D'amato's is great. How great? Really great. If that doesn't satisfy you, here are some details:
Strong advocate of Bari subs, but I took a chance on D'amato's, which they recently started offering, a week or two ago. They are comparable to Bari's, but they use the D'amato's bread, which I have to say is superior. Their pricing structure is the same (about $4.50 for a 9", $5-6 for a 12") and they are made in about the same time. No disrespect to Bari, but it's worth trying D'amato's to see which you prefer.
Their bread is second to none and about $3 (with tax) per loaf.
Their cookies are exceptional. Not sure how much Italian cookies are supposed to cost, but these run about $8/lb. There are at least 3 dozen types to choose from. Strongly suggested for family gatherings, huge hit.
I will say that it's incredibly annoying that they don't accept credit cards, but whatever. Just make sure to bring cash.
All in all, 5 stars. It's great that places like this still exist.
Top notch! My dad used to stop here on his way home from work when I was a kid and bring home bread, focacha and it still tastes amazing. Its been years since I have been here and I am glad I made the trip. I stopped in just for a slice of brick oven pizza that was amazing. Light fluffy crust and tasted great. Brought me back to the days my dad would bring some home. Very small place you're in and out once you order. Not really anywhere to sit and eat so grab and go. But oh so worth it!!
Review Source:SO AWESOME.
I've been meaning to come here for a while and recently had the opportunity to stop in (wasn't driving, didn't need to park---so perfect!)
The place is quite small, but there are endless glass cases of breads, pizzas, foccicas, cookies and all sorts of goodies.
It's really not a place to sit and eat because there are only 2-3 stools by the window.
The cheese and pepperoni pizza are PHENOMENAL. The foccacia bread with tomatoes and cheese is awesome.
The staff is so upbeat and friendly!
The cookies with chocolate and caramel are a MUST GET.
Great place, I can't wait to go back!
Where to begin with this place?
It's amazing. Everything about this place is amazing.
Luckily for my taste buds (not so luckily for my waistline), this little treasure is located about a block away from my place. Every time I make a pilgrimage here, which can be frequent, I am greeted by the friendly staff, the sound of their antique register and the smell of baked goods.
The sandwiches are delicious with my favorite being the veggie - a 10 inch fresh Italian baguette, slices of tomato, pickled artichoke hearts, fresh mozzarella, arugula, and light dress. In addition, the baked goods are to die for. The canolis are amazing - crunchy, with a light cream in the center and a hard chocolate shell on the outside.
My FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE dessert from D'Amato's is the chocolate covered horn. A light, flakey, croissant-like texture filled with raspberry filling, cream, and dipped in chocolate.
If you haven't experienced D'Amatos, do yourself a favor and go. It's cash only, but an ATM is located side of the building.
Yup - this is going in my mental list of good and cheap eats.
I got the chocolate covered raspberry cream puff and it is exquisite. I like the slightly thicker shell which you can taste the buttery, flaky doughness. This is going to sound funny, but I've been looking for chocolate covered pastries that resembled like the ones found in a Japanese train station, 8 years later searching all over the US, Frankfurt, Munich and Paris, it's been here in Chicago all this time!! Refined smooth dark chocolate..mmm.
Thought the pizza was just okay, it's probably more Italian, not American, where it's less cheese and more bread toppings like whole olives, artichoke hearts, etc.
For a small shop, it runs a big buisiness, tons of food ready to go and lots of charm. And like everywhere else in the world, taxes are included. Makes a lot sense seeing that it must be rung up on cash with an old timey register.
Canolli + cappuccino, you're next.
Went here because it's my friend's favorite bakery. Â The cookies were ok (warning, I think they come in sets of 3, because I asked for a few kinds thinking I was getting 1 of each, and accidentilly walked out with about 9 cookies!) Â Flatbreads were very good. Â Bread was awesome. Â I loved the old cash register, and the prices were more than reasonable!
Review Source:I tried D'amato's after my 65 year old Sicilian co worker suggested it. The caprese sub is incredible and enough for my husband and I to share (leaving room for some cannoli or pastries of course).
