Tasting Notes: Six pastries we have known and loved

In this week's notes from the Eat Out crew's unexpensed eating adventures, both David Tamarkin and Julia Kramer, unbeknownst to the other, follow up sweet binges at Green City Market with sweet binges at North Side bakeries.

DT reports:
1. An amazing, soft, gooey pecan sticky bun from Floriole. I feel like every time I've reported in this space about what I ate over the weekend it involves something from Floriole. But what can I do? My Saturdays consist of going to the gym and then walking across the street to GCM. The two activities cancel each other out.

2. A crumbly butter cookie studded with rosemary from Fritz Pastry. Believe it or not, I ate this about 30 minutes after eating the sticky bun.

3. A wild cherry Icee from one of Northwestern University's cafeterias. I blame the School of Rock for this. I was in Evanston for the Arts Fest, and School of Rock provided the entertainment. I guess watching those high- school bands made me nostalgic for my teenage years. Drinking the Icee almost had me back in those days, but there was a classic accompaniment missing: Little Debbie Fudge Rounds. How I weighed under 400 pounds at age 18 I have no idea.

JK adds:
4. A pecan scone from Hoosier Mama Pie Co. How I managed to wait five months after DT got sconed out of his mind to try one of Paula Haney's scones is beyond me. The crumbly, buttery scone almost made up for the fact that I showed up so late to the market that Hoosier Mama was sold out of everything else.

5. Apple-cider doughnuts from Zullo's. Okay, so I don't think that these freshly fried, sugar-coated zeppole are "the best thing to happen to Chicago doughnuts ever," as Monica Eng did. But really—critiquing doughnuts is a waste of time that could be better spent eating them.

6. A croissant from Twisted Baker (sign still says Twisted Sister). Yes, I followed up scones and doughnuts with a croissant and thought nothing of it until reading David's expression of guilt for heading to Fritz after GCM. Umm, what was I supposed to eat with my coffee? The moral of this story: If it's composed primarily of butter and crumbles, DT and I will eat it.