Bakery
Punk Rock brekkie: Bleeding Heart Bakery & Cafe in Chicago
By Summar Ghias
Brunch may just be my favorite pastime. But brunch well past standard brunch timings at a 24-hour café essentially morphs me into a kid in a candy store. You can only imagine my excitement at hearing about the new Bleeding Heart Bakery & Café, a welcome bright spot in Chicago’s otherwise dismal late-night dining scene. The restaurant has an edgy diner vibe with vivid tattoo inspired art on the walls and what the owners dub a “local sustainable punk rock brunch” all day, every day.
After road-tripping to Indiana for a concert (yeah, Lupe!), some friends and I were in need of grub. Not just any kind of grub though. Once we’d confirmed that the food was delicious (because really, the host would have told us if it wasn’t), we set out to order from the brunch menu and eye the well-endowed glass counter from afar in all its munchkin and mini-cake mound glory. After oscillating between sweet and savory, I settled on a wild mushroom polenta eggs benedict with roasted red peppers and what seemed like an exotic twist on the standard condiment: persimmon hollandaise. My friends got the farmer’s veggie skillet, the seasonal fruit pancakes and, wait for it, the fried vanilla bean yeast doughnut breakfast sandwich with eggs and cheese.
My disappointing but tasty looking Wild Mushroom Polenta Benedict.
The Grey Dog near Union Square
Grey Dogs Coffee
I love New York City mornings because of the special energy that is in the air as people are rushing to work, class, and wherever else they are going. What I don’t love is when you’re running late and you don’t have time to get a coffee on your way. This morning I was walking through Washington Square Park with only five minutes until class so I decided to defer getting my morning caffeine fix until after class. To make up for the self-inflicted delayed gratification, I decided to go to The Grey Dog, a quaint coffeehouse situated on University Place that I’d been meaning to try for a few weeks now.
THE grey dog...I think
Grey Dog more closely resembles a quirky Austin, TX coffee haunt than it does the other chichi coffee shops that densely populate downtown Manhattan. The distressed, wooden, sea foam blue furniture and the lowered vintage ceiling fans add a special charm to the place.
Camera Cake from DeLush.Bakery in Chicago
DeLush Bakery camera cake
My brother and sis-in-law went to a birthday party this past weekend, and I could not stop gawking at the pictures they brought back of this camera cake made by Saba Khan of DeLush.Bakery. Sheer creativity.
Details
Cupcake heaven at Pinisi Bakery – East Village
If there is one way to a girl’s heart, it has to be through these cupcakes. My friend Samar and I were walking in pursuit of sugar last night after dinner in the East Village, and not even a few doors down, we came across the tiny Pinisi Bakery. I have heard storied legends of the red velvety goodness that comes out of this bakery, but I found that they had much more interesting flavors lined up when we walked in:
A stand of rainbow, lavender, and pistachio cupcakes
Red velvet cupcake
Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
But THIS was probably the pinnacle for us…the icing on the cake, if you will: Lavender-batter cupcakes. Lavender’s actually IN the batter, not just the frosting. Violet-colored cupcakes seemed like such a novelty — I was excited. They had a cream cheese topping and one with chocolate ganache. We went with the former. Heavenly:
Lavender cupcake
It reminded me of Early Grey flavored treats I’ve had before and tasted splendid with tea. We also ordered a pistachio and red velvet (of course).
Pistachio cupcake
The Meatloaf Bakery – Lincoln Park, Chicago
By Summar Ghias
The Meatloaf Bakery
Savory cupcakes galore inside the counter. A No Buns About It Burger loaf, anyone?
Sure, cupcakes are a little played out, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try a new bakery when I see one. Next door to the cozy Noble Tree Café in Lincoln Park, the Meatloaf Bakery just happens to be one gimmick ahead of its standard sweet competitors.
The shop dishes out savory comfort food cupcakes – or in their terms, loaves – in all sorts of down-home flavors. The most bizarre of the bunch: A Wing and A Prayer loaf, made of chicken and celery combined with hot and spicy wing sauce and blue cheese.
Our savory cupcakes: The Omega-3 loaf and the Chicken Shish Ka loaf with a mint sauce.
Le Grainne Cafe in Chelsea
Nothing like a midday bite at a cozy French cafe in Chelsea. I joined my friend at Le Grainne Cafe and loved the ambiance and quiet chatter. It’s said to be housed in the oldest building in Chelsea.
Inside Le Grainne Cafe
I ordered the Creme de Marron crepe (the whole menu is written in both French and English, naturally). The Clément-Faugier chestnut cream spread with créme fraîche is on the sugary side, but still leaves you with a little bit of a sour taste. I think I prefer my nutella…
