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AVONDALE — Neighborhood cafe Loaf Lounge has joined Avondale’s Milwaukee Avenue.
The “bread-centric” eatery, from husband-and-wife chefs Sarah Mispagel and Ben Lustbader, opened earlier this week, serving up breakfast sandwiches, pastries and more, the owners announced on Instagram. It’s open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 2934 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Loaf Lounge is the first joint venture for Mispagel and Lustbader, two longtime Chicago chefs. Mispagel is a pastry chef who helmed dessert menus at mk, Nightwood and Sepia, while Lustbader’s chef resume includes Lula Cafe and Nightwood. Lustbader also helped open Giant and Chef’s Special Cocktail Bar.
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The two launched a pop-up under the Loaf Lounge moniker during the pandemic, selling freshly baked bread, pastries and sandwiches out of friends’ restaurants, including Superkhana International in Logan Square.
Loaf Lounge the restaurant is an extension of the pop-up, with a focus on seasonal ingredients.
For breakfast and lunch, the cafe serves sandwiches such as smoked salmon on marble rye with dill-white sesame cream cheese, fried capers, red onion, cucumber and roe, and turkey on seeded bread with bacon, cheddar, pickled red onion, pickled peppers and roasted garlic ranch, plus Four Letter Word coffee and tea from Volition Tea.
Its pastry case is filled with Mispagel’s creations. Offerings include almond bear claws, chocolate croissants and the chocolate cake that appeared on FX’s “The Bear.” Mispagel made the cake as a consultant for the TV show.
Patrons can also order loaves of bread at the counter.
Lustbader said they want Loaf Lounge to feel welcoming to neighbors and passersby.
“We want the neighborhood to come in and feel stoked to be there … hopefully we’re that, plus the best croissant you’ve ever had,” he said in April.
For a full menu, and for more information about Loaf Lounge, visit the restaurant’s website.
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