By employing homeless and otherwise at-risk youth and training them to enter the hospitality work force, this nonprofit café doubles as a social venture…
You could say this place is a coffee shop: It roasts its own beans to create bold, serious cups of hot and iced coffee. Besides, back when this business was a food truck, it was called Bang Bang Pie and Coffee. But now, the “coffee” has been lopped off, and it’s mainly a pie shop…
Regressing back to childhood is a very good thing when you’re doing it at this lively, lime-green café. Pastry chef Stephanie Samuels makes the kind of desserts you used to find in your lunch box: Ding Dongs, Thin Mints and cream-filled cupcakes…
Don’t take our word for it—any Jew or New Yorker can tell you the best bagel in Chicago is not in Chicago. It’s in Lincolnwood, at a nondescript strip mall just off I-94. This place never closes, doesn’t have tables and until recently, didn’t accept plastic…
This Bridgeview Middle Eastern grocery has a solid meat counter and an impressive assortment of locally baked pitas and other Middle Eastern breads still warm in the package, as well as fresh spices such as za’atar, a zesty mix of sesame seeds and herbs…
Anyone who fears that Ukrainian Village is losing its ethnicity can take solace in this bakery and café. Well-heeled women chat about coffee and cake, and neighborhood elders tuck into particularly good bowls of borscht, all to the tune of Ukrainian chatter…
For nearly two decades this French-leaning café and bakery has been a reliable morning pit stop for students and teachers grabbing croissants on the go, as well as a preferred baker when special occasions call for cake…
Pierre Zimmerman (baking champion and instructor at the French Pastry School) has done an admirable job giving this long, narrow bakery (which he runs with his family) a French sensibility…
The project of sister team Kathryn and Laura Pekarik, Cupcakes for Courage donates a portion of the proceeds from its namesake sweets to cancer research and the Ride Janie Ride Foundation…
Blue Sky Bakery & Café 
Bang Bang Pie Shop 
Artopolis Bakery, Café & Agora 
Angel Food Bakery 
New York Bagel & Bialy 
Al-Amal Grocery & Bakery 
Shokolad 
Bonjour Café 
La Fournette