Sugar Fixe - Oak Park

Sugar Fixe on Marion Street is finally open. I had a chocolate croissant this morning which was pretty good. Maybe a little heavy in the butter department, but that kind of thing never bothered me. Way to early to make any judgements about the place. They were just filling up the case at 9:00 AM. Sign said open today until 3:00. Grand opening tomorrow at 8:00. I bet it will be a mob scene shortly thereafter.

Here's an article in yesterday's paper: http://triblocal.com/oak-park-river-for ... -downtown/

119 N Marion St
(between North Blvd & Lake St)
Oak Park, IL 60301
(708) 948-7720

I'm curious to see how this compares to Bleeding Heart as they have been my go to place for cupcakes and croissants in Oak Park.

I had a red velvet cupcake the other day. It was pretty good, it was very delicate and light, both the cake and the frosting. I would have liked a bit more density on both, but that is just my preference. I like the cupcakes at Red Hen better. I would go back to try the Julius Meinl coffee and the quiches and croissants.
LO

I also had a chocolate croissant this morning and agree with TP's assessment of it. Quite tasty.

LO wrote:I had a red velvet cupcake the other day. It was pretty good, it was very delicate and light, both the cake and the frosting. I would have liked a bit more density on both, but that is just my preference. I like the cupcakes at Red Hen better. I would go back to try the Julius Meinl coffee and the quiches and croissants.
LO

I had a chocolate cupcake today. The frosting was light and chocolaty but the cake was tasteless and served only as a base for the frosting, and at $3.00 for two bites it wasn't a bargain either.
I was going to try some macaroons but $1.75 apiece seemed excessive for such a small bite, but I'm an admitted cheapskate
Is that a reasonable price for a single macaroon?
I do agree though that the coffee is quite good.

Oak Park has a strange habit of attracting/inviting similar spots to practically the same location. The Potbelly's opened across from a Cosi (now closed). Sugar Fixe is around the corner from Bleeding Heart (and for that matter just down the block from Prairie Bread Kitchen). And of course Sugar Fixe took the place of a high end kids boutique which closed just in time for another one to open across the street. I'm surprised a second Venezuelan place hasn't opened yet.

Bleeding Heart is terrible. I hope Sugar Fixe is just decent.

I wrote about this place before I went there.

Tonight, we went.

As we walked in, friendly server told us it was close to closing, so we’d get half off everything. There were some good looking croissants, ham and cheese. 2 for $6 was fair.



Reheated (400 for 4 minutes seems right), these French pastries are sweet with a salad. I’ve learned to love salad.

We also got some carrot cake, which was good, but no deal at usual price of $3/each.



Everything we had was fresh and peak. French pastry was airy and buttery; cupcakes were not too sweet, but had satisfying gooiness.

This place is working out kinks. I think our village has what looks to be an excellent new business. I'm glad to see this place within easy walk/bike. Not sure I can as yet recommend as a destination.

Vitesse98 wrote:Oak Park has a strange habit of attracting/inviting similar spots to practically the same location. The Potbelly's opened across from a Cosi (now closed). Sugar Fixe is around the corner from Bleeding Heart (and for that matter just down the block from Prairie Bread Kitchen). And of course Sugar Fixe took the place of a high end kids boutique which closed just in time for another one to open across the street. I'm surprised a second Venezuelan place hasn't opened yet.

Eerily true, and to which I'll add twin Indian restaurants (Lake Street), popcorn shops (ibid.), high butterfat ice creameries, and bungling alehouses (S. Oak Park Ave). Where is the reanimated corpse of Frank Lloyd Wright when we need him to break the fearful symmetry in this village once againe.

Santander wrote:

Vitesse98 wrote:Oak Park has a strange habit of attracting/inviting similar spots to practically the same location. The Potbelly's opened across from a Cosi (now closed). Sugar Fixe is around the corner from Bleeding Heart (and for that matter just down the block from Prairie Bread Kitchen). And of course Sugar Fixe took the place of a high end kids boutique which closed just in time for another one to open across the street. I'm surprised a second Venezuelan place hasn't opened yet.

Eerily true, and to which I'll add twin Indian restaurants (Lake Street), popcorn shops (ibid.), high butterfat ice creameries, and bungling alehouses (S. Oak Park Ave). Where is the reanimated corpse of Frank Lloyd Wright when we need him to break the fearful symmetry in this village once againe.

Matt, I think it's fair to say we've had (and have) only one bungling alehouse.

Places of the same type sprouting together happened with coffee shops in Oak Park about twelve years ago, and we still maintain a lot of them. One place moves in, gets the market softened, more invade, weak ones die out.

A cream puff today was worthy of applause, lots of vanilla bean within and salt crystals without. We also sprung for one of the $28 chocolate ganache [iPhone autocorrection suggests: Ganesha] cakes, and it was worth it for the special occasion. Artful and bitter, like you like your [x].

My family notes it is just south of a former stationery store, another odd pair given Paper Source around the corner. I'm all for competition, but in Oak Park it's weirdly codependent. Comment overheard outside of Luo's Peking House: "my, that was perfect. That 'sesame chicken' was sure unusual." Happy Moms' Day.

Wanted to try this place this morning, but they, like apparently every local bakery, is closed on Monday. What's the deal with Mondays?

Vitesse98 wrote:Wanted to try this place this morning, but they, like apparently every local bakery, is closed on Monday. What's the deal with Mondays?

I'm guessing that like most food service places, they're working hard on Saturday (and probably Sunday), so they need the day off.

Gotta lova ya, Oak Park:

http://www.oakpark.com/News/Blogs/07-22 ... n_Oak_Park

Funny, I thought of this thread and the conversation we had when I read the article about Crumbs.