Bennison's Bakery in Evanston

Bennison's is a traditional old-fashioned bakery, with a wide variety of breads and pastries, including some with various European influences; a quick look at their website home page shows that, in additional to American items, they also make Polish, French, German, Swedish, and Jewish baked goods. Their offerings are quite varied - perhaps the most variety of any bakery in Chicagoland - and they introduce new items on a regular basis. Check out their website, which has pictures of most of the items they carry. Everything I've had there has been at least very good, and some items have been outstanding.

Breads are located in two places. There is a rack on the left as you face the coffee counter, where they have pre-sliced, pre-bagged breads such as white (very good), buttercrust (very good), whole wheat (very good), six grain, country bread, and cinnamon swirl.

Other breads are on the wall behind the long counter on the right, including baguettes and mini-baguettes (very good). They sometimes have miche (very good) which you can buy in quarter loaves.

They serve coffee beverages. The left counter has various large cookies, including black and whites (best in Chicagoland IMHO), smile cookies, and sugar and sprinkle cookies (very good).

Sometimes they have cookies for local sports teams or celebrities or current events:

The next counter over has donuts, which I think are excellent, especially if you get them early in the morning when they're fresh (they don't make more during the day). My favorites are their apple fritters and jelly donuts (bismarcks), available every day, and on Thursdays, what they call sour cream donuts (most places I know call them old fashioned donuts). There's an LTH topic comparing their maple-bacon longjohns to other places. The same counter also has scones and sometimes pizza by the slice, which they can heat up for you.

Apple fritter:

The next counter to the right is refrigerated and has individual sized pastries, including layer cakes, cup custards and bread puddings, fruit tarts, and rum balls. This counter also contains pre-made sandwiches; I like the "Joconde" (whose description on the website does not correspond to the ones in the store, which contain roast beef, caramelized onions, horseradish, and brie on a baguette).
The top of this counter, which is not refrigerated, often displays items that vary from day to day. Sometimes it's pies (I like the strawberry-rhubarb, and the fact that the top crust is slightly sweet), sometimes it's a fruit tart of some sort, and sometimes it's mazariners, which I love. Here's what I posted about these, in the topic about the now-closed Swedish Bakery:

nsxtasy wrote:In case anyone else is a big fan of desserts based on almond paste like I am, I really miss their mazariners. These are individual-sized tarts, with a crumbly sweet pastry crust filled with a cakelike almond paste filling and glazed with sugar.
.
.
.
The only place I had ever seen them was at Swedish Bakery, so I figured the only way I would have them again is if I made them myself (such as with this recipe). Until today, when I saw them at Bennison's in Evanston. They told me they don't have them every day, only once in a while (and despite frequent visits this is the first time I saw them there). They are just like the ones at Swedish Bakery, with the exception of adding a bit of raspberry jam at the bottom of the filling. And they are sheer bliss if you enjoy almond paste desserts.

The next counter over is refrigerated and displays full-size cakes. The top of this counter, which is not refrigerated, contains viennoiserie, including croissants (usually plain, chocolate, and raisin, and sometimes spinach/feta or monkey bread - all excellent). Sometimes they have palmiers, which are AWESOME - the best I've ever had, anywhere.

Raisin croissant:

The last counter over, which is actually the first counter on the right as you enter, contains small assorted cookies and, usually, French macarons on the top shelf. On top of this counter are non-refrigerated cakes which vary from day to day.

Bennison's also makes custom items to order, including some described on their website. A couple of weeks ago someone was picking up freshly made, unbaked bread dough. Once I ordered a sheet of plain genoise (sponge cake), which turned out to be exactly what I needed. Above I mentioned the now-closed Swedish Bakery; in addition to their mazariners, I also loved their slices of marzipan cake, which is also known as princess cake. This year for the first time I noticed that Bennison's website shows a princess cake available for special order. I got one a couple of months ago and it was outstanding, as good as the one at Swedish Bakery:

Finally, a personal note. In 1979, I needed to move out of my Chicago apartment due to a condo conversion. I was targeting Evanston, and as I checked out places around town, I noticed Bennison's Bakery, which first opened in 1938. I rented an apartment a block away, and soon I was feasting on their baked goods. I especially enjoyed looking through the rear windows late at night, watching the bakers make their delicacies. (Those windows are now painted over. Too bad.) I lived in that apartment for seven years, and since then I'm still not terribly far away; in the past 31 years I've made purchases there over 500 times.

Bennison's Bakery
1000 Davis St.
Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 328-9434
bennisonscakes.com

They're located a few steps from the Davis Street stops on the CTA Purple Line and on the Metra UP North line. When driving, there's street parking, but make sure to feed the meters on Davis and on Maple, as Evanston enforcement is strict. (Meters are not enforced on Sundays.) To avoid the meters, if you're willing to walk a block, there's free two-hour parking on the Grove Street and Oak Street sides of the block that Bennison's is on.