Bernalites sure eat well there up on the hill. Dawdling along a rolling 8-block strip of commerce, you could go from Avedano's killer Cuban sandwich (and impressive local/sustainable meat selection) to Moki's sushi or Vino Rosso's salume. Or you could nibble Peruvian bolitas de yuca at Piqueo's or momo at Little Nepal, then finish up with ice cream at Maggie Mudd (including non-dairy versions made with soy or coconut milk). There's coffee and bagels at Martha's, eggs and toast at Moonshine, iced tea and wraps on the shady back deck at Progressive Grounds.

All good, but where, where were our Paris-perfect pains au chocolat? Our savory swirls of fluffy bread filled with miso, scallion, and sesame seeds? The Ritual Roasters coffee painstakingly dripped cup by cup? We Hill dwellers may be very busy walking our dogs or itsy-bitsy-spidering our charming offspring, but we have our standards, and our needs. (As well as no patience for schlepping down to the Mission to make our antsy toddlers wait in that endless Tartine line.)

Which makes the arrival of Sandbox Bakery, after months of window-peering, a reason for rejoicing up here. Chowhound buzz promised a summer opening; permit processes being what they are, the bakery opened on Cortland on December 7. Charcoal-walled without, white-tiled within, the bakery is sleek, almost a little stark for now, with no seating. But all the better to focus on the pastries, arranged in a glass-fronted case facing the whooshing automatic doors.

Prices, for now, are very reasonable: croissants $2 to $2.50, scones $2, filled buns $2.25 to $3, cookies .75 cents, muffins $2. Warm pastries come out of the oven in waves. Longing for something flaky and croissant-ish mid-morning, we were sorry to see only rolls, muffins, and scones on offer. But no worries: a few minutes later, owner/pastry chef Mutsumi Takehara emerged from the back with a platter of oven-hot raisin swirls and sweet cheese croissants.

It's worth hanging around for these; the raisin swirl we tried was ethereally light and barely sweet, shards of a dream that disappeared like snowflakes. A strawberry scone was more earthbound but still light and easy to crumble into mouthfuls, and well larded with sweet fruit.

Beyond croissants, scones, and muffins, Takehara's workhorse is a light, eggy yeast dough, like an airy challah, that she uses to make her version of kashi-pan, the filled buns popular in Japanese bakeries. On the savory side, the dough is rounded into a fat doughnut shape and filled with corn kernels and a splash of creamy bechamel, creating a perfect accompaniment to tomato soup. (You'll have to make your own soup, though, since Sandbox does only pastries for now.) It's braided around an unexpected but rewarding (for you savory-breakfast types) smear of miso and sesame. It's flattened and topped with a tangy, bittersweet gloss of yuzu marmalade.

Takehara has the deft touch of a pro, one who's happy to being doing her own thing at last after years of working around town. Her impressive pastry resume includes stints at La Farine, Chez Panisse, Rubicon, and, for the past 10 years, Slanted Door. These are pastries of delicacy and light, subtle rather than sweet. And for all you groggy new parents starting the day at dawn (they don't call this Maternal Hill for nothing), Sandbox opens at 6am on weekdays, 7am on Saturdays.

Sandbox Bakery, 833 Cortland Ave., San Francisco, CA. (415) 642-8580. Mon-Fri, 6am-3pm; Sat 7am-3pm.
Follow on Twitter: @SandboxBakery

Photos copyright Sandbox Bakery

Don't know what to make for dinner? Come to the book party for community cookbook Bernal Eats at Red Hill Books on Sunday, March 8th, from 11am-1pm and get some ideas from your friends and neighbors. Subtitled "A Busy Family's Survival Guide", this collection of kid-tested, family-friendly recipes and mealtime strategies comes from over 65 Bernal contributors, including restauranteurs like Brad Levy (Firefly), Rudy Mariel and Efrain Magana (Moonlight Cafe), Michael Juarez (MaggieMudd), and Aziz Benarafa (Progressive Grounds). There will be live music from OctoMutt, lots of food and readings from local writers and contributors Michele Bigley and Karen Zuercher.

Can't make it? Besides Red Hill, you can find the book at Christopher's in Potrero Hill, Alexander's in downtown San Francisco, and the Friends of the Library bookshop in Fort Mason Center. Besides being a fun, tasty, and down-to-earth resource, the book is also a fundraiser for the Bernal Heights Library. Every $15 book sold raises money for the library's much-needed renovations.

Beth Zonderman

The book is the brainchild of local mom (and graphic designer) Beth Zonderman. Online parenting communities (of which Bernal, aka Maternal, Heights, has many) were obsessed with the mechanics of getting dinner on the table every day. Why not take all the info being shared, and turn it into a community cookbook? Teaming up with pal Judy Shei, another local working mom, they put the call out. "We bugged all our friends," laughs Shei, who went around with a notepad taking down recipes from neighbors, local merchants and restaurant owners. "I got the chicken adobo recipe from my neighbor, a Phillipino grandmother," Shei says. The two also peppered online communities and neighborhood bulletin boards with calls for submissions.

Judy Shei

Starting in August, they had a manuscript ready for printing by August. It's an updated, big-city cousin to all those spiral-bound church cookbooks, with recipes, encouraging essays, and lots of pictures of happy, messy toddlers cooking and eating. And while there are a few company-worthy dishes like miso-glazed black cod with soba and braised carrots, (surprisingly easy looking), mostly it's all quick and easy and tasty-looking, without relying on processed foods or doctored-up supermarket takeout.

And even if you (or your kids) are still stuck on Annie's Cheddar Bunnies and mashed bananas, just remember: No matter how clueless you are in the kitchen, as contributor Michele Bigley writes, "Being a bad cook doesn't mean you're a bad mom."