Northside's Bakery Row

M. Henry recently doubled in size, adding extra tables, a small selection of refrigerated gourmet items, and a bakery counter. The bakery items are all made there-- you can see the baking kitchen through a glass wall-- except for the bread loafs, which come from the suburbs (I didn't catch the name of the place-- but they look artesian). This is good news, especially in light of Urban Epicure's recent demise-- a place whose primary virtue was that they carried Red Hen breads.

The expanded M. Henry adds to what is already (as far as I know) the most densely bakery-populated part of the city: the stretch of Clark St from Foster to Peterson-- Andersonville and up. It includes (from S. to N.):

Middle-Eastern Bakery-- as invaluable for its grocery items (proprietary humus & babaganoush & tebouleh, plus figs & nuts & tons more) as for its spinach pies & middle eastern breads. They have this soft pita-like bread, covered with a green layer of olive oil and herbs that you buy warm-- because they're usually sold out of it before it cools. This place is a neighborhood treasure, as far as I'm concerned.

Sweet Occasions-- in addition to pretty good Chocolate Shoppe Brande Iced-Creame, and an abundance of penny candies (whose ceiling-high tubes always seemed a nostalgic decoration to me-- do people really buy these?), they also carry a selection of excellent croissants, tarts, and cakes. None are made in-house, but I've been impressed with everything I've tried. And they are beautiful-- physically-- they are the most attractive baked goods in the neighborhood. These things look like Bon Appétit models. They have a sheen.

Kopi Cafe-- It being a coffee shop, the selection skews towards cakes & cookies & biscotti; I had the carrot cake once, and though I don't remember if the slice was any good, I do remember that it was large.

Swedish Bakery-- though most traditional Swedish items do not move me (they are just sweetly bland, to my taste), I find the S.B.'s ventures into more generic, Americanized items very tasty. It seems counter-intuitive to make a trip to the Swedish Bakery for, say, muffins, or scones, or doughnuts-- but their doughnuts (for example) really are worth it-- the chocolate-glazed cake doughnut I had Saturday was fried long enough to have this perfect, soft crunch. Really delicious. And their special-occasion cakes, which I never had, always look beautiful.

Taste of Heaven-- They got some attention last year for the No-Loud-Babies thing, but I've always thought they had the most consistently excellent baked goods of any place in the neighborhood, and they should be getting attention for that. One random example: the rugelach. To say "I have never had better rugelach" would be inadequate, because it seems unfair to limit it to the rugelach category; this is Best-in-Show stuff. I'm not even a rugelach guy, really. You know, whatever that means.

La Baguette-- this is, somewhat confusingly, a Mexican bakery, one of several Baguettes in the city. I'm probably not the one to offer a useful opinion on this place, because I find most Mexican bakeries pleasant but not worth getting excited about-- back to the "sweetly bland" issue. La Baguette does distinguish itself from other pastelerias (panaderias?) by being larger than average, and having an excellent retro 1000-light-bulb sign out front. Their wedding cakes do look nice, and, for this genre of bakery, their selection is undeniably large. It's definitely the cheapest bakery of the bunch

As for M. Henry's bakery-- which I tried Sunday-- I think it brings a welcome more-of-the-sameness to the neighborhood. I sampled the brioche (airy and sweet and excellent), a pecan roll (eh), a blueberry scone (eh-- it had an unsweetness that seemed doctrinaire, like it was trying to make a point about it), and a piece of sour cherry crumb cake which was... was... man was it good. I could go on about this sour cherry crumb cake. I will just say: it was the best thing I put in my mouth all week.**

They refused to sell us a madeline, saying those in the case were a day old & For Display Only... but then invited us to come back in 10 minutes when today's would be ready. We did, and the madeline was warm & light & just barely crispy around the edges, and though it did make the top 5 things I put in my mouth all week, I can't vouch for how fantastic it would be not-right-out-of-the-oven. Probably pretty fantastic, though.


