Sugar Hills bringing modern touches to traditional Polish bakery
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Row upon row of exquisitely-composed sweets, pastries and tarts are your first warning signs: this is not the Polish bakery you're accustomed to, but rather, a hipper satellite store for Sugar Hills Bakery, which is breaking into the city in a big way.
"First we opened in Algonquin, which is far from here. All the production is based over there...I have another location in Wheeling, where I have a cookie line production," said owner Jacob Neminarz.
In the Avondale location, you'll find plenty of handmade tarts, like seasonal cranberry or pear with sliced almonds, over an intense, frangipane filling made from butter, sugar, eggs and almonds. One of the bakery's signatures is the roshky, which begins with a trio of ground-up flours, plus cinnamon, gently folded with beaten egg whites and sugar.
"It's a multi-nut macaroon, it's a macaroon baked from coconut, walnut and pecan flour, and on top of it is French buttercream infused with vodka, which is so Polish...and everything is dipped in Belgian chocolate," said Neminarz.
Topped with a drizzle of white chocolate, they come in a pair of flavors: chocolate and mocha. Neminarz isn't straying that far from his roots, of course. For every cheesecake lollipop there is a traditional cookie, like a kolachky. He says offering both the modern and the old fashioned keeps him grounded.
"I feel Polish, I'm also American," he said.
Now the tart flavors are gonna change with the seasons, but the roshky - those are only going to be two different flavors, the chocolate and the mocha - and personally, I'm a mocha guy.
The bakery also has a cake studio, where customers can choose and sample several different special occasion cakes, but that requires an appointment.
Sugar Hills Bakery
3235 W. Addison
(773) 961-7077
644 S. Main St., Algonquin
(847) 658-8765
532 W. Dundee Rd., Wheeling
(847) 541-4800
