Milk Bar Chicago Gets A February Opening Date | Eater Chicago

"The bakery, founded 17 years ago in New York and known for treats such as Compost Cookies and the once-controversial Milk Bar Pie, will open its first Midwest store inside the Hoxton Chicago hotel lobby at 200 N. Green Street, debuting on Saturday, February 8 at 10 a.m. A national chain with locations in New York, D.C., and LA, it helped raise founder Christina Tosi’s profile as one of the most recognizable figures in the restaurant industry; the concept is an offshoot of the Momofuku empire where Tosi served as pastry chef and has been bolstered by TV appearances and books. The Chicago crew will unveil exclusive items like a Portillo’s Chocolate Cake Cookie and the Hot Dog Bomb, described as a rounder Chicago-style cousin of a bagel dog made with “bun-inspired bread” stuffed with hot dog bites and topped with the familiar mustard, tomatoes, and neon-green relish combo; there are also bagel bites stuffed with cream cheese for savory fans. The smaller Hoxton location (the chain’s 11th) will offer a full menu of cookies and treats like cake truffles, and signature items such as Birthday Cake and other cakes and pies will be available by the slice and whole, though shelves and inventory won’t match larger New York outposts; the menu shifts seasonally — opening-menu examples include soft-serve pancake-flavored ice cream and winter items like Velvet Cheesecake Cake and Red Velvet Truffles, alongside year-round standards like Cereal Milk soft-serve ice cream. The Chicago site is a partnership with Boka Restaurant Group, which handles food and beverage at the Hoxton and runs the basement bar Lazy Bird, Stephanie Izard’s rooftop restaurant Cabra, and the first-floor Mediterranean restaurant Cira. To mark the opening, the first 50 people in line before the 10 a.m. opening on February 8 will receive a copy of Tosi’s latest, Bake Club: 101 Must-Have Moves for Your Kitchen; Tosi also created the Netflix cooking competition Bake Squad, which featured Chicago’s Maya-Camille Broussard of Justice of the Pies. The location will also be available on third-party delivery services DoorDash, GrubHub, Caviar, and Uber Eats." - Ashok Selvam