I only knocked off a star because they are cash only. I hate paying an independent ATM fee because the owner wants to save 2% on credit card transactions.
I can't believe no one mentioned the similarity to 'Cammareri Bros. Bakery' of Brooklyn from 1987 chick flick Moonstruck w/ Cher and Nicholas Cage (great movie!). Â I half expect Ronny to come up from a coal fired hearth in the basement. And the girls who work the counter remind me of their counterparts in the movie too!
Moonstruck aside this place bakes phenomenally well! I Â am writing because I really love their crusty sour dough bread & I love their other breads which they will slice. I also love their heated pan pizza slices & really love their new foray into sandwiches - taste great, made quickly, cheaper than Bari next door and less of a line! And D'amato's has an enclosed patio with tables! I also love, love the cannoli!
So.. today was the day!
Hotter than Hell in Chicago today but I just
had to make this trip to D'amato's!
Well.. as I was walking down Grand Avenue to get to this
heavenly place I started smelling the most wonderful aroma..
Okay.. this is good.. a whole block away and I can smell stuff
baking/cooking.. I liked this!
So.. I finally get inside this bakery and it is very busy..
like non-stop people coming through the door..
This is good for D'amato's but it irritated the hell out of me
because this place is not that big and I needed to take some time to
decide what I wanted and to inhale..
And.. the staff at D'amato's are nice enough..
But kind of hyper.. moving very fast..
Anyway.. I felt kind of rushed.. and I did'nt like that!
So.. there are pizza's galore in here..foccacia bread pizza, pizza slices,
pizza by the tray..
I actually decided on this foccacia bread pizza with sausage
and pepperoni.. boy,, was that good!
And then I wanted some cookies and I got some very colorful
ones with sprinkles..
Now.. I know lotsa people come here for cannoli..
Not me.. dont like cannoli and in my assortment of cookies
i did'nt want alot of biscotti either..
So.. would I return to D'amato's?
Yes.. I think so.. the only downside is that this location
is quite a distance from me, on Grand Avenue..
Not the most convenient spot..
Word to the wise.. this place accepts cash only..
No plastic.. and there is an A.T.M. machine right outside.
But.. the pizza is definitely worth the trip and the cookies too!
Prices are nothing astronomical, comparable to other
restaurants/bakeries..
So.. take a walk down Grand Avenue, once you pass
Milwaukee Avenue and cross the expressway you will start
to get your first whiff of this place..
Stop and Inhale..
You'll be happy you did!
Favorite bread place and it happens to be in my neighborhood. Â They sell pizza dough - $2/lb I think, and it's great for making calzones or your favorite 'za. Â Great selection of italian pastries and cookies. Â Head next door to Bari for a sub made on their bread. Â Yum! Â Cash only
Review Source:I love this bakery...
I go in for all sorts of things, but my favorites are the pizza bread like thingies for lunch and the kolaches (yes, better than any polish bakery I've found). Â The prices are fair, but they don't take credit cards, so I'm knocking them down to four stars. Â Parking can be an issue.
What a gem! If you ever hope to go to a cute and authentic Italian bakery, come here and it will live up to everything!
We parked right out front on a Friday afternoon, put 20 minutes on the meter and quickly realized it would take 20 minutes just to pick out what sweet treat we wanted. The staff was wonderful, patient and helpful as we asked a million questions about the desserts. It is a small place with seating for about three, everyone besides my friend and I seemed to be picking up pizza and treats to go. Their outdoor patio would have added to the already wonderful experience, but it was not open since it was during a heat wave.
One should try their cannoli, tiramisu or some other traditional Italian dessert, but I found myself ordering a double layer cake, with pastry cream and topped with ganache. Yum. My friend tried the cannoli, tiramisu and their traditional Sicilian pizza. We have made a pact to come back many more times before we leave as we are just here for the summer. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a trip from Evanston...but well worth it.
I have not tried any of their bread, but I can not imagine that it would dissapoint.
Lucky me...I found D'amato's one sunny afternoon walking to nowhere. Â The smell hit me first and I couldn't resist stepping in. Â I was walking so I didn't want to carry a lot of stuff but there are a few chairs there - so maybe next time.
