After 15 years as an Outer Sunset local, Hilary Passman knew that there was something missing from her neighborhood: a real-deal bakery. A mother of four who'd stepped off the career track as an attorney to raise her children, she'd been selling homemade baked goods for more than a decade.

"I always liked to cook, and I always liked to eat. Cooking's great, and it seemed like a good way to earn extra income while overbreeding," joked Passman.

When she decided that she might want to open a bakery, she knew she wanted to stay in the neighborhood. "We love the Sunset, we live in the Sunset, and there was nothing like this," she told us. "I just started making stuff I liked to eat."

The result: Devil's Teeth Baking Company, which opened its doors in April 2011 and has been a hit with the neighborhood ever since.

Hilary Passman (left) and general manager Dan Delenikos.

When she opened Devil's Teeth, Passman's goal was to provide her neighbors with a $5 breakfast sandwich. Originally from the East Coast, she missed having that early-morning option, and felt that others would appreciate it as well. 

She was right. On a busy weekend, Devil's Teeth sells between 500 and 600 breakfast sandwiches, with bacon, eggs, and cheese on a fresh-baked biscuit. The only downside is that the price has gone up to $5.50, due to the rising costs of eggs and milk.

The Devil's Teeth breakfast sandwich. (Photo: Courtesy of Devil's Teeth Baking Company)

If 500 or 600 breakfast sandwiches a day sounds like a lot for a bakery as small as Devil's Teeth, it is. In order to bake everything it sells on-site, the bakery runs an around-the-clock operation. From Wednesdays through Mondays, the shop is open from 7am-4pm. It gets a cleaning from 4-5pm, and then it's taken over by bakers, who work in shifts until 6am, when it's time to prepare for customers once again. 

Along with the breakfast sandwich, other Devil's Teeth favorites include cinnamon rolls, kale-parmesan scones, and donut muffins. There are also some lunchtime offerings, like slices of lasagna, daily soups, and BLTs. And on Sundays, Devil's Teeth serves a wallet-friendly treat: $1 beignets.

Photo: Courtesy of Devil's Teeth Baking Company

General manager Dan Delenikos, who's been at the bakery for five years, says it's a fun place for those on both sides of the register. "We have a good time, and I think the customers kind of read that," he said. "They see people joking around, and they enjoy that. People that work here enjoy coming to work. It gets super busy on the weekends, but we hold it down together and it's still fun."

Delenikos with this month's "Customer of the Week." (Photo: Courtesy of Devil's Teeth Baking Company)

Weekends are indeed busy, with lines often wrapping around the corner. "It's good food, with quality ingredients, and it's relatively well-priced. I think that's what people are looking for," said Delenikos. "They're willing to wait if they know it's going to be good."

In turn, Devil's Teeth tries to support other local businesses. Delenikos puts in the bakery's daily produce order right across the street, with Dimitri Vardakastanis at Noriega Produce. 

Photo: Stephen Jackson/Hoodline

In the years since opening Devil's Teeth, Passman has expanded her reach in the neighborhood, opening a brewpub, Sunset Reservoir Brewing Company, last year. But when it comes to her bakery, she feels she's got a great thing going, and isn't looking to change a thing.

"We just want to keep on keeping on," she told us. "It's a community center; the parklet gives people a place to be. I love this place, I don't think it needs to be different at all."