This Tiny Massachusetts Bakery Is Pulling Off the Best Croissants in New England

The first time a friend described Michette to me, she tripped over herself trying to explain it.

“It’s a French bakery,” she said, “but also kind of not like any French bakery you’ve been to. The croissants are — I don’t know how to say this — correct. In a way that makes other croissants feel like an apology.”

That description stuck with me. And the more I’ve learned about Michette, the more I understand exactly what she meant.

Tucked into a modest storefront on 164 Broadway in East Somerville, Massachusetts, Michette opened in September 2023 and has been quietly rewriting the standards for what a neighborhood bakery can be. It’s the kind of place that regulars don’t want too many people knowing about — and yet, they can’t help but tell everyone.

One reviewer summed it up perfectly: “This is the first place I have loved and hate to leave a good review for because I don’t want other people to find the place. That way I can have all of the fresh bread to myself.”

That’s the thing about Michette. It earns that level of possessiveness.

A French Boulangerie in the Heart of East Somerville

East Somerville is a neighborhood that knows its food. It’s a stretch of the city dotted with Latin American eateries, corner stores, and the kind of everyday culinary energy that tells you people here take their meals seriously.

Michette landed in the middle of all that in a small storefront with charming signage — little cartoon characters clutching croissants — and proceeded to become, in less than three years, one of the most talked-about bakeries in the entire Boston area.

The space itself is compact. There’s no sprawling dining room, no rows of tables waiting to be filled. What there is: a glass pastry case, a coffee bar, a couple of benches outside, and an open kitchen where the baking happens in full view of anyone curious enough to look.

That intentionality is worth noting. Everything at Michette feels deliberate. The size of the space, the focus of the menu, the care built into every single item — none of it is accidental.

This is a bakery with a point of view, and that point of view is: do fewer things, do them exceptionally well, and never cut corners on the ingredients.

The Croissant That Raises the Bar

There are croissants, and then there are Michette croissants.

The difference isn’t subtle. Pull one apart and you’ll find hundreds of distinct, airy layers — the result of a 48-hour preparation process that the bakery doesn’t rush or abbreviate. The exterior shatters with the gentlest pressure, deep golden and lacquered in the way that only real butter and proper technique can produce.

The plain croissant is, by itself, a statement. It’s the kind you bite into and feel briefly annoyed about, because you suddenly realize how much you’ve been settling elsewhere.

Reviewers who have eaten croissants in Paris — actual Paris, France — keep returning to Michette and making the same comparison. “You’d have to go to Paris to find better croissants,” one wrote. Another, more definitively: “Genuinely the best croissants I’ve ever had in my life — including my time in Paris.”

What separates a Michette croissant isn’t just technique, though the technique is clearly impeccable. It’s the chocolate batons. The bakery makes its own chocolate for the pain au chocolat — three thick sticks of rich, dark chocolate nestled into perfectly laminated dough. Most bakeries use commercial batons. Michette makes theirs from scratch.

The result is a pain au chocolat with a depth of flavor that commercial versions simply can’t replicate. It’s one of those details that quietly tells you everything about how this place is run.

Savory Croissants That Change the Game

The sweet offerings are spectacular, but Michette’s savory croissants deserve their own moment.

The ham, Gruyère, and Dijon mustard croissant has developed something of a cult following in the Boston area. It’s a study in contrasts: the salty, nutty Gruyère against the richness of the butter dough, with the sharp brightness of Dijon cutting through just enough to keep each bite interesting.

There’s also a spanakopita croissant — luscious spinach and feta folded into flaky pastry — and a chorizo version whose caramelized onion filling has prompted at least one reviewer to abandon all composure in a Google review.

The mushroom Gruyère croissant is another standout. Earthy, savory, substantial, and somehow still impossibly light. It’s the kind of thing you order thinking it’ll be a snack and end up eating as a full meal on a bench outside, not moving until every last crumb is gone.

The savory menu rotates, which means repeat visitors are always discovering something new. That combination of reliable classics and creative seasonal surprises is exactly the rhythm that keeps a neighborhood bakery feeling alive.

The Baguette That Has No Right Being This Good

I have a personal theory about baguettes: the best one you’ll ever have is always the one you didn’t expect.

