Get Your Chicago Chocolate Chip Cookie Fix, Wherever You Are

Start with the malai croissant and the jaggery chocolate chip cookie — both are among the best versions of their respective things in the city. The jaggery cookie has a smoky molasses depth and a thick, chewy texture from the whole wheat and semolina blend that sets it apart from everything else on the chocolate chip cookie list. Savory breakfast items are strong across the board. Order the masala chai over the coffee. Come with people so you can share widely across the case. The pastries sell out; earlier is better.

The tteokbokki croissant — seaweed-flecked laminated pastry, chewy rice cakes, spicy-sweet gochujang — is the reason to arrive early and the first thing to sell out. The kimchi focaccia and mushroom bulgogi focaccia are both worth getting. Salt bread is simple and excellent. The chocolate chip cookie is cooked just past golden brown for a nutty crunch that makes it quietly one of the better ones in the city. Coffee is functional, not a destination. Expect a line, expect sellouts on the best items, expect to come back.

The breakfast sandwich — steamed egg, Gouda, thick-cut bacon, house-made hash brown, onion aioli, jalapeño jam on a Martin's potato roll — is rich, messy, and worth every conversation about whether it costs too much. It does. Get it anyway. The pastry program is rotating and small; whatever is in the case is worth ordering. The chocolate chip cookie is one of the best in the city when it's available. Coffee is serious, consistent, and served by people who know what they're doing. The fried chicken sandwich is solid but not the reason to come.

Croatian-inspired all-day cafe serving breakfast and lunch alongside Croatian classics like ćevapi with ajvar. The thick Croatian yogurt bowl with compote and Balkan olive oil is the move and genuinely one of the better things you can eat at a Chicago cafe. Coffee is 4LW, executed well by baristas who actually know what they're doing. Worth going out of your way for.

Hexe isn't the best coffee in Chicago or the best pastry in Chicago. It's trying to be the best version of a great Chicago coffee shop, and it succeeds. The patio at Clybourn and Diversey is one of the finest places to sit outside in the city, the in-house biscuit breakfast sandwich has earned Southern approval, and the whole wheat cinnamon roll is a weekend-only argument for showing up early. Line is real. Moves fast. Worth it.

One of the most beautiful café spaces in Chicago, and it actually backs it up. Milli by Metric is a converted industrial warehouse in Avondale with warm stone, tall ceilings, and a coffee program serious enough to have roasters working in the back. The passion fruit croissant is a must. The chocolate chip cookie is among the best in the city, charred at the edges, intentionally, in the best possible way. Parking is rough. Go anyway.