New to Chicago: Chimney Cake Island in Rogers Park

SINGLED OUT: The treat is part doughnut, part coffeecake, pure guilty pleasure

Sugar, coconut, chocolate, and walnut chimney cakes

Chimney cakes? Never heard of them. “It’s a yeast dough wrapped around a wooden stick,” says Alex Pescaru, the co-owner of the three-month-old Chimney Cake Island. “They originated in Transylvania and have been around for hundreds of years.” Maybe, but they’re new to Chicago. Even so, these warm, yeasty cylinders—part doughnut, part coffeecake, pure guilty pleasure—are produced all day long in Pescaru’s Rogers Park pastry café and already have a following. Could be because the outside is crispy with caramelized sugar and the inside is warm and cozy. Or because it’s fun to tear off one spiral at a time and tell yourself that it’s your very last bite. That’s what I do—bite after bite after bite. 1445 W. Devon Ave.; 773-856-0919.

Photograph: Anna Knott

This article appears in the April 2011 issue of Chicago magazine.

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