LOGAN SQUARE — After years of focusing on gourmet truffles, caramels, marshmallows and decadent drinking chocolates, Katherine Anne Confections is finally going to start exploring the savory side of life.
Beginning Tuesday, the shop will begin serving salads and sandwiches made with the same attention to delicate flavors and commitment to local and organic ingredients that's always gone into their sweets.
"It's not going to be our main focus at all," said owner Katherine Anne Duncan of the new lunch items. "We just want to have something in the neighborhood that's just really nice and delicious."
Katherine Anne Confections is located at 2745 W. Armitage Ave., in an area that has become a hotbed for calorie-packed eateries such as the Bang Bang Pie Shop and the recently opened Parson's Chicken and Fish. And while she's a fan of both places, Duncan said she wanted to offers something a bit lighter.
"Our area's so awesome in terms of Midwestern, sort of fried food ... so we were aiming to get stuff that was a little more simple and a little less heavy, and still focus on local and organic foods," she said.
To that end, the shop is unveiling a small menu consisting of two sandwiches — one with salami, arugula, and house-made mustard, pickles and butter, the other with tomatoes, basil, burrata, olive oil and balsamic vinegar — and three salads with similarly simple yet bright flavor combinations.
Both sandwiches will be served on baguettes from Beurrage, the Pilsen-based bakery that already supplies Katherine Anne's pastries, while the rest of the salad and sandwich ingredients will be made in house or come from sources no farther than southwest Michigan.
The new menu items will be offered anytime during regular business hours.
"That's always been a personal pet peeve of mine, so anytime we're open it's available," Duncan said.
And never fear, sugar lovers, Katherine Anne Confections would never let that sweet tooth go ignored.
Salads and sandwiches will each come with a "side" — a single caramel.