Michette’s baguette fits that theory perfectly. The crust cracks audibly when you break it — that signature sound that tells you the oven temperature was exactly right and the fermentation did its job. The interior is open and chewy, with a mild tang that comes from their sourdough starter and multi-day fermentation process.

More than one reviewer has reached for the word “France” when describing it, which at this point begins to feel less like a comparison and more like a geographic designation.

A multigrain version is also available, packed with seeds and a deeper, nuttier flavor. But the plain baguette — sliced and unadorned, eaten standing outside in the East Somerville air — is a genuine experience.

One German reviewer, presumably a person who takes bread quite seriously, called the sourdough “delicious — even by German standards.” High praise from an unusually credible source.

The Basque Cheesecake That Will Ruin Cheesecake for You Forever

Before we go any further, let’s address the Basque cheesecake.

Basque cheesecake originated in San Sebastián, Spain. Unlike the classic American version, it’s intentionally baked at high heat until the top is deeply caramelized — almost burnt — while the interior stays barely set, silky and custard-like in a way that feels closer to a soufflé than a slice of diner dessert.

Michette’s version nails the technique. The top is dark, almost amber-brown, with a slight crackle that gives way to a creamy center that is rich without being heavy. The sweetness is restrained. The tang is present but not aggressive.

Whole cakes are available for purchase, which several reviewers have clocked as one of the best gift ideas in the greater Boston area. Bring one to a gathering and watch what happens.

“I’ve been to Michette a handful of times,” one regular wrote. “The basque cheesecake is the best in the area — I get it every time.”

It’s one of those items that inspires a loyalty that feels slightly disproportionate — until you try it, and then it makes complete sense.

The Guava Roll and a Menu That Thinks Globally

One of the quieter revelations at Michette is that the menu doesn’t stay purely French.

The guava roll is a perfect example. Croissant dough, spiraled tightly, filled with homemade guava jam and cream cheese — a combination that bridges French pastry technique and the bright tropical flavors of Brazil and the Caribbean. It’s jammy without being cloyingly sweet, and the enriched dough is pillowy in a way that makes it feel like a completely different category of pastry.

It’s also fully plant-based, part of a thoughtful vegan menu that Michette has quietly built out without ever making it feel like a consolation prize. The vegan chocolate croissant, the cinnamon roll, the banana bread, the rosemary sea salt twist — all plant-based, all made with the same care as every other item in the case.

This isn’t a grudging accommodation. It’s a genuine commitment, and the results speak for themselves.

A French reviewer — one who presumably knows their viennoiserie — tasted the guava roll and offered the highest possible compliment: “It felt just as good as in France.”

The Cardamom Bun That Earns Its Own Fan Club

There’s a moment at Michette that happens before you even reach the counter.

You’re still a few feet from the door when the smell catches you. Warm, spiced, buttery, with that particular floral quality that cardamom has when it’s being used correctly and in generous quantity.

The cardamom bun is the source of it.

Caramelized on the outside — with a satisfying crunch that comes from a careful bake — and tender on the inside, it delivers a cardamom flavor that is unmistakable and abundant. So many baked goods label themselves cardamom and then barely whisper it. Michette doesn’t play that game.

The base has a slight chew from the caramelization, adding a textural layer that makes the whole thing more interesting than it has any right to be for what is, technically, a bun.

“The cardamom bun was beautifully aromatic and perfectly balanced,” one visitor wrote, speaking for what appears to be a very large and devoted constituency.

It’s one of those items that regulars order every time without considering alternatives, which is its own kind of compliment.

Cookies That Know What They’re Doing

The cookies at Michette deserve more attention than they typically receive, overshadowed as they are by the more dramatic pastry offerings.

The orange and black sesame cookie is where it starts. The combination sounds unusual until you taste it, at which point it becomes obvious — the nuttiness of the black sesame adding depth to the citrus brightness of the orange, the result tasting more sophisticated and satisfying than either ingredient would be alone.

The toasted oat cookie, made with house-made hazelnut praline, has that ideal chewy-crispy balance that defines the difference between a cookie worth eating and a cookie worth going out of your way for. The edges snap. The center gives. There’s enough going on in every bite to make you eat slowly without meaning to.

The chocolate chunk cookie has been called — by more than one reviewer with evident conviction — the best cookie they have ever had. That’s a confident claim. But when you learn that Michette uses only butter and olive oil in their products, avoids shortcuts on ingredients, and applies the same level of attention to their cookies as they do to their laminated doughs, the claim starts to feel plausible.

