Katherine Anne Confections

Katherine Anne Confections to Open This Spring in Irving Park | Eater Chicago

"After more than a decade in Logan Square, this gourmet chocolatier is expanding into a 1,900-square-foot Irving Park location at 3653 W. Irving Park Road, more than double its original 940-square-foot shop. Founder Katherine Duncan, who launched the business in 2006 and self-financed the building purchase without investors after years of saving, will include a 12-seat café, an espresso bar pouring Factotum Coffee (a Puerto Rican–owned roastery), and a production facility for signature drinking chocolates, truffles, caramels, and marshmallows; several skylights will bring natural light to staff who previously worked elbow-to-elbow. The new pastry and savory café menus draw on in-house pastry talent and feature items such as shortbread cookies with white chocolate and brown-butter sage, bacon-cheddar scones with black pepper, cherry-glazed rosemary cookies, and open-faced sandwiches including a vegan pistachio-herb spread with roasted cauliflower and pickled red onion as well as ham and aged cheddar with onion marmalade on Publican Quality Bread. After a slow-growth trajectory hampered by the pandemic and funding challenges, the owner aims to open the new spot in late April or early May." - Naomi Waxman