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

When I was growing up, Happy Days was my favorite show on TV. In addition to thinking The Fonz was the coolest and Potsie was funny, I loved when Richie Cunningham would sing “I found my thrill, on blueberry hill…” Whenever he would start to croon, I would day dream about walking on a big hill full of blueberries, picking fruit and eating all along the way. I was a kid and so didn’t realize the Fats Domino song was being played to show that Ritchie was feeling “frisky.” All I knew was that I desperately wanted to live near a blueberry hill.

When I see blueberries, I still sometimes hum Mr. Domino’s song. I’ve been doing this a lot lately as we are now in the height of blueberry season. In addition to stuffing those plump, round, bluish-purple balls of juicy delight into tarts and pies, I have been making fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast.

Although you can easily use frozen blueberries for muffins, there’s no reason to do that now, when berries are fresh, in season, and moderately inexpensive. Frozen berries are for the winter, when you have to pay little buckets of gold for a half pint of fresh ones. Plus, fresh berries exude bursts of sweetness that are unmatched by their frozen cousins.

Although I sometimes like streusel toppings, when I have the luxury of fresh seasonal blueberries, I don’t want to overshadow the berry flavor with a thick lid of butter and sugar. Crowning each muffin with just a sprinkle of brown sugar is a more simple and straightforward way to get the crunchy muffin top I want, while still highlighting all that blueberry goodness inside.

Here’s my recipe for fresh blueberry muffins. It’s fast and easy enough that you can whip it up in the morning for breakfast. It’s also a great way to enjoy blueberries in the height of the season. I imagine Mrs. Cunningham served these to Ritchie all the time.

Fresh Blueberry Muffins

Makes: 12 medium muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Oil your muffin pan or set in paper muffin liners.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs and mix in the sour cream, vegetable oil and milk.
5. Add in the blueberries.
6. Incorporate the dry mixture into the wet ingredients and gently stir, being sure not to over mix the flour.
7. Divide the batter into the muffin pan. I like to spoon out the batter using an ice cream scoop.
8. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of each muffin.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes (depending on whether or not you have a convection oven and how hot your oven runs).
10. When you can cleanly run a toothpick through the middle muffin, pull them out and left them cool for few minutes before diving in.