I ordered two cannoli - one dipped in chocolate  Cannolis are my absolute favorite dessert  - and these are the very best I've ever had - the perfect crunch, a ton of pistachios, the filling is perfection!! - soooo creamy and not too sweet.
I can not wait to go back with a giant bag - can't wait to try the take home dinners - stromboli, lasagna etc.. and MORE cannolis!!!
Fantastic!
A+ Pastries:
-sliders (blueberry, etc)
B Pastries:
-Chocolate cannoli: best cannoli I've ever had but then again I'm not a cannoli person
C Pastries:
-Chocolate eclair: pastry had a weird texture, wouldn't get again
Lots of other stuff looked delicious but at $2/$3 per pastry I didn't want to go over budget and try everything at once. They also have freshly baked bread and all kinds of baked pasta that you can take home (lasagna etc).
This is the BEST Italian-American bakery that I've been to. I've been here twice now and the first time I came for the pizza, the second time I came to order 2 dozen canolies for work.
Starting with the pizza, it is done in the true Italian pizza-by-the-slice style with nice puffy dough, cut into squares, and the even ask you if you want it warmed up. The flavor packed into these pizzas is superb, the sauce is amazing and the cheese is the real thing. This is easily my favorite true pizza slice joint.
Moving on to the canolies, these things are THE DANK! The ricotta filling is massaged perfectly with the appropriate amount of sugar and spices. The shells are also perfectly baked, not too hard yet not overly soft and spongy. They're a real treat and must have anytime you visit.
Overall this is a remarkable joint and for anyone who visit the city, it's an absolute must.
6:22 AM on Christmas Eve, and this place is bumpin'. Â Rightfully so, let me tell you... Â The assortment of things on offer here is enough to bring you back a few times without being well-versed on all that they offer.
I came in for a couple of loaves of crusty, chewy bread that is going to go along with tonight's dinner. Â Others were also there for the loaves, but included in their orders things like cookies, canolies, whole pizzas, pizza slices (square cut out of a Roman-style sheet tray), demi-loaves, buns and beautifully crafted pastry cakes.
Me being the novice, not having my jolt of coffee yet to sort my head straight, and remembering only to bring just enough cash to cover what I was really there for held me back from adding to my own order. Â Probably better off that way, because for $9.00 I came home with a 1 Pound Vienna loaf and two Half-French loaves that look, smell, and maybe most importantly at a time when you are buying bread- FEEL perfect.
Cash only, so come prepared.
Best bread in Chicago. Â Hands down! Â Foccacia = sex in my mouth.
The girl who works there with the tattoos (Paula, I think?) rules! Â Very educational and courteous. Â Don't know how much she gets paid or what her employee status is, but she went out of her way to make recommendations and indulged me a little in the amazing bread making process.
Will be a repeat customer.
First it was $5 cupcakes. Then it was $5 doughnuts. Now people are queued up for blocks to drop $5 on of all things froyo. When will return to the good old fashioned values of our grandparents' generation and start finding delicious treats at reasonable prices. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you D'amato's Bakery.
After driving past this place at least 100 times, I finally worked up the nerve to hit up D'amato's for some cannoli. I have to say I was thoroughly impressed. This bakery is old school. They have the old timey depression-era cash register and it's cash only so you know this is gonna be some good old fashioned, questionably book-keeped baked goods.
This bakery smells amazing and at 9:30am it was already hopping. I opted for some cannolis, both the regular and chocolate, and they were fantastic and relatively cheap too! They also had a slew of cookies, pastries, pizzas, breads, it was awesome. Parking can be a hassle, but it was well worth it. I will definitely be back to sample more of the baked goods here. Here's hoping cheap cannolis become the $5 cupcake of 2012.
Coal burning oven...enough said!!!
The bread here is amazing...one of the best loaves you can find in the city. Bari next door also uses the bread for there amazing sub sandwiches...it does not get any fresher then that.
Traditional Italian cookies and Cannoli's are good. Â Also try the Sicilian Pizza Bread.
