Holiday season 2023
Holidays are that special time of year when families call in their sworn blood oaths, beckoning us back to our childhood homes so we can share hot takes on religion and politics at a table that’s covered in turkey stuffing. For those who remain in the city, San Francisco becomes a winter wonderland of ice skating, pumpkin spice lattes, shopping, hot chocolate, and pies. It is the best time to don a head-to-toe buffalo plaid outfit and drench yourself in sugar — seriously. Here are some spots we recommend.
Butter Love Bakeshop — Outer Richmond
3717 Balboa St., San Francisco. Website
Pies are serious business at Butter Love. Breakfast pie, cottage pie, pot pie, pudding pie; you name it, they’ve got it, along with classic holiday selections like pumpkin, apple, and bourbon pecan. “Every major romance, new life, career, and business has been celebrated over a fabulous meal and most of those meals have ended with pie,” reads their website. The secret? A buttery crust, no duh. Butter Love owner and SF native Esa Yonn-Brown makes pastries with a recipe handed down by her mother.
Three Babes Bakeshop — Mission and Embarcadero
For pre-ordered pickup: 2797 16th St., San Francisco. Website
The babes also sell pies in the Ferry Building every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Actually just two babes: Lenore and Anna sell pies every Saturday out of the Ferry Building and for pick-up in Mission. Starting the business wasn’t as easy as pie twelve years ago, but the pair still bring us classic pumpkin, apple, and bourbon pecan pies, along with a blackberry crumble and bittersweet chocolate pecan — with vegan variations available. Every pie provides a buttery, flaky dark golden crust, with the exception of a graham cracker twist on the classic pumpkin. We can’t wait to try that!
Black Jet Baking Co. — Bernal Heights
833 Cortland Ave., San Francisco. Order online for next-day pickup.
All the pies you dream of are here at Black Jet: pumpkin, apple crumb, classic apple, salted honey maple, banana cream, chocolate cream, coconut cream, chicken pot pie, mushroom pot pie, chocolate pecan, and the list goes on. Gillian Shaw Lundgren brings her baking skills from Worcester, Massachusetts where she grew up learning sour cream coffee cake and oat bottom brownies with her mother.
The Bold Italic is a non-profit media organization that’s brought to you by GrowSF, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. Donate to us today.
