Don't Miss Bakeries?

[Suebee]

I'm on the lookout for the best cupcakes, cakes, cookies, etc. in Chicago. What are your favorites in the following hoods?

River North

Downtown (Art Institute/Millenium Park)

Wicker Park/Bucktown

Downtown (River Tour/Magnificent Mile)

Lincoln Park/Old Town

I've got Molly's and Suthport Grocery on our list but I know there are many more.

Thanks!!

[nsxtasy]

Here is how I would rank the Chicago-area (city and suburbs) bakeries, I've tried, from the very best (#1) to the very worst (#21). (If you're looking *only* for cookies, go straight to #9.)

There are six that are head and shoulders above the others, the first two of which are in the suburbs:

1. Three Tarts Bakery (Northfield, www.threetartsbakery.com ) - Their quality is uniformly excellent, but the variety of pastries is somewhat limited. Great eclairs. Great pear almond tart. They have a variety of small cookies (linzer, etc) that are excellent. My personal nominee for the best pastry shop in the Chicago area.

2. Gourmet Frog (Highwood, www.frenchrestaurantschicagocatering.com ) - They have a variety of cakes available by the slice. A few are great; most are good. Best French macaroons in town, great cookies, and great soups. They're the carry-out adjunct of Froggy's restaurant.

3. Vanille Patisserie (Clybourn Corridor, www.vanillepatisserie.com ) - I really love their entremets. And their croissants are excellent as well. Not a lot of variety, but what pastries they do, they do exceptionally well.

4. Fox & Obel (River East, www.fox-obel.com ) - Their quality is consistently excellent. Their tres leches cake is excellent, and I love their bread pudding, as well as their chocolate version that they call chocolate brut. (Pop 'em in the microwave briefly before serving warm - mmmmm!) Best bran muffins and best cinnamon rolls ("swirls") I've ever had. If you're looking for cupcakes, they've got good ones. (Of course, they have a lot more items than just pastry, including wonderful breads as well as meats and prepared foods etc. But this topic is about sweet items.)

5. Swedish Bakery (Andersonville, www.swedishbakery.com ) - I love their marzipan roll - one of the few cakes anywhere with both whipped cream and pastry cream, in different layers - and I love their marzariners, small almond paste based tarts.

6. Pasticceria Natalina (Andersonville, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/372142 ) - They have some wonderful things, and some others that are just okay. Their specialty, Sicilian pastries, is something you don't find elsewhere.

Here are others that I've tried:

7. Angel Food Bakery (Uptown, www.angelfoodltd.com ) - The most whimsical of our bakeries, with a retro tone to the pastries. I tried several things here; some were just okay, but a few were exceptional (and I'm sorry but I forget what they were).

8. Bittersweet (Lakeview, www.bittersweetpastry.com ) - I recently went there for the first time. Again, like so many places here, the variety of pastries is limited, but they have a few good things. Their scones are the best I've had anywhere. I was disappointed by their various macaroons.

9. Al's Deli (Evanston, www.alsdeli.net ) - Not really a bakery, primarily a carry-out sandwich shop, but the real baked treat is their cookies, especially their chocolate chip cookies. If you can think of the very best homemade chocolate chip cookies you've ever had in your life - from the recipe on the Nestle's bag, of course - that's what these are like. Note - they're only open for lunch (11-4, I think) and closed Wednesdays.

10. Bennison's (Evanston, www.bennisonscakes.com ) - A very conventional bakery, nothing absolutely to die for, but a lot of things are decent, including good black and whites and rum balls.

11. Tag's (Evanston, www.tagscakes.com ) - Another very conventional bakery, with very good almond macaroons, and known for their florentines.

12. Lutz (Ravenswood Gardens, www.lutzcafe.com ) - This place has been around forever, and is the most European of all our bakeries. Nothing to die for, but a lot of things are decent.

13. Café Selmarie (Lincoln Square, www.cafeselmarie.com ) - Like Lutz, this is a place where I have pleasant memories of eating in the café. Some decent items, but nothing to die for.

14. Patisserie P (Edgewater, www.lapatisseriep.com ) - Asian as well as European pastries, nothing really impressed me.

15. Sarah's (Gold Coast, www.sarahscandies.com ) - I tried a bunch of things here and the only thing I really liked was a savory item (a ham and cheese brioche).

16. Dinkel's (Lakeview, http://www.dinkels.com ) - very conventional, nothing really impressed me.

17. Foodlife (Water Tower Place, http://www.foodlifechicago.com ) - very ordinary fast food carry-out, nothing really impressed me.

18. House of Fine Chocolates (Lakeview, www.houseoffinechocolates.com ) - very conventional, nothing really impressed me.

