Cafes & Carryouts

An Oxon Hill strip mall might be an unlikely place to find a chef who spent three years manning the pastry tables at the legendary DC restaurant Jean-Louis. But for the past 17 years, Gerard Huet has made his home at this busy two-stool bakery wedged between a Chinese restaurant and a grocery.

Most alluring are his pastries, from miniature tiramisus and custard tarts bursting with raspberries ($4.50) to ten-inch, dinner-party-ready pecan pies ($13.95—about half what you’d pay at other high-end bakeries). But sandwiches ($5.25) such as chicken salad with cubes of tart apple or turkey with cranberry sauce are as good a reason to come here. Guess who bakes the big, flaky croissants they’re served on.