Cafe du Monde near Loyola

I was at Cafe du Monde the other day and would like to give it thumbs up for being a nice, quaint little cafe with good coffee and pastries. They also have free wifi available. The decor is interesting, French/New Orleans style. In looking into going here, I noticed there is a chain down in New Orleans with the same name which has me wondering if this particular spot is part of that chain.

Cafe du Monde
1147 W. Granville Ave.
Chicago, IL

According to Centerstage Chicago, the decor is supposed to be Asian-inspired. The official New Orleans-based Cafe Du Monde website does not mention any affiliation, and I doubt there is any.

For about one second I got really excited at the thought of beignets and Cafe Au Lait...

I'm pretty sure there are no Cafe du Monde's outside of the New Orleans metro area. I was just there last weekend, and scarfed a bagful of beignets after a hard night out. Yum.

Speaking of...is it possible to get a great beignet in Chicago?

Try Nola's Cup in Oak Park. Beignets are not bad, not bad at all.

Nola's Cup
800 S. Oak Park Ave. (Oak Park Ave. and Van Buren)
Oak Park, IL 60304
708/524-1520

In late 2005, the previous owner passed away after a long battle with cancer, but one of his longtime employees took it over. It took her a while to get the hours established (she wasn't opening early enough to catch the morning commuters), but it seems she has it right now. The decor is French (maybe New Orleans as well), but isn't affiliated with Cafe du Monde down there. I don't think they even use their chicory coffee. A nice touch is that they play classical music, and they even have speakers outside so you can hear it as you walk by. There's a comfy couch now on the west side of the store, and they serve sweets as well as some simple foods (I think I saw that they are now serving breakfast).

It's a very welcoming and comfortable place, and many people meet there to chat or play board games. I've also seen some students (perhaps from nearby Loyola) in study groups and people doing some tutoring.

It's a shame that it's so close to the Metropolis Coffee Company, because they undoubtedly lose alot of clients to the very cool and community-minded coffeehouse, but it's often so crowded there with people staring into their laptops that Cafe du Monde is a great alternative. I try to go in there to support the local business, and so that we can keep Starbucks away!!!