Cellar Door Provisions convinces me that there's a bread and pastry renaissance taking place in Chicago these days, and it's about time. But even if my first visit to Cellar Door focused exclusively on bread and pastries, glimpses of other items -- perfectly poached eggs, housemade merguez sausage and stunning quiches -- will ensure that I return to explore the full menu at some point.
But as for the pastries, here's what I sampled (except canele not shown):
Clockwise from bottom: morning bun, pain au chocolat, plain croissantThe croissant was gorgeous. One thing that immediately sets Cellar Door apart from most croissant makers in Chicago is that they not only make them completely from scratch, but they also use their own house-churned butter made from Kilgus cream. Cellar Door's owner/head baker attributed some of his croissant-baking success to having observed croissants being made at Beurrage in Pilsen.
I suppose that means I'll have to visit Beurrage, but for now I'll declare Cellar Door's croissant to be the best I've ever tasted in Chicago, and the competition is not even close. Though the croissant was slightly underbaked -- I suspect an oven running a little hot since the exterior was perfect -- it was still extraordinary. Crisp and flaky exterior, light interior and very buttery. I've had some excellent croissants in Chicago, including the terrific ones at Bad Wolf, but none have come close to this one.
Cellar Door CroissantThe pain au chocolat was no less stunning. Crisp and flaky, light and tender, and melted chocolate well distributed throughout. It was easily the best pain au chocolat I've had in Chicago. And again, no close second.
I also loved the morning bun. It's also made from the croissant dough, but incorporates cinnamon and sugar. It's not a kouign amann, so don't expect that same level of crispness and density. But it's still crisp and flaky, light and tender and buttery, and absolutely delicious. It was pretty much on par with the croissant and pain au chocolat for me.
Close-up of half of morning bunAnd though I enjoyed the canele, it was not in the same league as Bad Wolf's. The exterior is slightly less dark, particularly on top towards the middle, and the exterior a little less hardened. While delicious and custardy, it lacks the depth of flavor of the caneles from Bad Wolf.
I also brought home a loaf of their sourdough bread. Funny how the loaves sit close to the Tartine cookbook, and they reminded me of the Tartine country bread. Most importantly, crisp exterior, great texture and fantastic flavor. This is the type of bread that ruins meals since you just cannot stop eating it. I'm thrilled to have made my acquaintance with Cellar Door. I expect this will be a long lasting friendship.