Hot chocolate, etc. around the Mag Mile? [+Angel Food]

Does anyone have any recommendations for hot chocolate/tea/coffee/etc. in the N. Michigan Avenue area? I'll be in the area (maybe at the MCA) on a Sunday afternoon and am looking for a place to sit down with someone I'd like to get to know better. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly rolling in the dough, so any replies that begin with "Well, at the Peninsula...", etc. won't be very helpful

Thanks,
TJ

I can't guarantee they have hot chocolate, but Vosges Haut-Chocolate certainly plays on the phrase; they're in the Nordstrom mall, third floor I believe. If that comes up dry, I do know that Moonstruck, just south of Wacker straight down on Michigan, has a variety of hot chocolates.

As does Ghirardelli, near Water Tower.

Of course, so do all the usual coffee places; Starbucks' peppermint hot chocolate was a fave of my kids during the holiday season.

Bob S. wrote:I can't guarantee they have hot chocolate, but Vosges Haut-Chocolate certainly plays on the phrase; they're in the Nordstrom mall, third floor I believe. If that comes up dry, I do know that Moonstruck, just south of Wacker straight down on Michigan, has a variety of hot chocolates.

Vosges has some excellent hot chocolate, but alas has no place to sit down (which was one of the requirements) unless you trek to the food court after getting your beverage. Vosges is more of a drinking chocolate rahter than a hot chocolate, as it is quite thick and mostly melted chocolate with very little milk. Very good, though.

This doesn't address the "near mag mile" portion of your request, but I had a sample of the hot chocolate at Angel Food this weekend. It was very thick, almost like warm pudding. Not spiced, not complex, not "artisanal," but intensely flavorful. A two ounce glass was about enough for me. It's exactly the hot chocolate you'd expect from Angel Food - more on that in a moment. Seeing as your handle is "Irving Park Ranger" this is somewhat relevant since Angel Food is on Montrose near Ashland.

Angel Food's schtick - and it is very schticky - is 50's kitsch, evoking little girls with their easy bake ovens mimicing their mothers, down to the checkered aprons ... only the checks are lime green and teal and the kitchen is in a motor home zipping across styrofoam landscapes. The majority of the desserts are recreations of memories - "airstreams" are revisionist twinkies, brandied fig cake is a biscotti shaped slice of a monstrous fig newton, and so on. But these are memories of the childhood fantasies surrounding things, not memories of reality.

Everything has a bubbley shape softened to cartoon levels of detail. I only tried a few baked items - jelly doughnut muffin, smores - and they were good, but not great. The jelly doughnut muffin really didn't have any "doughnut" character; just a white muffin with a dryish, crumbling texture, almost like moist cornbread. The jelly didn't ooze as one imagines a jelly doughnut doing. This probably has something to do with baking rather than deep frying. I imagine the jelly has to be drier to keep from making a soggy muffin. Nice sugary crunch on top. The smores were ok. The graham crackers were a little spicy and not super crisp. I kind of like this but it isn't the Honey Maid ur-graham cracker style.

They benefit from being conversation pieces and from providing a complete sugar-coated fantasia, but the reliance on nostlagia is a a little heavy. The taste to nostalgia ratio is about 60/40; I think 70/30 would be better. It's a nice space decorated with a collection of toy ovens. With its Miami color scheme and corner location, I'm sure it will be filled with light once the sun comes back in Spring.

rien

Angel Food Bakery
1636 W. Montrose, Chicago
Tel: (773) 728-1512

stevez wrote:

Bob S. wrote:I can't guarantee they have hot chocolate, but Vosges Haut-Chocolate certainly plays on the phrase; they're in the Nordstrom mall, third floor I believe. If that comes up dry, I do know that Moonstruck, just south of Wacker straight down on Michigan, has a variety of hot chocolates.

Vosges has some excellent hot chocolate, but alas has no place to sit down (which was one of the requirements) unless you trek to the food court after getting your beverage. Vosges is more of a drinking chocolate rahter than a hot chocolate, as it is quite thick and mostly melted chocolate with very little milk. Very good, though.

Their hot chocolate is also about $5 a pop and they don't pour much of it, so it's not exactly budget friendly (or conversation friendly, as you'd be finished maybe 5 minutes into the conversation). Fox and Obel probably does pretty decent hot chocolate, is probably a little cheaper, and has seating as well as other foodstuff you could nibble on.

I'd also second the Moonstruck recommendation. It's also a quieter setting than F&O and Starbucks.

I imagine that Puck's at the MCA would be able to provide Hot Chocolate. Granted it is not likely to be created "from scratch," but the cafe is quite pleasant, it should be relatively inexpensive, and it certainly would be convenient.

rien wrote:This doesn't address the "near mag mile" portion of your request, but I had a sample of the hot chocolate at Angel Food this weekend. It was very thick, almost like warm pudding. Not spiced, not complex, not "artisanal," but intensely flavorful. A two ounce glass was about enough for me.