Middle Eastern Bakery and Grocery
1512 W. Foster
(773) 561-2224

Sweet Occasions and More
5306 N. Clark
(773) 275-5190
http://www.sweetoccasionsandmore.com

Kopi Cafe
5317 N. Clark
(773) 989-5674

Swedish Bakery
5348 N. Clark
(773) 561-8919
http://www.swedishbakery.com

Taste of Heaven
5401 N. Clark
(773) 989-0151

M. Henry
5707 N. Clark
(773) 561-1600

La Baguette
5712 N. Clark
773-878-8556


** Well, tied: Sweets & Savories frites.

Nice writeup. I have to admit that M. Henry's cupcakes have really impressed me, and I've been fairly uninterested in the luxury cupcake trend sweeping Chicago (and the world, apparently). At $2.75, I've grumbled only a little about the price.

La Baguette is just a couple of minutes' walk from my apartment and seemingly always open. (It's at least much more available than M. Henry.) I do like some of the churros (which seem to go quickly), and I've come to like some of the other items such as doughnuts not because I think they're great examples of the genre but because I've come to accept them as they are. I understand that panaderias use shortening for the fat in their baked goods, so the trick at those places is to find the items that don't suffer for that.

Aside from the bread and bakery items, does M Henry sell lunch options like soup or sandwiches? Do they have extended hours? I'm regular M Henry bruncher, but haven't been since the new addition. thanks for the info.

Now, here's a topic near and dear to my heart! Thanks for the heads-up on the M. Henry bakery, it's a welcome addition to the neighborhood (and I am still shaking my head over the $4 cupcake I bought at Urban Epicure that turned my fingers orange).

I'm familiar with most of the other places you list, and felt compelled to add my two cents:

Middle Eastern Bakery--I'm especially fond of the three cheese pie (a full meal at $1.50 or so, and very feta-y) and the chocolate baklava.

Now, as for Taste of Heaven and Sweet Occasions, well, I come down on the side of Sweet Occasions. Why? At least as far as eating in goes, Taste of Heaven often has rude service, and the crowdedness and layout of the floor space makes eating there pretty unpleasant--you feel like someone is on top of you the entire time, whether you're standing in line for something or sitting down. True, their cakes are really good (certainly more gourmet than a lot of what Sweet Occasions has to offer), but you definitely pay the price for them.

I want highlight that the scones from Taste of Heaven are my favorite. I've yet to find a bakery around Chicagoland that makes them better. They have nice varieties on each visit, they are fresh, and they are perfectly balance the moist and dry components that make a good scone. I've tried other bakeries, and they've fallen short in one of the key qualities I require in my scones.

fela wrote:Aside from the bread and bakery items, does M Henry sell lunch options like soup or sandwiches? Do they have extended hours? I'm regular M Henry bruncher, but haven't been since the new addition. thanks for the info.

I apologize for this not being more helpful, but on my three trips there have always been four soups on a blackboard. I don't recall seeing any sandwiches listed. And the soups may be seasonal, which I mention because if they are, May is often the turning point. But since daveco_hen provided the number in the first post, I did want to confirm that at least part of your request was available and a call for details might be worthwhile.

FYI:

M. Henry does have sandwiches-- the fancifully upscale kind (like: "juciful [sic? would this qualify as a sic?] jerk chicken," "neo-classic grilled cheese," etc), all in the $8 range. In the small refrigerated case, they even offer some to-go sandwiches (along with cheeses, fruits, & fancy pop).

Though the restaurant closes mid-afternoon, I noticed today that the bakery side is now open until 7:00 PM on weeknights. Which was good news for me, because I wanted some bread, and the mini-ciabattas did the trick.

As for Taste of Heaven vs Sweet Occasions, I agree, Carrienation, on everything you said: S.O. has better atmosphere and layout and customer service. Yes. But I just can't get beyond the in-your-face deliciousness of just about everything T.o.H. sells.