What: Ham and cheese croissant
Where: Cravings Coffee and Pastries, 102 E. Amado Road, Suite A, Palm Springs
How much: $8.95
Contact: 760-282-2494; cravingspalmsprings.com
Why: Three perfect ingredients.
I first learned about the existence of Cravings Coffee and Pastries thanks to an app called Too Good to Go.
I learned about the app by seeing it featured on a YouTube show. Here’s how it works: Restaurants and stores offer “bags” of food or goods leftover at day’s end, at a steep discount; while you’ll know the basic genre of the bag (bakery, prepared food, flowers, etc.) and how previous purchasers have rated the store’s bags, you won’t know the specifics until you buy the bag via the app, and show up at the store/restaurant during the designated time window.
In places like Los Angeles and San Diego, you’ll find quite a few places on Too Good to Go. Here? Not so much … but that’s slowly changing. When I first downloaded the app a while back, Whole Foods showed up almost every day, along with some central/east valley Circle K stores and Krispy Kreme … and that was basically it. But in recent months, a few independent places have started popping up—including Cravings.
I have not yet gotten a Too Good to Go bag from Cravings, but the rating of their bags is good (4.7 out of 5)—so I decided to go get lunch, pastries and coffee one recent weekday.
On that visit, I learned that Cravings is attached to Raphael Salon; the place is tiny (only a couple tables); the pastries are made-in house daily; and those pastries are quite good.
While the sweeter pastries we had (including the cherry turnover, $6, and the pain au chocolat, $6) were great, I LOVED the ham and cheese croissant. While the menu says the sandwich includes Dijon mustard, I didn’t taste any—but the ham, gruyere and oh-so-flaky croissant were so perfect that I didn’t miss it.
I’m now definitely watching for Cravings on Too Good to Go—and more importantly, they’re top of mind when I’m in the mood for coffee and tasty pastry.
