Chocolate babka of this quality a rare find

A small bakery nestled in San Antonio’s Monte Vista neighborhood is serving some of the city’s most unique and craveable pastries, with hard-to find chocolate babka ($4) leading the charge.

Laced with sesame seeds and oodles of chocolate woven into a tightly braided roll, these singleserving delights at Extra Fine are a perfect balance of sweetness and dark-chocolate bitterness with oodles of pop and crunch from the sesame seeds worked into the filling.

The result is an irresistible nibble of semisweet and tender briochelike bread with just enough indulgence from the cocoa to make you feel like you’re getting away with something at breakfast time. And with the heavy dose of sesame seeds worked into the rolls, the treat offers a textural experience you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in San Antonio.

Chocolate babka is typically baked as a large loaf of bread. Done in the single serving, almost cupcake roll format that Extra Fine embraces, it’s a perfect nosh from beginning to end without any leftovers.

Extra Fine has plenty of other treats in its stylish space featuring plastic dinosaurs on one shelf and artfully dried persimmons hanging from a rack in a corner by the register.

The shop sung to my childhood heart with one of the best gooey chocolate crinkle cookies ($2.50) I’ve had in years.

There was also a spectacular blueberry and cream cheese brioche ($5) and flaky pastrywrapped sausage kolaches ($7), among other indulgences.

Extra Fine, 138 E. Mistletoe Ave., 210-701-8483, extrafinesa.com, Facebook: @ExtraFineSanAntonio. Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m daily.

Paul Stephen / Staff The chocolate sesame babka at Extra Fine is a rare and delightful treat in San Antonio.