Best Thing We Ate Last Night: The Devil Inside at Craftsman and Wolves

As good as advertised.

By Meesha Halm

We confess. With less than three days left until the foie gras ban, we succumbed. The burning desire to consume something that would we would soon only be telling our grandchildren about out got to us. So we headed out into the city for a final taste of foie gras and settled our sights on The Devil Inside, that unapologetically decadent chocolate creation of pastry whiz William Werner. Plus, it gave us an excuse to check out his new Mission digs, Craftsman and Wolves, which opened a few days later than originally planned.


Truth to be told, we tried to get our hands on The Devil Inside on Tuesday but by the time we looked up from our desk and called over to the bakery, they had long sold out of the hot commodity. Today we remember to ring them up by noon, and was heartened to learn they had five left. Would they set one aside until we came in to pick it up? Certainly, we were told, providing I pay for it ahead of time, via credit card, over the phone. Deal, I thought. I purchased two for good measure.

The wait was worth it. By the time we got to the sleek new patisserie (that bears no resemblance to its previous days as an auto-mechanic repair shop), they were all out Devils. Except mine. We took the opportunity to order a slice of his peach-and-buttermilk cube cake while we were there. Back to The Devil Inside. It's a dense dark chocolatey muffin not much bigger than a Ding Dong, unglazed on the outside but topped with a chocolate streusel topping and drizzle of toffee. Looks unassuming enough, that is, until you slice it open--or simply bite into it and discover it's filled with an unctuous toffee-flavored ganache punctuated by a sliver of chilled foie gras (significantly smaller, we might add, than the nugget featured in the picture above). Eaten altogether, it's a devilishly delightful mouthful of sweet and salty, creaming and crunchy. And it'll cost you $8.

Craftsman and Wolves isn't actually sure what's going to happen to The Devil Inside after Saturday night. Apparently Werner is playing around with other sweet-and-salty combinations, possibly subbing in a cheese for the foie, or having a rotating filling of the week. He might even host a contest to come up with best ideas, as more than several devoted customers have already offered their own suggestions. All we know for now is that the manager assured us she'll have plenty of Devils for the weekend-they bake two batches a day. (We recommend you use the credit card trick.) After that, devil be damned--there's plenty of other delectable-looking sweets and savories to try.

Craftsman and Wolves, 746 Valencia St., 415-913-7713; 7AM-8PM Monday-Friday, 8AM-8PM on Saturday and 8AM-5PM on Sunday.