A West Loop Steakhouse Opens During the Day as a Bakery with Middle Eastern-Influenced Pastries

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Chicago’s bakery boom has reached a steakhouse with a chef with experience in Michelin-starred kitchens. Beginning October 5, Susu will serve Levantine-influenced pastries and breakfast sandwiches from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, Monday through Saturday, at 652 W. Randolph St. 

Not only is it a departure for a steakhouse to offer pastries, it’s also unusual for any restaurant to be open weekday mornings in the part of the West Loop between the river and the Kennedy Expressway that Susu occupies, the French Market under Ogilvie Station notwithstanding. The area is more the domain of fine dining evening spots like Oriole, Sepia, and the former Grace, which Susu now occupies.

“I want to be a reliable space,” says Alexander Willis, the chef at Susu. “I want [people] to be able to come here Monday through Saturday, every day, so that we’re their spot for coffee if they’re working in the area.” 

In addition to espresso drinks and coffee from Sparrow Coffee, there will also be an Instagram-ready blue matcha latte and plays on chai. But the real attention is on the pastries. 

Like many other contemporary bakers, Willis is infusing classic French pastries with his own heritage. He grew up in Michigan and has family in Lebanon; a baklava bear claw fuses the Midwestern and Middle Eastern aspects of his background. Among other ideas he has for the rotating pastries are tahini chocolate chip cookies, canelés flavored with Aleppo chili and apricot, 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 during the day. 

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,” he says. “It’s that collaborative effort to be able to create fun stuff, because honestly, that’s where the best food comes out.”