I came for the hachapuri and I got it! Fresh, pipping hot out of the oven!! Great food!
Hidden Gem in West Rogers Park. Excellent food at this local eatery! I will definitely be visiting again soon.
The prices are reasonable and it's the perfect place to just drop by and grab a quick bit. They also have coffee and a variety of teas to compliment your pastry.
They also just launched their website and Facebook page:
http://argobakery.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ArgoGeorgianBakery
Check it out and happy eating!
Exotic and Delicious!. As you can tell from the 15 pix of this place I posted, I was very impressed! I had never experienced cooking like this before, but thanks to both Argo and my Russian born friend Dennis, I am now an expert on formerly Soviet Georgia, its people and its baked goods.
While in the Chicago area, Dennis insisted that we visit Argo, a bakery that he had been to on previous visits. Good thing I'm easy going - otherwise I never would have found out about this wonderful place! It doesn't look like much from the outside - or even the inside really, but what their wares will do for YOUR insides is a complete wonder to behold.
As far as I know, this is the only true Georgian oven in the Chicago area. They cook all their stuff in it and the results are nothing short of fantastic! They feature all sorts of stuffed pastries, those made up of everything from cabbage, to beans, to mushrooms & potatoes to just about anything, all in the same enticing light and layered Georgian pastry from Argo's unique oven.
The real draws to this place in my opinion though are two particular offerings: hachipuri and churchkehlas. Hachipuri are like large, soft popovers, cooked on the inside wall of the Georgian oven. They contain three types of cheeses and they puff up hollow, with the moist, bubbling and flavorful cheeses clinging to the insides of the hachipuri once cooked. The result is a flaky, puffy, buttery, cheesy item of deliciousness that cannot be explained unless you've sampled one. After eating just one each of these delightful and deceptively light seeming baked wonders, both Dennis and I were pretty much full.
Another treat they feature is the churchkehla. This is a thing strange and toothsome as I've never before encountered. Either walnuts or hazelnuts (your choice) are strung together on a thread. The threaded nuts are then successively dipped into an emulsion of grape juice mixed with flour until the successive dippings form a candle-like thick grape coating on the string of nuts. They end up looking like sausages (or turds, really[!], but they taste about a billion times better that a turd!). You'll have to try some to believe me.
Alex, the guy who works the front part of the bakery might seem a bit abrupt on first encounter, but he's a really great guy and gets very animated when explaining the Georgian baking tradition. He's also quite versed in Georgian history and culture. I learned a lot from him while in there.
You can also pick up frozen pelmini, hinkali, vareniki and other stuffed Georgian pasta type things to take home to be boiled, fried or steamed from Argo. Also, there are chairs and tables, cafe style at which to sit and enjoy your pastries along with a cup of coffee or tea there too, so make an afternoon of it why don't you?
I wish Argo was in NYC where I am and not just Chicago :-(
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