You enter the shop hesitantly, shuffling your feet as you get your bearings. Some signage is in English - that's good. Approaching the long glass case, you examine an array of alien foodstuffs, searching for familiar shapes. As the shop assistant approaches you, you pray she speaks English so you can ask her what lurks inside that green, glistening dumpling.
Sound like a journey to the Far East? Well, it could be, or it could be a trip to one of Chicago's many ethnic bakeries. World travel is wonderful, but for those whose empty pockets belie a yen to sample the exotic, there are plenty of culinary adventures right around town. And while many of us are accustomed to adventurous entrées - from stewed lamb to fresh raw fish - we still get our pie and cookies from Jewel's bakery.
A local trip around the world might begin at the Caribbean American Baking Co. Sweet, heavy breads supplement treats like pecan cookies, and the wonderful, not-too-sweet shortbreads would pair nicely with tea. Want something really different? The cashier might laugh, but try coconut drop and gizzada. The former is aptly named, a huge drop cookie made of coconut cubes, glued together with candy that smacks of molasses. It's intensely sweet, and a few nibbles are enough. The gizzada, though, is quite good. Aside from whatever mysterious ingredients provoke the editorial, it's basically a coconut custard tart. It doesn't take much sand to visit Andersonville's Swedish Bakery. In fact, its storied, sugary confections have long lured Chicagoans, who tend to discover a favorite torte, truffle, cookie or cake and adopt it. The refined goodies look so perfect that the problem is not "What's good?" but "What's not?" Everything's outrageously tasty, so sample widely: biskvier, toska bitar - or how about one of those adorable almond cakes in the shape of a frog?
Ferrara, Inc., offers similarly European numbers, but with an Italian angle. The selection's smaller, but there's still plenty to choose from: amaretti cookies, crumbly farfalla, multiple breeds of biscotti, marzipan and cannoli that ooze green-tinted filling. Try cassatta al forno, an Italian cheesecake that, with its striations of dough, cake, cheese and mysterious goodness, will destroy the most iron-willed self-restraint. You may, if you are familiar with the Greek, think you know baklava, but there is unimaginable variety out there. Middle East Bakery sells a variety of baklava by the pound, ranging from basic gooey-but-delicious to one apparently flavored with rosewater. And you'll buzz about the honey balls - deep-fried dough positively dripping with bee by-product. Some of the best baklava ever is sold a block north at Pars Persian Store, an Iranian establishment where apple baklava is laced with cardamom. Chiu Quon Bakery is more challenging but equally rewarding. Names - like moon, lotus or winter melon cake - are intriguing but don't always reflect taste; moon cakes aren't light and moony at all, but are likely to have bean paste in them. Preserve egg cake, though, works somehow; its eggy, mustardy, sausagey spicing is like a Scotch egg by way of Shanghai. It's all worth trying and could lead to days spent with one's nose against the glass. Two easily accessible nibbles are sesame cookies, like little sesame brittle balls, and honey noodle, an exploded Rice Krispie treat drenched in honey.
Nak Won Korean Bakery sells green and white dumplings in a glistening dough you'd swear was octopus skin, with fillings you'd swear were black beans and... navy beans? Not bad, though.
Last stop on this particular around-the-world trip is Balingit Bakery, Inc., a wonderful Filipino establishment that sells scarcely more than a baker's dozen products. Making a visual selection is hard here, but Mrs. Balingit (I presume) is quite helpful, even providing tastes and pronunciations. Ensaymada is like brioche, buttery and bready with a sugary top. Hopia are nutty and dense but not sweet, like bread cookies. Suman, wrapped in a leaf, is like a coconut milk-and-rice pudding stick, and is amazingly tasty. It was here, however, that one traveler experienced a brush with danger: kutsinta, small brown gelatinous disks topped with fresh-grated coconut. Offered two samples, he gladly partook. Bite one was interesting; eggy, almost sulphurous, with texture like hard custard. Bite two went slowly.
"That's interesting," he said. "What's in it?"
She responded: "Flour, brown sugar and lye water."
Despite the possibility of a misunderstanding on the last item, the second piece almost wouldn't go down. As his stomach roiled, he nodded politely and reflected on how safe his trip had been in general. And in the end, the kutsinta stayed down, and he savored the rest of his Filipino delicacies.
So get out there, be adventurous and remember, for every kutsinta, there's a suman.
(Keir Graff)
- Caribbean American Baking Co, 1539 West Howard, (773)761-0700
Swedish Bakery, 5348 North Clark, (773)561-8919
Ferrara, Inc., 2210 West Taylor, (312)666-2200
Middle East Bakery, 1512 West Foster, (773)561-2224
Pars Persian Store, 5260 North Clark, (773)769-6635
Chiu Quon Bakery, 1127 West Argyle, (773)907-8888 and 2409 South Wentworth, (312)842-6888
Nak Won Korean Bakery, 3746 West Lawrence, (773)588-8769
Balingit Bakery, 4019 North Damen, (773)477-6806
copyright 1998 New City Communications, Inc.