Best bread in Western suburbs?

Where's your favorite place to get bread? We usually just get bread at Whole Foods/Costco but would like to know if there are any places we're missing out on. I like Fox and Obel but would prefer a place in the western burbs.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Maybe not best, but very good:

Prairie Bread Shop 103 N Marion Oak Park IL

Has the side benefit of being next door to Marion Street Cheese Market, where Erik and his staff stock some great cheeses and wines.

Freddy's Pizza 1600 S. 61st Cicero IL

Great Italian breads. Go early. Bring cash. Closed Sunday.

Specifcally for foccacia you should check out Elena's in Roselle. Consistently excellent. Closed on Sundays.

Weird to say but go to Jewel.

La Brea bread in a certain stand around produce/bread. Fantastic. Convenient. Eat it same day or slice and freeze.

I wanted to say Great Harvest in Geneva, or if you can find a Panera with a artisinal oven (some have it and are MUCH better than other Panera's).

We still bake bread from time to time, but it's really hard now with that La Brea bread available. Last time we baked - Christmas Day when Jewel was closed.

Nancy

If you're into soft, creamy bread, go to Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights. It's not really west (more northwest, I suppose). This Japanese grocery store has a bakery in it that sells Asian-style pastries (some cutely shaped liek a turtle and Japanese cartoon characters). Anyway, they also bake and sell Japanese style white breads, known as shokupan. The main difference between shokupan and ordinary white breads is that, heavy cream is one of themain ingredients, thus giving shokupan a uniquely soft and creamy texture. The bakery in Mitsuwa (I think its name is Pastry Hippo House, cute, ain't it?) even sells them in three different cuts or thickness (thin, medium and thick).

I second the Jewel - my favorite is the one on Howard near McCormick, which usually has a big selection of artisan breads, mostly of the chewy Italian variety, which I love.

Also, depending on what you want, Marketplace on Oakton (which has a second location somewhere that I've never been able to determine) has a huge selection from a lot of different bakeries around the city - my favorites are the Cuisine de France loaves which are apparently baked on site. They also carry Great Harvest, I believe, and other not so fabulous brands like Turano, as well ethnic breads including Lithuanian and Indian.