I had the pleasure of rien's company at Angel Food Bakery on Saturday. As he has suggested, the "sample-sized" serving of the hot chocolate is nearly perfect. And there is no better way to describe it than "pudding-like." The drink is billed as "Imported Barcelona Hot Chocolate," and the whipped cream is said to be flavoured with vanilla bean. I actually enjoyed it so much, that I returned for another one on Sunday.


The "Imported Barcelona Hot Chocolate"


The "Jelly Doughnut Muffins"


The "S'more"


The "Carrot Cake Club," complete with marzipan "olive"


The "Chocolate Marshmallow Igloos"


The Angel Food Menu Board


Angel Food Bakery's window display with specialty cakes


Regards,
Erik M.

Also Fox and Obel (Illinois and McClurg) has great hot chocolate. It's a little pricey, but worth it.

Erik M. wrote: I had the pleasure of rien's company at Angel Food Bakery on Saturday. As he has suggested, the "sample-sized" serving of the hot chocolate is nearly perfect. And there is no better way to describe it than "pudding-like." The drink is billed as "Imported Barcelona Hot Chocolate," and the whipped cream is said to be flavoured with vanilla bean. I actually enjoyed it so much, that I returned for another one on Sunday.

Regards,
Erik M.

What a coincidence, my friend works part time as a barrista at Angel Food and she was there on Saturday. She was describing those jelly doughnut muffins to me just the other day.

Janet C wrote:What a coincidence, my friend works part time as a barrista at Angel Food and she was there on Saturday. She was describing those jelly doughnut muffins to me just the other day.

I think that I found the doughnut/muffin more enjoyable than rien did. Then again, I don't generally enjoy doughnuts or muffins, so it was the novelty of the item that managed to captivate me. Over the course of my two visits I also sampled the "s'more," the "carrot cake club," the "igloo," the "whoopie pie," and an "airsteam." While I found the carrot cake and the mock-Twinkie "airstream" to be quite good, the other items did not appeal to me. The carrot cake had a pronounced orange flavour, and the layered creme was very rich and buttery. The hot chocolate notwithstanding, this cake was probably my favourite item.

I will likely be back to try a few of the savoury offerings. In addition to frittata and focaccia creations, they feature a different sandwich each day. On Saturday, they had a smoked salmon sandwich on a miniature house-made ciabatta roll. Sunday's counterperson informed me that one of the most popular sandwiches includes prosciutto, brie, and fig jam.


The focaccia selection of the day


Deviled eggs with bacon

Regards,
Erik M.

Thanks for the photos of Angel Food - I've wanted to go there for quite some time, but the odd hours (9-2 Sunday?!) preclude me from visiting this weekend. I'm rather annoyed, too, as Angel Food's hot chocolate would have constituted one of the better first dates I've ever planned.

Irving Park Ranger wrote:Thanks for the photos of Angel Food - I've wanted to go there for quite some time, but the odd hours (9-2 Sunday?!) preclude me from visiting this weekend. I'm rather annoyed, too, as Angel Food's hot chocolate would have constituted one of the better first dates I've ever planned.

I was very enthusiastic about posting those pictures, I will admit.



Ooh, look, there goes another one.

Anyway, I might borrow this date idea of yours. The chocolate, the atmosphere... why, it is probably just the thing to make the "girls go wild."

Regards,
Erik M.

Erik M. wrote:Anyway, I might borrow this date idea of yours. The chocolate, the atmosphere... why, it is probably just the thing to make the "girls go wild."

Well, just as long as you don't borrow my date...

I rearranged my schedule a bit to make it out to Angel Food - the afternoon went quite well, and I credit the hot chocolate with much of that. The owner (?) was extremely friendly, even stopping by to apologize in advance for the children's birthday party booked that afternoon. The hot chocolate is also available in a take-home kit (including meringue-type things to melt on top), which I'll have to try one of these days.

Definitely worth supporting, especially now that Starbucks is trying to enter the premium-hot chocolate market.

I probably will be excommunicated from this forum for even mentioning that I tried this but yesterday I did try the Starbuck's melted drinking chocolate and it was terrible. I will never make that mistake again. Can't wait to try Angel Food.

King's Thursday wrote:I probably will be excommunicated from this forum for even mentioning that I tried this...

Hardly. There are a number of us that enjoy Starbucks beverages. I have not tried the Chantico hot chocolate, though.

You might find this discussion interesting. And here is a bit more.

A mixed reception, it would seem.

Welcome to LTH.

Erik M.

Thanks for the welcome. Even though that was my first post, I am a long-time browser and also (in the interest of full disclosure, being a lawyer) spouse of site major-domo Mike G. Mike nixed my proposed sign-on of Mrs. Mike G., so I had to think of a sign-on that was so far removed from that. I look forward to posting about more interesting topics than Starbuck's!

