Coffee and Pastry

I'm a looooong time lurker, finally decided to create an account. I love this mb and respect many of the posters on the board. Thank you all for helping me find so many incredible meals over the years.

Okay, ass-licking aside....

I've been searching for a good (doesn't have to be great) place to grab some decent coffee, maybe some croissant or other pastries, and generally have a pleasant morning meal.

I've searched the forum high and low for some mentions, but have yet to find anything specific.

Any suggestions of your favorite breakfast/coffee/pastry choices?



Walrus

Tre Kroner

See discussion here: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... ght=kroner

Tre Kroner
3258 W Foster
773.267.9888

Welcome to LTHForum, walrus!

Good things have been said here about Julius Meinl at Addison and Southport.

I'm sure others will chime in with their favorites.

-The GP (Mary)

I'm quite partial to Sweet Thang on North Avenue. They do a mean croissant and you can get Euro-style coffee stuff that I prefer to the American cup of coffee. I also really like their quiches.

Sweet Thang
1921 W. North Avenue
773-772-4166

Cafe La Sera just opened in the Gold Coast. My friend has become friendly with the owner and manager there. We went there for coffee after dinner on Saturday night. They serve Julius Meinl and have a counter of baked goods, including some Turkish and Europeans treats. I didn't really look at the menu too closely, but they do have a nice variety.
1143 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 274-0442

In the Loop, I love Specialty's croissaints - they are so flaky and huge! I like the turkey and cheese or strawberry and cheese. They serve Intellegensia.

191 N. Wacker Dr.

MoJoe's Cafe Lounge - Roscoe Village
2256 W. Roscoe
Chicago, IL 60618

MoJoe's Hot House - Avondale
2849 W. Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60618

Cafe Selmarie - Lincoln Square
4729 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60625

Dinkel's Bakery - Lakeview
3329 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60657

Schlegl's Bakery - Albany Park
3334 W. Foster Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625

Schlegl's Bakery - Lincolnwood
3915 Touhy Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL 60712

It's been years since we went, but we really used to enjoy almond croissants and coffee at Panini Panini, a Bosnian cafe in Rogers park. Since it's Eastern European, you have to be a bit smoke-tolerant. Pastries aren't made in house, but breakfasts are (good Bosnian Pita)

Panini Panini
6764 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago
Tel: (773) 761-4110

Glad you decided to post, walrus. I am a sucker for coffee and pastry since my days eating croissants at the late, great Patisserie Lanciani off of Perry Street in the West Village, NYC. Ah, the memories! These days I hang out at Mekato's Colombian Bakery on Lincoln. They make a very nice cafe con leche as well as my favorite non-sweet donut-baseball hybird, the bunuelo. (A tip: the bunuelos come out of the fryer about 8:30 AM and are at their peak for about an hour.) Various guava filled breads and pastries are excellent as well. If you feel more like a savory dish, they have a case filled with chicharron, chorizo, cornmeal dough empanadas, and papas rellenas. A real bonus is the very friendly atmosphere created by staff and patrons alike. You can sit at the counter or at one of a couple of tables, and except on weekends, the place is not packed. Looking into the kitchen, you can tell that the proprietor runs a tight ship--the place is spotless. And one of the bakers gets my vote for Mr. Chicago!

Welcome, fellow long-time-lurker-very-new-poster. I second the nomination of Julius Meinl. The coffee is fantastic; I especially love their special melange. I've only had a couple of their pastries but they've been quite good. If their appearance is any indication, some of the sweets they have must be absolutely delicious.

See....this is why I love this board so much.

Thank you all for your suggestions! I'll post a review after visiting a few of these spots.

Mhays wrote:It's been years since we went, but we really used to enjoy almond croissants and coffee at Panini Panini, a Bosnian cafe in Rogers park. Since it's Eastern European, you have to be a bit smoke-tolerant. Pastries aren't made in house, but breakfasts are (good Bosnian Pita)

Panini Panini
6764 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago
Tel: (773) 761-4110

I agree that the pastries are quite nice, but the coffee, on the two visits I made, was not up to my standard. I like the kind of coffee you can stand a spoon up in; theirs was sadly so watered-down it was a light, see-through tan.

