WICKER PARK — After a seven-month hiatus, a family-run bakery has returned, and, to celebrate their new storefront, the owners are making their popular boiled bagels a daily staple rather than just offering them on the weekends.
"[The bagels] have a good texture, nice and crunchy on the outside, softer on the inside," said Ike Floor, a barista at Sweet Cakes Bakery, which opened Saturday at 1223 W. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park, across from the Polish Triangle.
Floor said the bagels, which are made daily from scratch are, in his opinion, "the best outside of Brooklyn."
At its previous location in Ukrainian Village, the bagels, which cost $1.75 each, were only available on weekends but they will now be on Sweet Cake's menu everyday of the week, Floor said.
Currently the bakery is offering plain, sunflower seed, and "everything bagels," the latter with poppy seed, onions and caraway seeds. The bakery is also planning soon to offer a sea salt bagel.
Day-old bagels will be frozen and made available in bags of 3 for $3, Floor said.
The new location, in a vintage building at Ashland and Milwaukee avenues, is long and narrow and features checkered tile flooring.
The bakery's window faces a cab stand and the CTA's Division Blue Line "L" underground station.
"It's a busy corner, we're excited to be in a new fun space. It's huge and bright," said Floor, who previously worked at the bakery's former storefront.
Creatures of habit might be happy to know that the sweets are pretty much the same as the old Sweet Cake's offerings, with popular favorites like "The Egg," featuring a hard-boiled egg inside of a biscuit, still on the menu.
Sweet Cake's owners Emily and Vern Smith, a father-and-daughter team, opened Sweet Cakes six years ago. They announced the news of the bakery's reopening in an email to their customers and on Twitter.
"Come in and help us celebrate our new location. Mention this email and get a free small cup of our famous Passion House coffee. Pair that coffee with scones, muffins, Holiday Cookies, bagels, The Egg, or other treats available," the Smiths wrote.
The bakery is still accepting holiday orders for cookies, pies, and "feather-light Christmas Fruit Cakes." Orders may be picked up at the bakery until noon on Christmas Eve.
Sweet Cakes Bakery, 1223 N. Milwaukee Ave., Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.
