In praise of Bette's lemon pistachio shortbread

[tamarinda]

I travel around the Bay Area by car for work, and have a tendency to stop for tea and a cookie at lots of local bakeries. After extensive 'field testing' I have no doubt that the lemon pistachio shortbread at Bette's to Go in Berkeley gets my vote for best cookie in the Bay Area.

The cookies are shaped like a little hockey puck, studded with whole pistachios and iced in a lemon glaze. The intense buttery flavor is offset perfectly by the tartness of the lemon and the richness of the pistachios.

I stop here often enough to know they can be a little inconsistent-- if there are only a few left in the case, you might want to order something else that day. But if you can get your hands on a relatively fresh batch, they have a perfectly tender crumb. Divine.

[Melanie Wong]

Terrific posts, tamarinda. I'd love to hear more from you.

Last fall I stopped by Bette's for the first time in ages. It was 6:30am on a Saturday, before the to-go storefront was open. I was highly amused that I could actually park right in front of this establishment that almost always has a line. Anyway, I stepped into the diner and got a morning bun for the road that was as good as I remembered. However, the scone didn't do it for me.

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Bette's Oceanview Diner
1807 4th St, Berkeley, CA 94710

Bette's-To-Go
1807 4th St, Berkeley, CA 94710

[hhc]

sounds good. What are some other good cookies in the Bay Area that you liked?

[tamarinda]

hmmm, off the top of my head, cookies I have known and loved include:

- The excellent Alfajores sold by the Chilean woman at the Alemany Farmer's Market on Saturdays. I believe the stand is called "Sabores del Sur." Skip the coffee, but order more than one of these gems- truly decadent. Rich dulce de leche sandwich cookies with a tender crumb.
- An odd choice, but the "Health Nut Cookie" sold at Harvest Market on Market Street in the Castro. Not too wholesome-- tastes of real butter, lots of coconut, and chopped dried fruit. Nice thick cookie with a great texture.
- Almond rocher at Tartine, subtle saltiness and a delicate meringue.
- Chocolate crackles from Sweet Constructions (sold from their cookie cart and at the Thursday Mission Community Market)
- coffee macarons at Paulette's on Hayes St.
- chocolate cherry rugelach from Noe Valley Bakery on 24th
- I am not a huge fan of the over-the-top cookies from Specialty's, with one exception: the almond tea cookie is delicious (but leaves a trail of powdered sugar mess in its wake).
- Hot Cookie in the Castro may be a little gimmicky, but if you can catch a fresh batch of gingersnaps right out of the oven, they are surprisingly delicious!
- I used to love the pumpkin cookies from Sweet Inspiration on Market St., but the last one I sampled was awful-- heavy and leaden texture. Maybe it was just a fluke! This was my very first taste of San Francisco when I first moved here 15 years ago, so I'll keep trying it for nostalgic reasons.
- Sandbox Bakery on Cortland, Thorough Bread on Church and the original Bay Boulangerie on Pine (NOT the endless spin-offs around the city) have a range of good options-- I don't have one particular favorite I've tried enough to recommend, though.

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Hot Cookie
407 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114

Sandbox Bakery
833 Cortland Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

Mission Community Market
E 22nd St, Oakland, CA

[sundeck sue]

omg, those alfajores @ the Alemany Farmer's Market get MY vote for best bay area cookie (best cookie anywhere!).

here's a link:

http://www.saborsur.com/

[myst]

I love shortbread, the lavendar salt ones at Batter Bakery are good, and I like Arizmendi's especially the chili and the coffee bean ones...

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Batter Bakery
2124 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA

[myst]

I tried the shortbread. I think I actually still like Arizmendi's better (pure butter flavor), but I loved the tart lemon icing at Bette's.

[Steve Green]

Another vote for those Sabores del Sur alfajores at the Alemany farmers market. Also, it's been a while, but the chocolate cookies with chocolate chips at Katrina Rozelle in Oakland were some of my favorites. Don't know if they still have them.

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Katrina Rozelle
5931 College Ave, Oakland, CA

Sabores del Sur
712 Bancroft Road Suite 236, Walnut Creek, CA 94596