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Random Thu Apr 22 2010
Go Go Granola
Call me crunchy, but it's Earth Day, and I love granola: making it at home, finding new varieties in stores, and eating it at all times of day. Locally, Milk & Honey Cafe (1920 W. Division St.) has led the way in re-popularizing the oft-thought wholesome breakfast food. It started serving its small-batch granola when the Wicker Park establishment opened in 2002. Milk & Honey Granola is now sold and served in markets, coffee shops, restaurants, and hotels around the country.
Like countless other foods, granola made with high-quality, sometimes organic ingredients has also become very portable. The product line of Chicago's Eat Green Foods consists entirely of granola bars made with ingredients sourced from Midwestern farmers, which come individually wrapped in "eco-friendly" packaging. Varieties include dried cherry, pecan and honey, and chocolate peanut butter. Delightful Pastries (multiples locations) makes a "breakfast" granola bar which is less sweet but just as dense and filling as other bars around town.
Coffee shops are making their own granola bars, too. West Town's Swim Cafe (1357 W. Chicago Ave.) frequently offers at least two varieties of granola bars made in-house and sometimes warm from the oven, like the formidable chocolate chip pictured above. In Edgewater, Kitchen Sink Cafe's (1107 W. Berwyn Ave.) chocolate-covered granola bars share counter space with pastries--a reminder that any healthful fiber from the oats in most cases comes along with significant fat, sugar and calories from the oil or butter in which the oats are cooked and from the nuts and dried fruit with which granola is often packed. Fortunately, I fancy granola more than my figure.
