For brothers Young and Mark Yim, opening their bakery in McKinney was a no-brainer.
“We live in McKinney and love McKinney,” Mark Yim said. “We have been seeing how fast North Dallas has expanded, so it was an easy decision to open [here].”
Their new bakery and gelateria, Cremcrittos, opened at the end of November, and word has gotten out about their delicate, sometimes elusive-to-the-area pastries, like the Nutella babka and white chocolate cookie bread.
Most weekends, the brothers sell out of their goods before 9:30 a.m. with customers lining up outside the shop, which is off Lake Forest Drive.
From multiple types of croissants to cinnamon rolls, apple fritters to almond buttercream cronuts, the bakery excels at executing elegant baked goods. Mark previously worked at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas and before that, the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. He went to pastry school in Chicago, but leaves the baking to his brother, who has worked as a baker for about five years.
The other side of their enterprise, housemade gelato, features fresh milk, heavy cream, sugar and egg yolks — no ice cream base or artificial ingredients here.
And the flavors also surprise, from usual suspects like vanilla and dark chocolate to the unusual (yam) and hard-to-find (mint chocolate stracciatella).
But back to that Nutella babka. Mark is proud of his and his brother’s iteration.
“Traditionally, babka is kind of dry, but we make ours very moist and delicious,” he said. “Not to mention we put toasted peanut pieces inside.”
Cremcrittos is located at 3755 S. Lake Forest Drive in McKinney and is open Tuesdays through Sundays.
