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Sweety Pies Hits the Savory Spot

The family-owned bakery uses seasonal ingredients to make mouth-watering goodies.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Sweety Pies. The family-owned bakery not only serves up a huge selection of decadent treats, but makes a great place to stop in for a quick lunch.

After opening in 2007, Sweety Pies migrated to larger digs in the former Vitellos Bakery at 8042 Lincoln Ave. in 2009. The space features large displays showing off its gorgeous baked goods and a chill dining area that was occupied by a few women dining solo when I visited Thursday afternoon.

Just opening the door greets you with the intoxicating smell of fresh baked goods. I was welcomed by Bruce Kruger, who opened Sweety Pies with his wife, Arden, and two children, Chad and Dana. He was very friendly and when I asked about the lunch items, he recommended a half sandwich with a cup of the soup of the day for $7.

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When I started perusing the baked goods, he brought over Dana, a graduate of the French Pastry School of Chicago, who was also very nice and happy to explain the products. The bakery makes everything from scratch, with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. While some specialties, like the apple pie crisp and crocodile pie (both $25 or $4.50 a slice), are always offered, other selections like the galettes ($9-$25) change regularly. Strawberry-rhubarb, peach and mango-pineapple were available the day I was there.

After spending some time agonizing over whether to try one of them, Dana offered me a galette for half price so the shop could clear out space for the next batch.

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I was already excited while I waited  for my order to be packed up. So I grabbed one of the sample brown sugar cookies (75 cents) at the register and found it to be the best sugar cookie I’ve ever had. Thin, crisp and tasting lightly like molasses, it embodies Sweety Pies philosophy of cutting back on sweetness to emphasize other flavors.

Everything I tried was delicious. Sweety Pies doesn’t have the facilities to bake bread in house, but the supplier it uses for the challah used for sandwiches is excellent. The soft fresh bread worked great with plenty of sliced turkey, Swiss cheese, thin-sliced cucumbers and Dijon mustard. The lentil and kale soup was especially good, the hearty beans blended in a savory broth with plenty of perfectly tender slices of carrots.

The baked goods were also stellar. The apple square ($2.50) was like a small portion of excellent apple pie, with slices of cinnamon coated fruit baked into a flaky crust. The apple pie crisp is piled with a thick coating of oats and pecans, which perfectly holds in the flavor of the granny smith apples.

Because it’s not too sweet, it’s easy to just keep eating it without realizing how much of a dent you’ve made. The mango-pineapple galette ($9) was packed with fruit, with the tart pineapple blending well with the perfectly ripened mango and light crust for a delightful summer treat.

The chocolate drizzled on the coconut shortbread cookies (75 cents) accents rather than overwhelms the toasted coconut flavor. The only unfortunate thing about a trip to Sweety Pies is how hard it can be to choose among its bounty of great options.

This is part of our weekly 'Dinner And a Movie' series which runs every Monday. To check out our review of Steven Spielberg's 'Super 8,'

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