Discover Milk Bar’s Chicago Debut as Christina Tosi Revels in Midwest Nostalgia

It’s recreation on for Christina Tosi, the empire builder behind Milk Bar, now armed with Chicago-style Scorching Canine Bombs and able to open her first location within the Midwest. Allied with Boka Restaurant Group, Milk Bar’s Chicago location will formally debut on Saturday, February 8 on the Hoxton Chicago Lodge within the West Loop.

As passersby stroll in entrance of the lodge and catch a look of Milk Bar’s extremely recognizable pink neon signal, Tosi asks if anybody will present up. Chicagoans love standing in line for meals, even for New York imports like Prince Road Pizza, which opened a close-by location in January, or Levain Bakery, which additionally opened within the neighborhood in 2022. However Tosi nonetheless possesses first-day jitters; that is the primary Milk Bar opening in 5 years: “We’ve got all these concepts about the way it may go, however you additionally simply don’t know till you open the door,” Tosi says

Tosi, wearing particular Milk Bar Converse Chuck Taylors, is a local of Berea, Ohio, and grew up in Virginia. She wished to carry her model of nostalgic cookies and truffles to the Midwest earlier and says she was near signing a lease earlier than the pandemic. That was additionally earlier than motherhood; she’s acquired a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old with husband Will Guidara. Guidara and Boka co-founder Kevin Boehm are shut, with Boehm bringing a model of Guidara’s Welcome Convention to Chicago. That friendship led to the collaboration with Milk Bar.

Milk Bar’s all the time been nice at promoting nostalgia to New Yorkers who usually fall sufferer to the town’s quick tempo. A candy deal with, like Cereal Milk soft-serve ice cream or a savory Bagel Bomb with Every part spice helps them reconnect with their childhood. However the Midwest, the place Tosi hails, has lengthy been a first-rate supply of nostalgia with novelty Americana. Whether or not that’s an insult or a praise relies on who you ask. A lot of Milk Bar’s treats are brightly coloured and Instagrammable. Nevertheless, Tosi factors to the comparatively bland Corn Cookie because the unsung hero of the show case. Tosi is frequently requested about taking the cookie off the menu, however she holds robust.

The bleacher seating at Milk Bar.

“There’s no rainbow sprinkles in it, there’s no potato chips,” she says. “However for those who’re a Midwesterner, you’re like, corn — it’s like one of many meals teams.”

She suggests taking further sharp cheddar and griddling two Corn Cookies right into a grilled cheese. No extra butter is required; there’s lots within the cookies.

The Scorching Canine Bomb is crammed with Vienna Beef sizzling canine and has a lighter texture in comparison with Milk Bar’s customary Bagel Bombs. When Boehm visited their Nashville residence over Labor Day, she had all of the Chicago-style sizzling canine elements prepared for some gentle analysis. Milk Bar’s not simply in regards to the candy gadgets as Tosi sees the bakery as an oasis for people on their method to work within the morning, or maybe out late on the Hoxton’s basement bar, Lazy Hen.

Some Chicagoans might really feel the Milk Bar has arrived on the town too late in a metropolis filled with nice bakeries with Milk Bar’s improvements not as recent as they have been when Tosi opened in 2008, as a part of David Chang’s Momofuku. Tosi says she has seen her workers get upset once they see different pastry cooks riff on Milk Bar’s signature gadgets. However she’s not too involved, saying the imitation is flattering.

“If somebody desires to come back in and be extremely influenced and extremely impressed, that’s okay,” Tosi says. “We all know why the Compost Cookie is what it’s, and now we have to trust that we’re going do it on our degree as a result of we’re the one ones that do this.”

Milk Bar has been in Chicago at ghost kitchens, obtainable by way of third-party deliveries, for a couple of years. Tosi is conscious of that however hopes clients will benefit from the location’s patio seating and unique gadgets, like a cookie impressed by Portillo’s chocolate cake. It’s a unique expertise. For instance, a father or mother might rating massive factors by bringing their youngsters to that well-known bakery exploding on everybody’s social media feed.

The dialog then shifts to giardiniera with Tosi asking if the spicy pickled concoction can be utilized on ice cream in the identical means as chili crisp. As she brainstorms she faucets into her internal Midwesterner and mentions her mom’s pot roast recipe that makes use of condensed tomato soup and both cranberry or grape jelly.

“It’s guttural and scrumptious and true, like, however in a means that’s unapologetic, that’s you’re not going to seek out that on the menu in different elements of the nation,” Tosi says.

Milk Bar, contained in the Hoxton Chicago, 200 N. Inexperienced Road, opening on Saturday, February 8.