Cellar Door Provisions - Fine Flaky Pastries

There was a time when I felt the best wheat treat in Chicagoland was a filone from D'Amato's. I still love that bread, but in the years since, we have many more top-quality baked goods to choose from. In my opinion, the finest flaky goodness in town can be found in Logan Square at Cellar Door Provisions which is doing wheat (and dairy) very proud.

Croissants are deeply browned and studded with butter churned in house. Biting into a morning bun showers your plate with shards of crisp and buttery flakes as the wave of cinnamon hits your palate.

The first time I tried a kouign-amann, it was a revelatory moment at Bad Wolf. Cellar Door serves ones I like even better! The other products (scones, quiches, etc) that I have tried have been nothing short of fantastic.

In addition to the delicious pastries, they have a tangy, naturally yeasted loaf that you can enjoy in a rotating menu of tartines and other dishes - or just on its own with room temperature butter and salt.

The food menu is short and is often seasonal and vegetable-focused, but also will feature some tasty surprises like a split and roasted beef marrow bone or oxtail.

There has been somewhat limited discussion of the food thus far, but nearly all of it has been glowing. I hope that this nomination encourages some folks to post about their experiences and others to get in there and sample some of the best pastries in Chicago. It's a special place.

ChristyP:

The tartine with house-made kefir, charred onion, and shaved carrots and radish was a thing of beauty...Stunning artisanal bread with house-made butter is well worth the $2

Cinnamon Girl

I had the opportunity to taste one of the croissants fresh out of the oven when they were still testing them a few months ago and they were truly amazing.

G Wiv

I'd be hard pressed to think of the last time I had better bread.

BR

I'll declare Cellar Door's croissant to be the best I've ever tasted in Chicago, and the competition is not even close.

The pain au chocolat was no less stunning.

If you couldn't tell, I love this place!

Marjia

Absolutely the best bread I've ever eaten. Brought home a loaf and couldn't stop eating it.

Gonzo70

...[T]he quality, creativity and execution are high and the bread is not to be missed

jordanhojo

When I got out of the car, my shirt was covered with flakes. I finished that pastry in nearly no time at all and instantly regretted not ordered multiples. This was one perfect pastry - it was my first of its kind and can see how I may never order any other pastry in the future.

Cellar Door Provisions
3025 W Diversey Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 697-8337
http://www.cellardoorprovisions.com/

I enthusiastically support this nomination. The bread and pastries are simply the best I've had in Chicago. Absolutely love the place and visit it often, despite the 50 mile roundtrip. Imaginative dishes, impeccable sourcing and gracious service. DH loves the pastries and is crazy about the bread. What more could we want?

Curse them for not being open until Wednesday! I can't wait to get over there!

Nice nomination; I am so happy to have moved within I walking distance of this venue. Definitely some of the best pastry and bread I have ever consumed and the savory items are quite excellent as well. Such a friendly vibe to boot.

God yes

Definitely a GNR.
--Rich

RAB wrote:Definitely a GNR.
--Rich

^^^^^^^^^^ what he said. That said, this is the flakiest KA I have eaten and they took great pains to bring the salt forward, I am guessing a salted butter but there were also bursts of salt as if there were coarse salt. I would anticipate that those who do not like sweets would really love this. I could not detect the orange blossom water that the gent mentioned was included, I immediately thought is the rise too long for the orange blossom water to be baked into the dough, or perhaps it should be misted while it is baking or just after removing from the oven.

I looked long and hard at the Staff meal, the gnocchi, and the onion confit quiche and am elated to say I have more exploring to do for my next visit.

Most definitely a GNR. I appreciated that they keep adding new dishes while also evolving others.

I've only been to Cellar Door twice, thought everything was top of the key. Terrific attention to ingredients, presentation, detail, informed friendly staff and open comfortable space.

Cellar Door for GNR, yes, absolutely.

I put off going to Cellar Door because I saw all of the photos of the beautiful platings and concluded it was too "fussy" for my curmudgeonly tastes. Turns out I was wrong. Very wrong. I went on one of gastrognome's Saturday outings and was completely charmed. It was the first warm day of the year, and the place had been mobbed. They closed early because they were verging on running out of food, but let our LTH group stay late, clean them out of pastries, and over-order practically everything on the menu. I liked it so much, I returned again this weekend and was greeted with a kindly, "You're back!" One visit, and I already felt like family. Cellar Door has reinvigorated my childhood love affair with butter. Definite GNR.

This nomination got me into CDP, and I've been back many times since. I get downright giddy about the place. HERE is the post I just put up with lots of pictures. No question that this is easily the most exciting GNR pick of the year for me.