  Chocolate chip.  Surely, they must be able to make a decent chocolate chip cookie?

Eh.

Much like the previous cookies, this wasn't quite hard, but it wasn't quite soft.  A very sweet cookie, in a way that tasted processed.  Chocolate chips were minimal.

No better, nor worse, than a packaged chocolate chip cookie, and definitely nothing fresh baked about it, and not worth $2.99.

**.

Food

The Boudin cafes have a fairly lengthy food menu, filled with salads & grain bowls (hmm, no bread here ...), sandwiches, grilled cheese, and burgers, and sourdough pizzas (at select locations), and ... their "world famous" chowder and other soups, general served in, yup, a sourdough bread bowl.  The chowder is so "famous" they also can it, and sell it in retail form.

Chowder ... with some additions. $4.95/can.

"Enjoy our world famous clam chowder in the comfort of your home. Just heat and serve. "

So yeah, their world famous (says who?) New England style clam chowder.  Why is this something Boudin clams fame for?  I really have no idea, and I think the only real unique part is the signature sourdough bread bowl they serve it in.

Anyway, it was May 2020, several months into the pandemic, when San Francisco was particularly dreary and blustery cold, and I needed cheering up.  I remembered I had a can of Boudin chowder in my pantry, and set about preparing a comforting meal for myself.

I grew up actually in New England, and, although my family didn't eat seafood (besides mom's canned tuna), we did often have oyster crackers, in my mind, a key element to any bowl of rustic style soup. My pantry also had a bag of authentic Legal Seafood oyster crackers, which I knew would go great with my chowder.  I also pulled out bacon bits, because, um, bacon makes everything better?  And poured a glass of red wine to enjoy while "cooking".

Instructions.

Preparation was easy, and I had to laugh that they included explicit instructions on how to serve in one of *their* bread bowls.

I tried the soup heated up on the stovetop, and ... it was ... ok.  There were a reasonable amount of clams, the potatoes weren't too mushy, but it needed some jazzing up (besides just the aforementioned bacon bits and oyster crackers).  **+.

Clam Chowder with basic additions.

I added carrots, mushrooms, and celery to give it a bit more heft and chunky bits, and it was fine.  I certainly wouldn't go out of my way for it though, and at $4.95 a can, it felt pricey for very unremarkable canned soup. ***.

Clam Chowder Stew.

I had a second can in my pantry, and this time, I knew it would need to be embellished.  I was really missing travel at this phase of the pandemic, and decided to do a mashup I dubbed "Singapore Meets SF".

As its base, it was the canned Boudin clam chowder simmered with carrots, mushrooms, celery, potatoes, kale, chard, basically turning it into a stew, rather than chowder.  I added a generous scoop of Singaporean chili sauce, and topped it with Indonesian Sambel Teri (dried anchovy, crispy shallots, crispy garlic, chilis, spices, etc), to create my mash-up.

This actually turned out *really* satisfying, comforting and spicy at the same time, full of textures and different components, and I literally licked my bowl clean.  If only it came this way!

****+, with my very extensive additions.