The last night of our June trip to California was spent in Oceanside, a small beach town in northern San Diego County, visiting friends. The following morning, I decided on a whim to search for a French patisserie, or pastry shop. Perhaps I was in the mood for something like Tartine, a corner bakery in San Francisco’s Mission District that I make it a point to visit each time I’m there. We ended up driving a quirky route through the hills until we wound up at Loïc, a bistro and patisserie in Rancho Santa Fe.
The bistro and patisserie are adjacent buildings nestled in a small shopping complex at the foot of a large housing development. The design is meant to evoke an Italian village, which it more or less succeeds in doing.
Would an Italian village have a parking lot like this? Probably not. Just a small concession to Southern California’s car culture.
The interior of the patisserie was a little stark but the smell and sight of freshly baked goods were every bit as welcoming as the lady working behind the counter.
As we ordered, the lady explained that the chef is French. After several years working aboard cruise ships, he decided to settle in the Rancho Santa Fe area and open his own restaurant and patisserie.
We sat in some comfy chairs, sipped our café au lait, and picked apart our croissants, smearing eat bite with jam and pretending we were back in Paris. The croissants were very nice: light, flaky, and buttery – everything one wants in a croissant.
Afterwards, we took a few more pictures then climbed back in the car for our drive back to Orange County, where we met another Xangan for lunch.
christao408 
Nice and comfy sofas indeed. The croissants look delicious too! Looks like Tawn is very happy with the coffee break. Are those macarons inside the refridegerated display?
looks like a lovely place! =)
And so goes the life of these two guys that travel the world eating but never gaining weight. How do they do it ? Inquiring minds want to know ?
@The_Eyes_Of_A_Painter – Actually, I recently realized that I’ve gained about 10 pounds in the last year. Time to lay off those croissants and get more consistent about my exercising.@jace1982 – Yeah, it really is.@CurryPuffy – Indeed they are macaroons, along with a number of other nice looking things.
It is nice to find those little out of the way places. I love my croissants with strawberry jam! yummy
The cups and the pastries are jumbo! Either that or Tawn has shrunk! And I bet they were so good you ate the WHOLE thing….
The kind of place I need to stay out of. Looks delicious.
I love french pastry. So glad you both were able to find the place and enjoy the time. Tawn looks so yummy sitting there!! ha ha.
@Fatcat723 – Strawberry is the best, I think. Although who am I to say know to pomelo marmelade?@murisopsis – There’s a joke from the stage play and movie “Torch Song Trilogy” about drag queens using large glasses for their drinks so their hands look smaller.@Inciteful – But if you stay out of a place like that, you’ll never get to try all the tasty pastries.@ZSA_MD – It was just about as “Tawn” a place as you could imagine, to use his name as an adjective.
looks delicious! in the current issue of “runner’s world,” a reader posed a question in the “write-in” column asking whether it was better to exercise and eat a poor diet, or not exercise and eat a healthy diet. the answer, which i’m quite happy about, was that although neither is a great option, of the two the better option is to exercise and eat poorly. so all you have to do is get some regular workouts in and you can indulge all you want! that’s what i do =)
@kunhuo42 – Well, I’m not too bad about keeping up regular workouts, so that’s good news. Probably need to work out a little harder, though, as I’ve gained a few pounds this year. As for you, though, you’re starting from a much more slender point!