The pastry case at the new Craftsman and Wolves location in Mountain View was empty by the time I arrived. To the right of it, seven brightly colored desserts remained on hand.
They were all fancifully composed in jewel tones on their temporary plates. A thin green smile (or mustache) made of a curved sliver of cucumber skin was held in place on the side of three strawberry cucumber pink “pills” ($14). A pansy—violet, purple or yellow—was centered on top of each one. The two blood orange cardamom clouds ($16) looked like extra material removed from Elmo’s furry coat. And one remaining yellowy mango prism cake ($16) glowed intensely in the corner of the drawer.
Since first opening in 2012, Craftsman and Wolves has been making surprising or challenging baked goods, depending on your goût de vivre. Guided by William Werner until 2019, and then by Lawrence Lai until his death earlier this year, ordinary chocolate croissants turned into triple chocolate croissants. Ham and cheese croissants transformed into havarti and mortadella ones with cornichon relish and vegetable confetti. Their Scotch egg, called “The Rebel Within,” became a signature item on the menu.
As the company continues to expand its presence in the South Bay, Sam Ceccotti is the current executive chef who’s continuing the bakery’s commitment to making sweet and savory innovations. After a tour of “the Den,” the central kitchen and distribution hub located in San Francisco for all of the Craftsman and Wolves’ locations, Ceccotti talked with me about her culinary approach. “I’m all about texture,” she said.
Lai hired Ceccotti after she passed a baking test. “I was asked to make a mousse cake and something laminated that showed my style and my flavors,” she recalled.
Right out of culinary school, she worked as the executive pastry chef at the Plumed Horse in Saratoga. Growing up, her paternal grandmother took her through the Wilton Cookbook, which demonstrates the myriad ways bakers can decorate their cakes.
After being drawn to the art of making sugar flowers and piping, she decided she wanted to become a pastry chef. “I would always experiment in my kitchen and loved to make pastries,” she said.
For the pink pill, she drew inspiration from a cocktail with the same flavors. Its central core is made with a cucumber lemon mousse and an elderflower sponge cake. It tastes like an ethereal mini-cheesecake. She coats the bottom of the cake with a layer of puffed rice, tinted pink from strawberries. The outside corresponds with a strawberry confiture inside, the pink coat shines like a fresh coat of nail polish.
Ceccotti said she started with the elderflower cake first. “The next element that I put on top of that will highlight or enhance it,” she explained. “It has the floral quality of the St. Germain [liqueur]. Since it’s summer, strawberries are so delicious—they’re bright red and sweet—and then the strawberry cucumber mousse adds a bit more acidity to balance out the sweetness.” The strawberry puffed rice complements all of these textures with a final pop of crunch.
There is a broadcast quality air of perfection about Craftsman and Wolves’ desserts. “Our products are not cheap, so we want to put the best product out for the price,” Ceccotti said. “If you’re going to give someone a cake that looks like it got bumped, we don’t want a culture of putting out something that’s less than ideal looking.”
To carry out this level of quality control, she trains her sous bakers to lead individual sections of the kitchen. “We all collaborate on everything. It’s always an ongoing thing, learning what works and what doesn’t work.”
With new bakeries opening every month in the Bay Area, Ceccotti understands the nature of retail competition. “In the city, if you’re not constantly changing and bringing a new product, people get bored of you,” she said. They’ll move on to the next hotly anticipated thing. “My job as a chef is to keep new creativity flowing and put it on the menu to keep everyone interested.”
Craftsman and Wolves, 400 San Antonio Rd., Mountain View. Open Monday–Friday 7:30am–2pm, Saturday–Sunday 8am–2pm. craftsman-wolves.com
