Artisserie: pistachio croissant on NW 23rd

NW 23rd is a street that will sell you a lot of pretty pastry, and bakery fans have been wondering whether Artisserie is the one that is actually worth crossing the sidewalk for — we FINALLY made a hard stop, and yes. YES! The shop at 710 NW 23rd is a small French case, chef Vitaliya Popovych’s jewel-box bakery, and the pistachio croissant is the reason we do not just look. Flaky butter layers, mascarpone, pistachio cream in that soft green that feels almost like a French window display. It is the must-try on our map, and it is also the thing we order when we swear we are only buying coffee.

Popovych grew up baking in western Ukraine — ponchiki, those plum-filled beignet-like pastries, were the childhood sweet — moved to Portland in 2006, and worked with a French pastry chef at La Provence before opening this room. The name is the thesis: artistic plus patisserie. Walking in, we can also see a marble case that looks almost like a tiny jewelry counter, macarons lined up in a bright row, mini entremets shaped like fruit, canelés with that dark Bordeaux caramel shell, and white-glazed cakes that catch the light. French music is playing. There are a few sidewalk seats if you want to eat on 23rd instead of walking away with a box. The case is built that way on purpose: fruit-shaped Royales, the Pink Lady with its pink white-chocolate mirror glaze, flavored suprêmes, and beignets filled with vanilla cream and dusted like a doughnut’s French cousin. You can eat lunch here too — baguette sandwiches and ham-and-fromage croissants if the sweet side is not the whole errand.

In 2025 she opened a second shop at 350 First Street in downtown Lake Oswego, in the old Blue Star space. That room is the longer sit — fuller menu, later hours, a dining and drinks lane the 23rd shop does not try to be. We use 23rd as the pastry case and Lake Oswego when we already want a table, and we do not assume the two cases are identical!

Pistachio croissant. We are not being cute. If it is in the case, it goes in the bag FIRST. The outside is shatter-flaky and golden; the inside is that luxurious mascarpone-and-pistachio cream, and even when we have heard people wish for an even louder pistachio note, the laminate alone is enough to make us stop on the sidewalk. Raspberry delight — mascarpone and jam — and a plain butter croissant are the backup laminate; almond if you want the classic cream-and-slice finish. Then look down, not just at the croissant shelf. A canelé is the small savory-sweet bite that travels, caramelized and custardy. A beignet if you want cream and powdered sugar and you are eating now, not later. Macarons if you need a box for a house. The mini entremets are the “we are celebrating a Tuesday” order. Pink Lady — almond cake, mascarpone, strawberry and lemon, that shiny pink glaze — is the one people ask for by name. The Royales (mango, raspberry, lemon, pear, coffee bean) are the shaped mousse cakes with crunchy chocolate shells, and they look almost too cute to eat, which of course means we eat them. We pick one entremet and one croissant and we do not negotiate a third unless someone else is paying. If you want a princess cake or a large tart, that is a special order with lead time, not a walk-up.

23rd parking is 23rd parking. We do not pretend otherwise! The shop is small; the case is the show. Hours run later than a morning-only bakery — into the early evening most days, shorter on Monday on their own board — so an afternoon visit is possible, which is why this street works for us after other counters have gone dark. Ask what just came out. Laminated pastry waits badly. If the pistachio croissant looks tired, skip it and come back rather than forcing a soft one. This is a French case in the Northwest District, not a loaf bakery, and we treat it that way: dessert, a sandwich if we need lunch, then back onto 23rd before we invent a second entremet. We would stop again tomorrow!

More on the bakery: Artisserie Fine Bakery