Bunny the Micro Bakery brings large bread variety to Lakeview
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Once you get past the narrow counter and the make-shift seating arrangements, Bunny, the micro bakery, is a gem of a bread shop. Named for the owner's childhood nickname, it really puts bread in all its forms front-and-center.
"I like to describe it as a mini bread-focused restaurant," said owner Iliana Regan. "Because of the minimal things that we're focusing on."
Seeded rye also has acorn and rye flour, as well as watermelon and pumpkin seeds. It serves as a sturdy base for tartines - or open-faced sandwiches - of pickled fish with onions and radishes, or smoked salmon with chopped eggs. Clearly, a nod to her Eastern European roots.
"It was really just pulling together different flavors that I had in flour form, so cattail pollen and acorn flour, rye flour and then incorporating the caraway rye so it had that flavor and all sorts of seeds," she said.
On the softer side, eggy brioche is toasted with a bit of sugar, then topped with various condiments like cultured butter, raspberry preserves, even a nob of foie gras shaped into an owl, the bakery's unofficial mascot.
"Very buttery, a lot of egg, and a good catalyst for having jam or foie gras or any kind of tartine essentially," said Regan.
Burgers are hefty, jammed into toasted caraway brioche buns, and there's always a dutch oven offered, inspired by some hearty Midwestern fantasy; in this case, chicken and dumplings, but the recipe will rotate frequently. Seeing giant, cheesy gougeres at the front counter, I wonder if there's anything here for the gluten-free audience.
"I've been asked and the answer is no," she said.
A lot of bakeries in Chicago tend to offer the same variety of breads, but when you come to Bunny, you're going to notice this really interesting variety. From these soft, pillow-y brioche to these more dense, rye, seeded breads which are great for layering food on top.
The bakery is open until 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Bunny, the micro bakery
2928 N. Broadway