19. Sweet Mandy B's (Lincoln Park, no website) - "American comfort food" bakery items, like cookies (consistently undercooked and bland), pies (eh), puddings (banana pudding with very little banana flavor; cabinet pudding (possibly pre-frozen). Very disappointing.

20. Deerfields (Deerfield, www.deerfieldbakery.com ) - very conventional, and consistently disappointing.

21. Bleeding Heart Bakery (Lakeview, thebleedingheartbakery.com ) - HUGE disappointment. Visually unappealing muffins, layer cake slices (dreadful, I threw most of it out), croissants (okay but nothing special). And all ridiculously overpriced. Stay away!

[Suebee]

Thanks so much for such a thoughtful and thorough post! We're only here until Thursday and limited to just a few neighborhoods, but I'll make sure to check out your recommendations if they're close by.

We tried a couple cookies at Fox and Obel this morning, an oatmeal raisin and chocolate chocolate chip. Really good and just .89 each!

[Querencia]

I think nsxtacy was kind of hard on "conventional" bakeries, which perhaps lean more toward the classical than the trendy. Dinkels is a dependable, all-around bakery with decent pastry. House of Fine Chocolates has a reliable selection of classics like Napoleons and brioche and bakes its coffee cakes in a tube pan, which makes them easy to cut nicely for a group. Swedish Bakery has excellent tea rolls (plain or cardamom), sticky pecan rolls, Julekaka, and limpa. Bennison's has a following that's willing to pay around $10 for its pecan bread and is one of the few places that have bienenstich. As for trendy offerings, my young neighbors all faint at the mere mention of Mandy B's cupcakes. I would add to the list the Tel Aviv Bakery on Devon for its seeded rye bread and its onion rolls, reminiscent of Ratner's in New York. And Turano's little shop at their commercial bakery on Roosevelt Road in Oak Park has the Italian version of croissants, I forget what they're called but it starts with C, that will make you think you're in Italy. Unfortunately, Chicago's downtown is not strong on bakeries. It helps to know the location of bakeries around town so you can stop in when you're on another errand nearby.

[nsxtasy]

I don't think that's true at all. The fact is, I like conventional bakeries when they are really, really good at everything - IOW just about anything you get there is wonderful, a great example of its kind, from cookies to cakes to pastries. And that's exactly what Three Tarts and Gourmet Frog do so well, which is why I rated them at the top, even though they are very conventional indeed. Unfortunately, I find that the other conventional bakeries around town just don't measure up across the board. Bennison's is a great example; as I mentioned, their black and whites and rum balls are fairly good, and they do great palmiers. But their layer cake slices are ho-hum, their cookies are okay but nothing special, anything with almond paste has no almond taste (their marzipan slices suffer by comparsion with Swedish Bakery, the French macaroons suffer by comparison with Vanille, etc.), the croissants are nothing special, etc. Same thing for Dinkel's (their sweet rolls and croissants are decent, but not on a par with the best in town), House of Fine Chocolates (ditto), etc.. The conventional bakeries that do a great job are the ones I rated at the top; the others don't do a great job, IMO.

Also, I assumed from the first post that the OP is asking about sweet items, rather than breads. Thus Tel Aviv's seeded rye and onion rolls really don't qualify. They do a nice job on poppyseed danish (as they are usually called in New York) or sweet rolls (as they are called here in Chicago), but that's not quite in the cakes and cookies category either. I like their sugar kichel, if that qualifies. But since they are kosher and pareve, the lack of cream and butter prevents them from having richer pastry items. Similarly, I didn't mention the limpa or other items you raise because they're not sweet items, and the OP does not sound interested in finding out about breads (although I rated Swedish Bakery quite well for their pastries).

[Suebee]

Yep, we're definitely hitting Mandy B's. Thanks for the Tel Aviv Bakery suggestion. I happen to adore Jewish bakeries, so if it makes sense with our itinerary, we'll make sure to stop by!

[food_nut]

My new favorite bakery is Le Flour, located at the Edison Park Metra Stop (actually Oliphant and Olmstead... just off Northwest Hwy beyond Harlem. It opened in
early 2009. AMAZING french pastries, tortes, cakes, cookies, bars, cupcakes with the best buttercream I have ever tasted.

They used only the best ingredients and it shows. They serve a limited menu (salad, soup, a few sandwiches), and... of course... dessert. How can any place that serves Metropolis coffee and Gale Gand's root beer be bad?

6701 N. Olmsted Ave
Chicago, IL 60631
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]
http://www.leflour.com

[Suebee]

Le Flour sounds great but unfortunately I don't think we're going to be in the area. Thanks anyways!