A Rotating Menu That Rewards Repeat Visits

One of the smarter things about Michette is that it doesn’t stay the same.

The core classics are always there — the plain croissant, the pain au chocolat, the baguette, the basque cheesecake. But alongside them is a rotating cast of seasonal items and creative experiments that give regulars a reason to come back every week without ever quite knowing what they’ll find.

The miso-Gruyère lattice croissant. The tikka masala croissant. The passion fruit kouign-amann — a traditional Breton butter cake given a tropical twist that delivers a bright, citrusy note at the end of each bite, cutting through the caramelized richness in exactly the way you’d want it to. A banana chausson. Seasonal apple butter matcha croissants.

These aren’t gimmicks. They’re the work of a kitchen that understands its foundations well enough to take real risks with them.

The focaccia follows this same philosophy. The breakfast focaccia — topped, generously sized, and described by one reviewer as “a wonderful gut bomb in the best way” — has become something of a weekend ritual for the regulars who live nearby. A courgette version more recently joined the roster and immediately became a staff favorite.

What the rotating menu tells you is that Michette is run by people who are paying attention. Not just to their own work, but to ingredients, to seasons, to what’s interesting right now in the wider world of pastry.

That’s rarer than it sounds.

The Coffee Program You Shouldn’t Skip

It would be easy to treat the coffee at Michette as an afterthought — an accompaniment to the real reason you came.

Don’t make that mistake.

The coffee program is built around Broadsheet Coffee, a respected local roaster, and executed on a La Marzocco machine with a level of attention that matches everything else happening in that small space. The espresso is balanced and precise. The iced matcha is made correctly.

“Don’t overlook their coffee program,” one reviewer noted with some urgency. “It’s deliciously dialed in.”

The lavender matcha latte, available seasonally, has attracted its own following. The iced coffee — made properly, not as an afterthought — is the kind of cold brew that reminds you what cold brew is supposed to taste like.

If you’re going to spend twenty minutes in line on a Saturday morning, you might as well have something excellent to hold while you wait.

What Somerville Did to Deserve This

There’s a question that a few reviewers have asked, either rhetorically or in genuine wonder:

What did East Somerville do to deserve Michette?

It’s a fair question. This is a neighborhood bakery — small, unpretentious, located on a stretch of Broadway that doesn’t announce itself as a culinary destination. And yet, what Michette produces on a daily basis rivals what you’d find in the best arrondissements of Paris, according to people who have checked both.

The answer, probably, is that Michette didn’t happen to East Somerville by accident. It was chosen deliberately, the way good things often choose the neighborhoods that are ready for them.

Somerville is a city that has always taken food seriously, and Michette — with its commitment to quality ingredients, its sourdough culture, its multi-day fermentation processes, and its refusal to cut corners on anything — fits the place perfectly.

The fact that the neighborhood regulars order every weekend by the dozen, show up in the rain, and arrive early to stake their claim on the fresh batches is the best possible evidence of that fit.

Tips for Your First Visit

Go early. Michette bakes fresh multiple times a day, but items sell out. The best selection — and the shortest line — belongs to the early risers.

On weekdays, the doors open at 7:30 a.m. On weekends, 8 a.m. If you want the item that’s been on your mind all week, being there within the first hour is your best insurance.

The line moves quickly, even when it looks long. The staff is efficient and warm, and part of the pleasure of the whole experience is the few minutes you spend inching forward while everything in the case comes slowly into view.

Online ordering is available for larger orders, which the bakery recommends placing the night before. For a dozen or more pastries — for a gathering, a gift, or just because you have excellent priorities — this is the smarter route.

The benches outside are the unofficial seating area. On a good morning, with something warm from the pastry case and a properly made cortado in hand, that bench might be the best seat in all of Massachusetts.

How to Get There

Michette is located at 164 Broadway in East Somerville, Massachusetts, situated conveniently between the Sullivan Square and Assembly Row Orange Line stations. Street parking is available in front.

Michette is open Tuesday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Saturday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

You can place online orders at michette.square.site, browse the menu and learn more at michette-bakery.com, or reach them by phone at (339) 241-2416.

Some things are worth a detour. Michette is worth rerouting your entire morning around.