Susan

Erik M. wrote:As he has suggested, the "sample-sized" serving of the hot chocolate is nearly perfect. And there is no better way to describe it than "pudding-like." The drink is billed as "Imported Barcelona Hot Chocolate," and the whipped cream is said to be flavoured with vanilla bean.

The problem with all these damn pictures is that I remember the image but not the text. So Kate and I were stuck with two full-size deliciously pudding-like chocolates, which were far too much. Only after seeing the little cup they brought out for Watson, gratis. was I reminded that my expectation of the two cups being far smaller was grounded in reality.

It amused me that the sign actually advertised "Imported Barthelona Hot Chocolate".

We ordered too much food too, and it was less satisfying than the chocolate, though by no means bad. Carrot cake club and chocolate marshmallow igloo were both good, though the latter a touch dry and the former not on par with a really good piece of carrot cake. The Twinkie-approximation "Airstream" fell short, to my mind, of the genuine article.


I think rien's 60/40 taste-nostalgia ratio is slightly generous, but I enjoyed both enough to return.

A note to those with children...they were very friendly to the kids, and there is a toddler table with books and toys to occupy the tots while you sip chocolate with your sweetie.

As a further note, food reviews from the younger set were somewhat unenthusiastic. After we sat at the table and Watson had sampled each item and polished off the marzipan olive, he turned to me, somewhat disappointed, and said, to my amazement, "But, I wanted to go to a restaurant with food, and not with cake." I guess that's what I get for stopping for dessert before lunch. (They don't serve lunch on Sundays, by the way.) He did insist that we save the leftover cakes for later.

was @ Fox & Ob. yesterday doing the hot chocolate thing. It was pretty good but... even BETTER frozen like a 'frozen hot chocolate' from Serendipity3 ... granted it was a lil cold this afternoon to be having a 'frozen hot chocolate'(tm_ but cest la vie...

Erik M wrote:I will likely be back to try a few of the savoury offerings. In addition to frittata and focaccia creations, they feature a different sandwich each day. On Saturday, they had a smoked salmon sandwich on a miniature house-made ciabatta roll. Sunday's counterperson informed me that one of the most popular sandwiches includes prosciutto, brie, and fig jam.

The Ms. and I had the pleasure of stopping at Angel Food this past saturday to pick up some dessert for the evening and have some lunch while we were there.

For lunch, I had their roast pork sandwich which was served on a crusty roll, topped with pickled red onions and fresh cilantro, accompanied by a side of red-cabbage/sesame oil slaw. I really liked the flavor combination on this sandwich, each element really held up it's own end of the deal--the richness of the pork, the tartness of the pickled onions, and the green freshness of the cilantro. I can't find a single thing I would change about this sandwich, except maybe that I'd like 3 halves instead of two. Also, the slaw was perfect.

Ms. EC had the chicken pot pie which was a tad potato-heavy and the gravy was a tad too thick for her taste, but I really enjoyed it. You can clearly detect the home-made quality in a dish like this. The crust was tender and flaky enough for my tastes.

We took home a quartet of desserts for us and our after-dinner guests for the evening: Boston-cream-pie cupcake, whoopie pie, pear-almond tart, and apricot rugelach. The best of this lot was the rugelach which was flaky, chewy, and flavorful, but the other three desserts really fell flat for me. Slightly dry, not much flavor in general across all 3 of them.

I had a great lunch at Angel Food and I had high hopes for their desserts. The staff is very friendly and the owners are obviously very dedicated, detail-oriented, and extremely creative. I'll be returning for sure for lunch and to give them another shot on the desserts.

Best,
Michael / EC

BF stopped in for a sweet snack over the weekend. I loved the decor and the bakery selection looked great, but the desserts fell short of my expectations. I liked the thickness and richness of the hot chocolate, but (and this may sound strange) it didn't taste chocolate-y enough. My lemon bar was too sweet; BF's carrot cake club was better but not great.

The chocolate is the real deal here. I was Barcelona in November and the chocolate at Angel Food is exactly what to expect if you visit one of the granja coffee houses in the area. Now if they have any churros to dunk with that'd be great. But this with any of their offerings is sublime.

I realize this is an old thread that's resurfaced in recent days, but Godiva also serves a hot chocolate and an ice-blended chocolate (a la Serendipity). The ice-blended comes in a milk, dark and white version--I had the milk and it was delicious--included chocolate shavings, whipped cream and a caramel drizzle. I think the hot comes in the same flavor varieties--I just sampled the milk and thought it was very good.

Hate to get off the subject (well, not really), but if you have not tasted the mac & cheese at Angel Food, do it! It's one of the best versions I have ever had. I know that they use at least a few types of cheeses, including Vermont white cheddar, and the breadcrumbs & garlic finish it off perfectly. I rarely like the mac & cheese I eat out but this one was just about perfect.