I went to Chicago about 5 weeks ago in a combined trip to Michigan and Ohio. I’m only getting to the Chicago leg now.
Chicago to me is massive, chic, metropolitan city. I’ve only been there a few times, usually as a kid when our family would make a weekend trek from North Chicago/Great Lakes. My last day at school before moving back to San Diego involved a field trip downtown so revisiting Chicago is bittersweet.
What was bittersweet about this trip was the lack of time I would be in the city before flying back to San Diego and the end of my vacation. Total time in Chicago this trip: 24 hours. At least I got to stay in a swanky hotel with views like this. I definitely kept the drapes closed at night.
Before leaving for the big city, I did some research. I had to be selective about where I wanted to visit and decided not to go to any cupcake shops or to seek out macaroons (I had tried macaroons a week earlier). Instead, I tried a faux Twinkie from Angel Food Bakery.
Angel Food Bakery specializes in retro treats. And to avoid any copyright laws, their “Twinkie” is called an Airstream. It looks like a Twinkie, golden cake filled with white butter cream and wrapped in aluminum foil… BUT it doesn’t taste like a Twinkie. Quite possibly because the Airstream lacks all the ingredients that give the Twinkie a shelf-life of 100 years plus. In addition, the aluminum foil wrapping keeps it moist.
With Paul with me, we didn’t stop with the Airstream. He didn’t order anything until I happily finished the Airstream — taking a small bite and deemed the bakery worthy of getting something for himself. So back to the counter I went.
I’m a fan of deviled eggs anyway, but Angel Food Bakery’s had the addition of bacon. Sheer genius! The eggs were perfectly cooked with a bit of seasoning but the crisp bacon topping made it all that.
Another retro treat orderer was their version of the whoopie pie. The chocolate cookie was tender and it sandwiched the marshmallow buttercream that also filled the Airstream. The final touch: half of it was dipped in dark chocolate. Definitely a grown-up taste and it wasn’t overly sweet as I initially feared.
Angel Food Bakery also serves breakfast, lunch and other non-retro treats. But the truly fun part of being in the bakery are the Easy-Bake Ovens the line that perimeter of the ceiling.
My Burning Kitchen 
Oooh, I definitely now need to plan a second trip to Chi-Town. I had such a great time, and ate tons of good food, but there is so much more to explore. That city's culinary side is simply not talked about enough.
Foodette–I definitely need to revisit too! The city is too big to explore in 24 hours.
i normally don't like deviled eggs, but those look yummy! Must be the baaaaacoooonnnn… 🙂
Um, I'd like to move into the Angel Food Bakery! HOW AMAZING AND CUTE!
Writer Jax–Yeah, I bet bacon makes anything else taste great. Except for maybe liver.Nanette–I could live at Angel Food Bakery too and just live off all the food.
Mmmm bite size bacon and eggs.
I most definitely am going to take route 66 and head over to the chicago daily fun! Driving on route 66 is long but way worth the drive to finally arrive in a destination other than the norm, chicago is a beautiful place and right now the best place I want to go visit is the little mini cafe that was shown in the pictures!!! 🙂