Bakeries and desserts

Palo Alto's bakeries have caught up with its restaurants. On a single morning you can buy naturally leavened bread at Town & Country Village, New York style bagels across the parking lot and French pastry a block off University Avenue. Ice cream is easy too, from a century-old diner to a scoop shop open until late evening.

Every shop named below was confirmed as operating in 2026 through its own website or recent coverage. Bakeries that have only been announced are clearly labeled as such. Hours change with the seasons, so check the links before you go.

Town & Country Village: bread and bagels

Town & Country Village is an open-air shopping center at El Camino Real and Embarcadero Road, across from Palo Alto High School and Stanford. It has its own parking, which makes it the easiest bakery stop in town by car.

Manresa Bread

Manresa Bread started in Los Gatos as the bread program of chef David Kinch's restaurant and grew into a bakery with five locations: Los Gatos, Los Altos, Campbell, Palo Alto and Santa Cruz. The Palo Alto shop sells naturally leavened loaves and laminated pastries such as croissants. Its website offers pre-orders and same-day pickup, which is the surest way to get a specific loaf on a busy weekend.

Boichik Bagels

Boichik Bagels began in Berkeley and makes New York style bagels. The Palo Alto shop is mostly takeout, with a few tables outside. It sells loose bagels by the piece and by the dozen plus sandwiches with spreads, lox and whitefish salad. Weekend mornings are the busiest time, so go early or later in the day.

Other morning stops at Town & Country

Hatched, a breakfast counter from the family behind Roost & Roast, opened at Town & Country in January 2026 and serves egg sandwiches and toasts from 7 a.m. It is a good pairing with a bakery run. Our brunch guide has more.

Downtown pastry and sweets

Mademoiselle Colette

Mademoiselle Colette is a French pastry shop and cafe inspired by Parisian cafes. The Palo Alto location is at 499 Lytton Avenue. Its website lists hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. It serves breakfast and lunch along with pastries to go and takes orders for cakes and tarts. Holiday pre-orders open well ahead of Thanksgiving. The company also has shops in Menlo Park and Redwood City.

Palo Alto Creamery

The Palo Alto Creamery at 566 Emerson Street opened in 1923. It is an old-fashioned diner with red booths, a soda fountain and a bakery counter. Milkshakes, sundaes and other fountain treats share the menu with all-day breakfast, burgers and pies. The Creamery takes orders for whole pies and cakes around the holidays. It opens daily at 8 a.m.

Marvel Cake

Marvel Cake at 250 University Avenue is a boutique patisserie and cafe known for custom celebration cakes, macarons and pastries. Maryam Menbari founded the business in 2009 and it also runs cafes in Campbell and Walnut Creek. Custom cakes need about 2 to 3 weeks of notice. Our coffee guide covers the downtown cafes in more detail.

Yutori on El Camino Real

Yutori at 3375 El Camino Real is part Japanese bakery and cafe, part konbini, the kind of convenience market found on every corner in Japan. The bakery case holds Japanese-style sweets such as matcha financiers and sesame cookies. The cafe sells sandwiches on soft milk bread along with matcha and hojicha drinks. A shaded garden patio sits out back. Yutori added a full Japanese restaurant and bar in 2026, so the site now covers breakfast through dinner. Expect a queue at the cafe counter on weekend mornings. It is a short drive south of California Avenue.

Ice cream and frozen desserts

Salt & Straw lists hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily at its University Avenue shop, the latest regular dessert option downtown. Rick's is a longtime Midtown scoop shop. Its website now presents it together with Pints of Joy, a Bay Area brand that says it makes its flavors without artificial flavorings or colors. The Midtown guide covers the surrounding shopping strip.

Bakers at the farmers markets

Some of the city's bread comes from small bakers who sell from a folding table. The downtown Saturday market lists several bakers and sweet makers among its 2026 vendors:

• Little Sky Bakery, a Menlo Park bakery with naturally leavened breads, pastries and sandwiches.
• Panorama Bakery, which sells artisan breads and pastries.
• Wise Sons, the San Francisco Jewish deli, with bagels, rugelach and babka.
• Taste of the Levant, with Middle Eastern desserts, syrups and tahini.
• Choco Del Mar, a small-batch chocolate maker from the Northern California coast.
• Crepes Divine, which makes crepes to order along with kettle corn and lemonade.

Arrive in the first hour. Bread is usually the first thing to sell out.

Announced but not yet open

Several well-known bakeries have announced Palo Alto shops. None of these had opened when we checked in late October 2026. Opening dates for bakeries slip often, so confirm before making a special trip.

• Arsicault Bakery (announced). The San Francisco bakery is known for its croissants. It announced its first location outside San Francisco at 388 Cambridge Avenue, near California Avenue. Earlier reports pointed to fall 2026. The most recent target we have seen is early 2027.
• Croissanté (announced). A French bakery planned for 321 California Avenue. Local coverage in December 2025 described its opening as expected in late 2026 after delays.

Cakes, holiday orders and gifts

Palo Alto bakeries take a lot of advance orders. If you need a birthday cake, Thanksgiving pies or a box of pastries for a meeting, order ahead:

1. Check the order window. Holiday pre-orders often open weeks ahead and close early. Mademoiselle Colette and the Palo Alto Creamery both advertise holiday orders.
2. Use online ordering. Manresa Bread and Mademoiselle Colette both take orders through their websites.
3. Plan the pickup. Town & Country has easy parking. Downtown pickups are faster with a spot in a city garage.
4. Ask about allergens. Bakeries handle wheat, nuts, dairy and eggs on shared equipment. Ask before you order for someone with allergies.

Dessert after dinner downtown

If dinner runs late, your options narrow quickly. Most bakeries are closed by evening. Salt & Straw stays open until 11 p.m. The Palo Alto Creamery serves fountain treats into the evening. Many downtown restaurants, including Zola, publish separate dessert menus. A walk from University Avenue to Emerson Street takes five minutes, so a scoop after a film at the Stanford Theatre is easy. For more ideas on where to eat before or after, see our downtown guide and the main food and drink guide.

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