At-a-Glance
Food: 
Service:
Atmosphere:
Real, brewed iced tea: 
Accepts all major forms of payment:
No credit card fee:
Price: $$
Critic’s Review
This little French Bakery-Café is a true hidden gem.
One wouldn’t expect to find a place of this quality in the middle-of-nowhere, but here it is. We truly love this place.
From the outside, it doesn’t look like much. It’s in the middle of a non-descript strip mall, a street back from the main highway. You really have to know it’s there. But once you step inside, it’s like being transported back to France. It’s cute and charming, with lovely French jazz music, friendly staff, and… the wonderful smells of fresh baked bread and pastries.
My wife and I are actually hooked on O Happy Bread right now because of their sandwiches. The key to a good sandwich is the bread, and theirs is a delicious French sourdough with a crispy crust and soft chewy center. It’s exactly the way bread should be, but in America you rarely ever find it like this (outside of the San Francisco Bay area). American bread in general is too soft and over-processed (and I say this as a patriotic American). The French really do know how to make the best bread — you can stop at the corner boulangerie on any street in Paris and grab a perfect crispy baguette — and whoever bakes the bread O Happy Bread does it the exact same way.
My favorite sandwich is the Napoleon — layers of prosciutto and parmesan cheese on a baguette with pesto (which is amazing) and sundried tomatoes. My wife’s favorite is the Parisien — ham, cheese, and butter, just like they do it in Paris. But really all their sandwiches are solid — roast beef, turkey, saucisson (French salami). I think I’ve tried them all at this point, except the brie sandwich (personal preference as I don’t care for brie, but my wife loves it).
Now let’s talk about the pastries. To get to the register and order you must walk past their display case, which is devilishly tempting, as everything looks so delicious. I can say without hesitation: these are the best pastries I’ve had outside of France. I’ve been to a lot of French bakeries in America, ones with fancier locations and higher prices, only to be disappointed with what are obviously factory-made products (and being in the industry, I recognize them right away). But not here — at O Happy Bread you can tell everything is made by hand, from scratch. In fact, if you get there at the right time, you can look back into their open kitchen and see one of their pastry chefs making these delectibles while you watch.
My favorite pastries, in no particular order: lemon tart, royal chocolate cake, filled beignets, croissants, spinach feta croissant, and their chocolate chip cookies are amazing! (They’re soft and chewy with sea salt sprinkled on top — so addictive!)
There is one more item that I’m very excited about, and that’s their iced tea. It’s brewed fresh, has a mild tropical flavor, and is absolutely delicious. As a tea connoisseur, I mean it when I say I would buy their tea by the gallon if I could! (Hence my unprecedented 2 checkmarks on the “Real, brewed iced tea” test.)
Our usual game plan at O Happy Bread is to order our lunch first (whether we get sandwiches, salads, or a bowl of their excellent French Onion soup), and of course a large Iced Tea 🙂, then sit down and eat. This helps us not be too hungry when we go back afterwards to get pastries for the road (because buying desserts while hungry is too dangerous here!).
The staff are warm and friendly here. It does get busy at times, especially at lunch when the line reaches the door, but it’s always worth the wait. You have to order at the register and then you pick it up on the other side (they call you when its ready) — it would be nice if they did table service, but they don’t. It’s not a big deal. Whenever I need a refill or anything I just go up to the pickup counter and they take care of me right away.
I would say don’t come here if you’re in a hurry — its not a fast place like we Americans have become used to. This place very much has a slower European vibe, where meals are always more relaxed. Personally I like that because I think American daily life has gotten too hectic anyways. Sometimes we need a good excuse to slow down.
Overall, O Happy Bread is a true hidden gem in the middle of the desert… it alone is worth making the trip to Pahrump! (And those of us who live here are very lucky indeed!) If you are a connoisseur of authentic French pastries, this place is the real deal.
Location information
O Happy Bread French Bakery & Café
1231 E. Basin Ave. Suites 7-8
Pahrump, NV 89060
Phone: 775-455-0478
Website: ohappybread.com
Hours
Sunday: 7am – 7pm
Monday: 7am – 7pm
Tuesday: 7am – 7pm
Wednesday: 7am – 7pm
Thursday: 7am – 7pm
Friday: 7am – 7pm
Saturday: 7am – 7pm