A West Loop Steakhouse Opens a Bakery with Middle Eastern-Influenced Pastries

Get more recipes, food news, and stories at wttw.com/food or by signing up for our Deep Dish newsletter.

Chicago’s bakery boom has reached a steakhouse with a chef with experience in Michelin-starred kitchens. Beginning October 17, Susu will serve Levantine-influenced pastries and a breakfast sandwich from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday, at 652 W. Randolph St, for pre-order and pick-up. It is a departure for a West Loop steakhouse to offer pastries, as the area is more the domain of fine dining evening spots like Oriole, Sepia, and the former Grace, which Susu now occupies.

Like many other contemporary bakers, chef and partner at Susu, Alexander Willis, is infusing classic French pastries with his own heritage. He grew up in Michigan and has family in Lebanon; tahini chocolate chip cookies fuse the Midwestern and Middle Eastern aspects of his background. Among other ideas he has for the rotating pastries are canelés flavored with tahini and shakshuka danishes. The last is a proven winner, given the popularity of the shakshuka bun at Cafe Yaya. 

Despite working as a savory chef in such Michelin-starred places as Moody Tongue and Dusek’s as well as Moto in Chicago, Willis says he has always been interested in pastry and wanted his own bakery. Inspired by Genie Kwon’s pastries, he and Susu owner Paul Alqas decided to follow her Kasama model and supplement their destination evening spot with a casual bakery.

Also like Kasama, Willis has his own take on a breakfast sandwich, featuring the Turkish sausage sujuk made in-house from wagyu beef (Susu is a steakhouse after all), supplemented with scrambled eggs, melty American cheese, herby chermoula, and spicy red shatta aioli, all couched in a housemade sourdough pita. (Willis is also experimenting with a vegetarian version featuring a falafel-hash brown hybrid.) Susu has been offering the sandwiches during Saturday morning pop-ups, including one coming up on September 26. 

The bakery offers Willis a way to keep himself engaged and interested. “Not only is it an extra source of revenue for us, but it’s also another venue of creativity for me,” says Willis. “It’s that collaborative effort to be able to create fun stuff, because honestly, that’s where the best food comes out.” 

This story has been edited to reflect the changed hours of Susu.