They have made some improvements here. Â Personally I liked it old looking. Â Now when you walk in you feel like you might be in a fancy coffee shop. Window tables were added, so you can see people eating and drinking coffee in the window. Â I think it draws more people in...good for them but bad for me.
They have also just added an outdoor patio (Sept 2011)...just in time for the cold weather...sit out here and your coffee becomes iced right before your eyes. Â I am going to wait until summer.
Also, if you are lucky you can see the coal delivery...it is kind of fun...reminds me of the old days when coal powered everything from trains to furnaces...it is like a piece of history.
It was Fat Tuesday and I had already gorged on Paczki in the office. But I had a hard day, the weather was nice, so I decided to walk up Grand Ave. and check out some shops before catching my bus. D'amato's is known for their cannoli and it was Fat Tuesday...
Italian wedding cookies, cannoli, arancini, tomato breads and pizza by the slice. And with excellent service, D'amato's really has it covered.
I got two slices of the cold pizza to go, which they offered to warm up for me. The Pizza was excellent.
I also got the Chocolate covered cannoli and a standard cannoli (don't make me say Fat Tuesday again) and it was some of the BEST CANNOLI Â I've ever tasted. They may even have the North End of Boston beat!
Me: "I'm starving, what should I get"
Them: "You hungry, try some of da' foca'ch"
Me: "I'm not sure, it looks carby"
Them: "Just try da' foca'ch, it's good take it"
Me: "Oh what the hell!"
You certainly get the authentic thing when you come to D'amato's. Â This is a wonderful little Italian bakery, and it's a gold mine for "da foca'ch" and many other pastries and goodies.
The fumes of fresh baked cookies, cannoli, and breads are full bodied and strike your nose the second you enter. Â The inside is small but to the point. Â All the food you want to grab is within arms reach (dangerous for us with an empty stomach) and there is a wonderful vintage hand operated cash register where your total is churned into. Â
I've been here a few times now, and can say for a fact that they really have "da foca'ch" nailed down. Â Last night I had some pizza before the bulls game. Â I tried two variations of vegetable supreme, and one pita shaped margherita pizza. Â The veggie supremes were wrapped in a white sheet, and I could see the grease accumulating. Â Good luck to my heart! Â The slices were filling to say the least, as the two veggies both had the focaccia base. Â They had a wonderful taste, however I wish they were heated up. Â I went in late, and they were taken straight from the pizza tray an wrapped. Â Fresh I could imagine these tasting great.
We sat and ate at the window sill before the bulls game, and enjoyed the atmosphere. Â Overall good food, service and environment. Â I put health aside for the night so that I could try something different.
This is a wonderful little spot, and I'll be back.
D'amato's is amazing. Here's why:
When I was younger, and punker, and more anti- establishment, I enjoyed dumpster diving. And late at night, I'd bike over to D'amatos, and peek inside the dumpster- to find these tiny foccacias that I'd "liberate", and take for lunch the next day. Looking back, that was gross. At the time, I thought I was very, very radical.
Years later, I got a real job, and  walked through the front doors of D'amatos for the first time. I bought an amazing slice of pizza, and a cookie decorated to look like Frankenstein. The pizza had a thick, light crust, and artichokes, and olives, and the like, with just a smattering of cheese. I love that pizza.
Go to D'amato's, through the front door, and get the pizza. I don't even like pizza...this is more than pizza....it's a masterpiece.
Some of the best freshly made Italian bread. Â Many sizes, all Italian, all $3. Â Love it. Â The arancinis are also pretty amazing. Â But I have this horrible habit of eating them on the way home, usually when they're cold...
I haven't tried their desserts, but I assume if their bread is great, so must be the desserts. Â Oh, and it's cash only.
From the old as shit cash register, to the racks filled with crusty bread and cookies by the pound, to the sassy Italian women working behind the counter, this place has character.
You just don't see newer places like this, and I realize that this makes me sound old ("they just don't make them like they used to"), but really and truly, I'm looking forward to the day that I can hike up my pants to my chest, walk around with a cane, and randomly call people things like 'sonny', and 'whippersnapper'.
