Artisserie: pistachio croissant on NW 23rd

There's never a shortage of pretty pastry on NW 23rd, and Artisserie, at 710 NW 23rd, is one of the stops worth making. The small French bakery belongs to chef Vitaliya Popovych, and the thing to order is the pistachio croissant, flaky butter layers wrapped around mascarpone and a soft green pistachio cream. It's one of the standouts on the whole map, and it has a habit of ending up on your tray even when you only came in for coffee.

Popovych grew up baking in western Ukraine, where the sweet of her childhood was ponchiki, plum-filled pastries a lot like beignets. She moved to Portland in 2006 and worked with a French pastry chef at La Provence before she opened her own place. The name blends "artistic" and "patisserie," and the marble display case looks a little like a jewelry counter, with its row of macarons, mini entremets shaped like fruit, canelés and white-glazed cakes. French music plays inside, and there are a few sidewalk seats if you'd like to eat on 23rd before carrying a box home. In the cake case you'll find the fruit-shaped Royales, the Pink Lady with its pink white-chocolate mirror glaze, flavored suprêmes, and beignets filled with vanilla cream and dusted with sugar. At lunch there are baguette sandwiches and ham-and-fromage croissants.

In 2025 Popovych opened a second shop at 350 First Street in downtown Lake Oswego, in the old Blue Star space, with a fuller menu, later hours, and room to sit down for food and drinks. Go to 23rd for pastry and to Lake Oswego when you want a table, and don't assume the two menus match.

If there's a pistachio croissant in the case, order that first. Some fans wish the pistachio came through a little stronger, but the layers alone are worth it. Good backups are the raspberry delight (mascarpone and jam), a plain butter croissant, or almond. Past the croissants, a canelé is a small bite that travels well, a beignet is for eating right away, and macarons are what you bring when you're headed to someone's house. The mini entremets are sized for small celebrations. People ask for the Pink Lady by name, and it's almond cake, mascarpone, strawberry and lemon under that pink glaze, while the Royales (mango, raspberry, lemon, pear, coffee bean) are shaped mousse cakes in crunchy chocolate shells. One entremet and one croissant make a nice order for one person, and a princess cake or a large tart needs a special order with some lead time.

Parking on 23rd is what it always is, and the shop is small. Hours run into the early evening most days and are shorter on Monday (check the posted hours), which makes it a good afternoon stop after the other bakeries have closed. Ask what just came out, since laminated pastry doesn't hold well, and if the pistachio croissant looks tired, come back another day. Artisserie is a French pastry shop and doesn't bake bread, so plan on dessert, and maybe a sandwich if it's lunchtime. It's the kind of sweet stop you'll want to repeat soon.

The essentials are on the Artisserie Fine Bakery page.