Surprise your friends with delicious desserts from around the world at La Patisserie P. This Argyle Street shop offers a great variety of Chinese, and French rolls, buns, tarts and cakes, with virtually every item between $1 and $5. Any group of girlfriends (or guy friends with a sweet tooth) will find great desserts or snacks here. The reasonable prices and portions invite you to try new things, like the buchi (sesame balls with sweet bean paste) for only 95 cents.
This Edgewater shop has been a family-owned business since 1981. Owner Peter Yuen has studied both Chinese and French baking and the shop offers the best desserts and snacks of both east and west.
Many flavors of smoothies include pineapple, mango, watermelon, kiwi and avocado, for $3.50, with the option of adding tapioca for bubble tea. Your health-conscious friend can sip on a smoothie and enjoy their Vitamin C. If your friends like coffee with dessert, they can enjoy Boyd’s coffee here. Lattes and mochas range from $1 to $2, a good deal anywhere especially with the fluffy tiramisu or the cannoli with ricotta cream and chocolate flakes. Dim sum lovers will appreciate the coconut rolls and egg custard tarts (75 cents). Baked fresh daily, the crème brulee arrives lush and creamy with a delicate shell of brown sugar ($2.75).
The many French-style mousse cakes include: Valencia (with orange cream), bright green Pistachio, Opera (with coffee and chocolate) and a fruit and nut mix simply called Perfect Delight. The mousse cakes come in light, sweet individual portions, enough to enjoy without feeling overly full.
If you visit La Patisserie around lunch time or want a savory snack, try the shu mai or puffy hom bow with barbecue beef, pork or chicken. The egg rolls or ham and cheese buns also make a good light lunch. Even the hot dogs come wrapped in savory pastry Sweet rolls and jelly-roll cakes with cream filling are popular as take-out.
Because of its Argyle Street location, La Patisserie P is a good place to meet before a show at the Riviera or Aragon or on the way to the Lawrence or Montrose Beaches. Parking can be scarce in the evenings here, but it’s worth the wait and the Argyle Red Line stop is only a few blocks west.
Perfect Delight is a cute name for a cake, and also aptly describes this friendly place.
These days, New Age and Occult book stores seem to be popping up all over the place, even in small, rural towns in the Deep South. In a city like ours, folks have quite a few choices when it comes to locating places to pick up themed books, ceremonial candles, oils and incense, but there are only a couple stores that truly cater to the magical community at hand. One store in particular is Alchemy Arts, and while they may have changed names and locations over the years, those in the know are fully aware of just where to go!
Of course, this sort of thing can be bought online just about anywhere, but nothing beats actually walking into a store and getting direct, first hand information. Besides, books bought from generic, sterile companies just don’t have that wonderful scent of incense enveloped within the pages, almost as if each book has already been enchanted, making the information that much more powerful!
What’s really great about this store is the people who own it: extremely knowledgeable and helpful folks truly dedicated to serving those who follow any of the hundreds of Pagan and Occult belief systems. They make their own oils right there in the store for any need or occasion, along with an excellent selection of new and used books, on top of pretty much everything else one would expect to find in such a store. The best part is of course how courteous and helpful the shop keeps are, no matter what their customer’s level of expertise happens to be. Unlike most New Age fluffy stores, they do not discriminate those who choose to work with the Left Handed paths and in fact have a wealth of products and information available.
On top of stuff to buy is their rotating list of special events, work shops, book signings and after hours get togethers. Once a month, like minded individuals drop by with food and libations to mingle with others and build up community, as well as learn from each other and network. Classes on a multitude of topics are held as well, and Pagan and Occult authors and musicians set up tables to sign their books and CDs while discussing in depth about their material.
No online store can surely offer all this, so those looking for more than the ordinary should definitely patronize this shop!
As Chicago’s first woman owned and female oriented sex shop, Early to Bed is a store where women can feel comfortable shopping for fun playthings in a clean, upbeat and supportive atmosphere. No worries about creepy, trench coat donning guys lurking in the corners here! It’s nice to be able to see all kinds of great priced items to check out in person, instead of shopping online. And, the wonderful, courteous staff is more than happy to offer just the right amount of help, without pressure, prejudice or embarrassment. How completely liberating!
Yes, Chicago is blessed with a decent handful of other such stores in the city, but Early to Bed falls in as a happy medium among them all. It is somewhere between the primarily gag and bachelorette party supply store, Batteries Not Included, and the overly pink, foux foux and heavily priced G Boutique, which also tends to cater to smallish sizes.
While this establishment caters to women, be they straight or gay, genders of shapes and sizes are just as welcome, as no double standards are allowed here. The outright vulgar packaging and seedy environment customary to most such stores are kept at bay, making the shopping experience that much more enjoyable. And my oh my how much fun it is to turn on the testers on display! buzz! Bzzzzzz! BZZZZZZ! Folks are guaranteed every item they sell does just what they promise!
What makes this store even better is the vast amount of vegan and latex free supplies on hand, since many of their regular customers go there specifically to find these products, again without having to resort to pulling that otherwise customary happy dance around the mail box. Special items can also be ordered, and their accepting and non pressuring staff is chock full of information, so customers can know up front if the product is a good buy for them. Those who know what they want can and would prefer discretion can of course order through them online.
So yes! Making the trip down to Early to Bed is something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetimes. It’s a safe bet almost all first timers become regulars, because this is a true gift bestowed upon the city, making sure everyone’s sex lives sizzle!
