A Maximalist Korean-Inspired Bakery Opens off the Southport Corridor

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A new bakery with maximalist pastries inspired by Korean flavors and social media has opened off the Southport Corridor, adding to the profusion of globally inspired pastry spots that have appeared around Chicago like air bubbles in a well-proofed loaf of bread. Daeji Dough Company is currently in a soft open phase in a late-nineteenth century building at 1360 W. Belmont Ave., offering a seaweed croissant filled with the sweet-savory Korean rice cake tteokbokki; focaccia with mushrooms marinated like the Korean barbecue mainstay bulgogi; and a cake flavored with the toasted grain powder misu-garu.

“I wanted to go in a Korean direction, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be a full-fledged Korean bakery,” says Albert Song, the owner of Daeji, which is named after his Chinese zodiac sign, the pig, which also features in the logo. 

When Song started selling baked goods at a farmers market last year, he already reflected that mix. He had kimchi focaccia, but also a French onion croissant that’s still on the menu at Daeji’s brick-and-mortar – for now. His staff has been pushing him to replace it, “since it’s the most boring” item, he says. “And if there’s anything we’re not, it’s boring.”

That’s for sure, if a laminated pastry stuffed with three cheeses, mustard, and onions is considered boring.

But Song first started baking to sell to customers because he was underwhelmed by the other offerings he saw at the farmers market he frequented. He lived right around the corner and often visited, but felt about the baked goods, “They’re okay. I could do better.”

When he was fresh out of college and learning to cook for himself so that he could enjoy the kind of food his grandma made back home in Southern California, he had bought himself a stand mixer and taught himself to bake for fun. 

He had a corporate job as a software engineer – that’s what brought him to Chicago – so baking remained a hobby for years. But the convenience of the farmers market outside his building and his conviction that he could beat the competition led him to sign up to sell baked goods there last summer. He realized that he couldn’t do that and keep his corporate job, and so devoted himself to baking full-time, selling under the name Albert’s Bakery. A little more than a year later, that’s how he has ended up with his own brick-and-mortar bakery, in a building that he owns.

“This place popped up, and I was like, ‘This is sick. It’s got the right vibe, it’s in a good area,’” he says. The historic building features a prominent gable and protruding eave and an eye-grabbing mix of sage green and cream, which Song carried inside in slightly different shades.

Song emphasizes that it is entirely a team effort, down to coming up with new pastries. The distinctive coffee and tea menu was crafted by his baristas, since he himself doesn’t drink coffee. (Coffee comes from the Grand Rapids-based Morningsong Coffee Roasters, whom Song found on social media.) Current offerings include espresso tonics with ginger and the herbal Korean leaf perilla or plum syrup, as well as a sesame matcha drink. The Korean influence is obvious even in the small metal cups available for water, which are the same as those you find at any number of Korean mom-and-pop restaurants.

Such barista drinks might be the only thing available, depending on when you visit. To the surprise of Song, Daeji has been drawing lines out the door in its soft opening phase. He’s been selling out of pastries, and is working through the kinks of any new business.

“Anybody can think that [they can bake pastries people want to buy],” says Song. “The real problem with doing it professionally is volume.” But he has equipped his kitchen with technology to ensure consistency as he and his team work to scale production to meet demand. 

For now, Daeji is open Wednesday through Sunday from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, although Song is aiming to eventually be open six days a week.