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From Chicago Tribune, October 29, 2009
A search for the best of Germany in Chicago
We send a visiting German journalist out into the Windy City to see if he can find a little of his homeland
By Fredy Gareis, Special to the Tribune
Maybe it's because it's fall that I miss Germany so much right now. I was in Chicago as a fellow on an international exchange program for the better part of two months. In the beginning, I reveled in the excitement that Chicago has to offer, soaking up everything new and meeting heaps of interesting people. And then, just as the temperature dropped, I started missing Germany.
Lots of cool stuff happens back home in the fall, like Oktoberfest (and a bunch of other beer fests) and wine fests. Soccer league is back on, and everybody is heading outside to catch the last golden rays before the dreary winter sets in.
So, I steeled myself and tried to find the stuff I am missing by not being in Germany. I looked at beer (of course), at wine, at outside seating. I checked out the Chicago Fire, the best bakery, the best brunch, and I looked for that perfect schnitzel....
Traditional treats I step in, and before I can say hello, the smells of freshly baked bread have transported me right to Germany and back to being a kid looking at sweet pastries behind a glass counter.
There are a couple of decent bakeries in Chicago, but I found Dinkel's Bakery to be the best. The treats and bread are still crafted in the German tradition, and you can just pull up a seat, order a hot cocoa with your treat and forget everything else for a couple of minutes.
Many pastries here have evolved into treats that are familiar to the American palate -- muffins for example. But Dinkel's still crafts Old Worldly stuff, such as Zwetschgendatschi, a thin, short pastry with plums. The sweet dough and the sour plums go together like kids and Christmas; it's an absolute staple of German afternoon coffee culture. The bread is good here too.
Dinkel's Bakery, 3329 N. Lincoln Ave., 800-822-8817, dinkels.com
Check out the full story on the Tribune's website by clicking here.
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