In the same neighborhood, I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend Cafe Ennui, but it was taken over by new management last year, who stripped it of its rickety charm but hung onto the surly counterpeople. Odd priorities. The coffee is usually strong enough, though, but pastries are hit-or-miss.

For something a little different, how about chai and Indian sweets? I like King Sweets, but Tahoora is very popular with local Indians and Pakistanis, so that would be a good bet as well.

Cafe Ennui
6981 North Sheridan Road, Chicago
(773) 973-2233

King Sweets
2308 West Devon Avenue, Chicago
(773) 262-8001

Tahoora
2345 West Devon Avenue, Chicago
(773) 743-7272

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:In the same neighborhood, I wish I could wholeheartedly recommend Cafe Ennui, but it was taken over by new management last year, who stripped it of its rickety charm but hung onto the surly counterpeople. Odd priorities. The coffee is usually strong enough, though, but pastries are hit-or-miss.

In the same neighborhood, Metropolis owns.

For European pastries, Lutz recently re-opened their cafe (their sit-down dining room behind the carry-out bakery out front) after a remodeling period. A favorite of north siders for almost sixty years.

Lutz Cafe and Pastry Shop
2458 W. Montrose Ave.
Chicago 60618
773-478-7785

I love pastries and doughnuts too. I enjoy Taste of Heaven, 5401 N. Clark St., for the scones, particularly raspberry. I also like Sweet Connection, 5569 N Northwest Hwy, for the pecan danish and fresh donuts, including bismarck's to rival Dinkel's. They may supply Schlegel's Bakery, 3334 W. Foster, based on the nearly identical pecan danish I enjoyed this weekend.

Also, I believe Sweet Occassions carries pastries and quiche from Sweet Thang.

We had friends over for brunch they brought a box of pastries from Bittersweet on Belmont.
The croissants were heavenly, and having been there numerous times the atmosphere is very cute.

This past Saturday DH and I ventured to Lovely the new bakery in Wicker Park in search of H&H bagels (which we had and were divine!). Lovely is just adorable. You could spend nice morning there drinking coffee and reading the paper. On a whim (of course) I bought 2 hot-from-the-oven blueberry muffins and a vanilla cupcake. The muffins were so good and CHOCK full of berries. And the cupcake was very respectable. DH liked in more than I did. It was a bit dry for my taste, but I like cupcakes very moist (Sweet Mandy B's is my fave).

Bittersweet
www.bittersweetpastry.com
1114 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 929-1100

http://www.lovelybakeshop.com/
1130 N. Milwaukee
773-572-4766

If you like old style coffee shops, I would suggest Dollop Coffee (buena and Claredon ave). I know the owner Phil, super cool guy, good coffee, and the staff are all super nice!!! He has the pastries come in from Bleedingheart bakery, and the walls are decorated with local artists. Also the couch in the back room by the windows will not let you go! have fallen asleep there manytimes.

nsxtasy wrote:For European pastries, Lutz recently re-opened their cafe (their sit-down dining room behind the carry-out bakery out front) after a remodeling period. A favorite of north siders for almost sixty years.

Lutz Cafe and Pastry Shop
2458 W. Montrose Ave.
Chicago 60618
773-478-7785

An associate was inquiring:
I am a very long time fan of Lutz's Conditori (2501 West Montrose) for Black Forest Torte and coffee with whipped cream floated on top.
Unfortunately, the ownership has changed, and, while the BF is still excellent, Lutz's has closed (at least for the time being) its garden; and pretty much cut out the restaurant service.
You can still sit down and have a BF and coffee, but the atmosphere is no longer very old world. And, the whipped cream is only by special request.

Is there somewhere else in Chicago that is up to the old Lutz's standards?

Any Lutz like suggestions ?

Sweet Willie wrote:Is there somewhere else in Chicago that is up to the old Lutz's standards?

Julius Meinl

Where else besides Lutz's can you sit down with coffee and have the mazipan pieces, haven't been in years so i'm assuming they still have them? But if they are losing it over there would like another option. Thanks