The muffins are bad enough - they're each larger than my fist and you can tell just by looking at them that they're mealy and dry. But what has happened to what, for lack of a better word, I am forced to call croissants? Did someone forget that flaky pastry is supposed to, um, flake?
And you might say "OK, but you took this photo at the airport; surely there's good baked goods elsewhere in Seattle". But if there are, I couldn't find them! The typical pastry was a cinnamon roll the size of a small cat that you could just tell tasted of nothing but frosting and baking powder.
I truly believe that if the French government got wind of what's termed a croissant in the great city of Seattle, they would instantly declare war and/or begin humanitarian pastry airdrops.
Although I will say that I have regularly had horrible non-flaky "croissants" in European airports, so this is not just a US problem!
We do have these places. But the closest to the Con was 2km uphill. bakerynouveau.com/our-creation...
It really depends on the city and the baker. For example, when you’re in San Francisco, you could try: arsicault-bakery.com There are very few places at airports worth eating at in general, though I did manage to find excellent coffee at the Dublin airport.
Anti-inflation measure?