Almond croissant at the Little Tart Bake Shop

One tool to ease the decision process at owner Sarah O’Brien’s Little Tart Bake Shop is to consider how fast a certain pastry sells out each day. By that measure, Little Tart’s almond croissant rules the pastry case. O’Brien picked up many croissant tricks while working in Paris, but the success of her almond croissant is due in part to the use of Southern bourbon in place of French brandy. Impossibly flaky and creamy in the middle from a spread of bourbon-infused frangipane, they also benefit from a spritz of bourbon syrup. French pastry chefs may yet learn something from us here in the south. $3.75.