Meatloaf Bakery

As far as I can tell, this hasn't been mentioned yet on LTH, my apologies if it has.

My meat-loving heart is aflutter at the idea of The Meatloaf Bakery, 2464 N Clark St. A search on LTH of the address (good tip for searching, forgot whose post I saw it on) leads me to believe Carmela's Taqueria used to occupy the space.

I originally saw this on MetroMix (http://chicago.metromix.com/restaurants/venue/the-meatloaf-bakery-lincoln-park/782360/content) which said "Instead of the usual meat-that-looks-like-a-loaf, owner/chief meatloaf-maker Cynthia Kallile is shaping her eight varieties of meatloaf (plus a few specials) to look like baked goods such as cupcakes, cakes, pies and tarts. Look for a veal-pork-beef blend and a vegetarian version, plus other creative spins such as the "Omega-3" salmon and "herby turkey." Other dishes include three types of potatoes, such as "Yukon Smashers" and "Garlic Spuds" and a few desserts. The focus here is carryout, but there's also limited seating."

Further searches, after I stopped hyperventilating with excitement, led me to Thrillist (http://www.thrillist.com/chicago/2008/12/12/meatloaf-bakery) which had a link to their menu (http://www.thrillist.com/pics/35847popup.jpg) which their website (http://themeatloafbakery.com) does not yet have.

I'm curious how many people an entire loaf can feed, especially at $35-$40, but the flight of "loafies" looks like a reasonable deal at 3 for $6. This is of course all dependent on it actually being tasty. I have high hopes. I'm unsure if they are open yet. Will report back soon, hopefully. Meatfully.

The Meatloaf Bakery
2464 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60614
773-698-6667

Has anyone tried this place? It sounds quite interesting to me, but before I go I wanted to see if anyone has tried it and what they think.

While I have yet to be a paying customer, a couple of weeks ago, I happened to be walking past the Meatloaf Bakery and samples were being offered up on the sidewalk. I cannot remember which of the loaves I sampled, to be honest (maybe beef and pork) but the flavors and texture were as good as any meatloaf I could remember tasting. I have not made it back yet for a full meal, but plan to do so, based on the small sample which I still savor weeks later.

Finally made it to The Meatloaf Bakery last weekend. I had a pretty neutral experience overall. It's a very tiny storefront with 2 tiny tables. Meat is served cold with a flyer with reheating directions. In the 5 minutes I was there, a steady trickle of customers came in...very Lincoln Park clientele.
I was there late afternoon on a Saturday and they were out of most of their cupcake sized loaves (loafcake?). I picked up the Loaf-A-Rama (from their site: Gooey fresh mozzarella cheese, sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil and a splash of red wine make this beef and Italian sausage meatloaf) and the Yentl Lentil (again from their site: tender lentils and uber-healthy brown rice flavored with veggies and cheese) loafcakes to split with a friend. If all choices were available, I would have chosen neither of these. Both were good, bordering on very good. The Loaf-A-Rama was moist and dense (maybe too dense), and I think the Italian sausage really added a level of depth. I couldn't taste any sundried tomatoes, which is good, since I don't like them. Comes with a glopping of pasta on top. Not the easiest thing to eat ever between the meatrock and pasta. I thought the Lentil one was better, super rich flavors held together with what I believe to be a tomato-based sauce. The different grains gave it a nice texture, keeping it from being a mushy lentil ball. I also got a "loafie" of their "omega-3"salmon based loaf. It came in a tiny puff pastry. This was very good, and a good size, the loaf was so creamy I'm not sure I could eat a whole loafcake of this.
I will give them the benefit of trying them at least once more when they are more likely to have the options I would prefer. It's not terribly easy for me to get to, especially considering once I get there I'm on my way home in 5 mins instead of getting to sit and rest and enjoy. But the real barrier to my continued returns is the price. This is clearly a concept based on novelty, but it's a novelty I can get behind and could see myself indulging maybe once a month. The loafcakes are normal-sized cupcakes, they are 8-10 dollars. The worst value has to be those loafies, which are $2 for a literally bite sized portion. What I had was good, but not worth the price.

I've walked past this place many times and have always been curious about it. Today I had some time to kill so decided to check it out. Like the other posters said, it's a small storefront with a display case of cold meatloafs of varying sizes. It seems the most popular items are the cupcakes. I'm not certain how many they had today, but I think it was 8 or 9.

I just bought one - the special chicken shish-kaloaf. It was Mediterranean-inspired with olive oil mashed potatoes and a yogurt-mint sauce (they had a cute name for it that I can't remember, didn't call it tzatziki). The texture was great, dense, a little crispy on the outsides but soft in the center. The flavor was fine, not phenomenal melt-in-your mouth, but fine. I guess I wish it had greater depth.

The best way to describe the place/concept is cute, and I don't often call meat "cute." I'd go back on occasion to try the other flavors if it weren't for the cost. To me $8 for a meat cupcake just isn't worth it. They also have layer cakes and tarts that range from $35 to $44 and serve 4 to 6 people, and sell bite-sized "loafies" for $2 each (those are really small). In the end, cute but not cute enough.

$2 gets you $10 today - http://www.twobuckduck.com/Thursday.html

The Meatloaf Bakery Shuttering After 7 Years of Breaking The Mold

http://chicago.eater.com/2015/10/30/964 ... ark-closed