City: Chicago, IL

Category: Restaurants

Telephone: (773) 489-1747

Address: 1747 N. Damen Ave.

Description: How’d owner and pastry chef Mindy Segal land recognition in GQ, O: The Oprah Magazine, and on The Martha Stewart Show? That’s easy; they’ve all caught wind of her to-die-for sweet creations. Before opening her always-busy Bucktown restaurant, Segal baked up deliciousness at some of Chicago’s best restaurants, including Spago, Charlie Trotter’s, and MK. We could easily dine here solely for the dessert or one of the seven different kinds of hot chocolate that’s more lusciously rich and creamy than we could ever dream possible (try the half and half—half espresso and half dark hot chocolate), served with homemade marshmallows. But the dinners of artful comfort food, much of it made with locally produced sustainable ingredients, rank equally impressive. Like roasted Gunthorp Farms half-chicken; grilled bone-in pork chop; housemade fettuccine with Laughing Bird Caribbean white shrimp; and a terrine of macaroni and cheese too good to serve just to kids. Open for dinner only on Tues, and for lunch and dinner Wed through Fri; open for brunch, lunch, and dinner Sat and Sun; closed Mon.