I imagine that old age will allow me to get away with indiscretions I've only dreamed of so far and I can only hope that D'amatos' will still be there to provide me my damn foccaca with olives.
Progress schmagress.
This is the ONLY Italian bakery I will go out of my way to drive to. Â
Fresh, inexpensive and a GREAT selection of things! Â I'm talking all sorts of breads and rolls, 6 types of foccacia, arancini (2 types!), cannoli, cookies, pastries, cake and of course sheet pizza. Â I just bought a baguette that is literally 4 feet long and I think I paid like 2 or 3 dollars for it. Â Everything I have ever ordered has been excellent. You can walk in off the street or pre-order. Â I would recommend the latter if you need a certain amount, flavour, etc.as I have been there just as they have run out of something I wanted. Â Oh yeah, bring cash, they dont take credit cards!
Independent businesses rock and I am so glad to support this one!
I have been coming to this place for years! Â way before it was known.......it was just the local italian bakery my dad took us too to pick up Italian bread.......tomato bread and the pizza bread! Â
It's awesome! Â
The tomato bread is out of this world.........you can buy the big one or the mini's! Â The pizza.......isn't the cheapest........but it is great! Â I have family and friends who come to town and ask if we can go pick up some of that "pizza bread". Â
The bread itself is delicious........nice hard crust.....makes great sandwiches and better yet........TOAST! Â
if you are in the area, stop in and check it out!
Secret pizza, secret dessert...
As far as Italian bread carbs are concerned, if I am gonna eat 'em, I get my fix HERE. Â First, this is one of the oldest Italian bakeries in the city. Â One time I needed to get some bread, but they were closed. Â The owner saw me and waved me in. Â He brought me to the back and the smell was INCREDIBLE. Â I'll tell ya, the only other places that have that kinda history are bakeries in Europe. Â Making bread is as much an artform as it is a labor of love. Â The wood tables, paddles and ovens were just amazing. Â You could smell the care and the love this place has for bread, and we are lucky enough to be able to get it every day. Â
Back to the food: Â
BREAD - Remember, it's an Italian bread. Â French bread sometimes is like cake, while Italian bread is firmer. Â The regular loaf (like a baguette) has a crisp and chewy crust, and a soft center, great for garlic bread or bruschetta. Â The sandwich loaf looks like a traditional bread, but has this amazing thin but crisp and chewy crust, with a perfect center. Â
SECRET PIZZA - Secret pizza, remember? Â They make 3 (it used to be 2) kinds of pan pizza - cheese, sausage, pepperoni. Â It's not ordinary by any means. Â It's a rectangular, 1 inch thick slice, with a fragrant tomato gravy (dats right, REAL Italians call it dat) topped with a fontina, romano or something sharp. Â The cheese is just right, and just below it, the tomato flavor is incredible. Â If you're lucky enough to get a chewy edge, marron! Â Order of favorite - cheese, sausage (pepperoni is too strong and takes away from everything). Â We used to order this BY THE TRAY and it would be gone.
They also have foccacia, arancini (stuffed rice balls), a new gelato bar, cookies, pizelle, rolls, etc.
SECRET DESSERT - Man, I have no idea why they hide these things, but if you find em, GET EM. Â Chery slices, apple slices, napoleons, huge chocolate eclairs, and, of course, cannoli. Â It's like these were just like a little hobby they do back there, yet these are just so perfect, not too sweet, not to heavy, that you wonder why they don't make MORE.
Slices - 2 x 4 x 4 inch pies with perfect fillings and vanilla icing. Â One of each.
Napoleons - thin pastry dough with vanilla custard and topped with vanilla icing. Â I'll take TWO.
Eclairs - 5 inch chocolate covered custard eclairs (that are FILLED, baby, no skimping here!). Â I can only eat one, but I WANT 5.
Cannoli - 4 inch delicate round cookie tubes filled with sweetened ricotta and chocolate chips, edged with nuts. Â Always gimme TWO.
Don't go hungry or you'll leave with a few bags.
COST - Inexpensive
CAVEATS - It small and parking is tough. Â Be patient. Â You will be rewarded.
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