The Bakery at Piccolo Mondo

I love this café. It always smells like fresh-​baked chocolate inside, and staff are very friendly. I always get a latte and medialuna or vigilante, and they’re so so so delicious.

They get it right here. Super nice staff and cute place. Order the hot cocoa and you get steamed milk and put chocolate bars inside. Yummy! Pastries are homemade, fresh, and very yummy. Love this place. Perfect for after a museum visit.

I love this little café and bakery! It’s almost too tempting on my walk to and from work. Tucked away near the lake and Museum of Science and Industry, it’s got a very nice vibe and quiet atmosphere.

The deserts were delicious however the service was awful. I didn’t feel welcome and I felt like I was asking the worker a favor by expecting service while purchasing items, it made me feel uncomfortable. I told the cashier that I was visiting the store for the first time and wasn’t familiar with the items, instead of making a recommendation or explaining the names he just looked at me with a blank stare. Then, after I payed for my items the cashier took the order of the people behind me as if I wasn’t important or they were more important than me. The cashier then proceeded to gather the items of the person behind me prior to gathering my things, I felt like my time wasn’t valued. No eye contact, no greeting, no smile, no thank you, no have a nice day. After the cashier gathered my items he dropped them on the counter and walked away to gather the things for the other customers. Very disappointing because this place is near my condo and the treats were tasty. I’ll take my business elsewhere and tell everyone I know to avoid this place.

Vigilante pastry is so tasty and just $ 1.50! Yum!
This is such a convenience for me since I live in the apartment building here. Can just walk down and get a pastry, coffee and do work on my laptop. Nice staff too!

Diego has created a great little spot for your morning coffee and fresh pastries needs. Highly recommended!

I love this addition to the Piccolo Mondo restaurant. It is a lovely little café that features Argentinian desserts and snack foods. You can’t go wrong with one of their breakfast specials– a latte made with skill, small and freshly made orange juice, a buttery croissant, or one of their delicate and tasty miga sandwiches.
My subtraction of a star is because there is not ample seating in the café nor is there wifi (as of November 2014), so it is not the easiest place to meet a group for breakfast or sit down and do work.

This is a delicious bakery that made me envious of the people who live near it. I wasn’t so sure about Argentinian pastries but it turns out they’re delicious. Both the regular sweet rolls and the ones filled with chocolate or dulce de leche were a wonderful indulgent breakfast. Everything tasted very fresh. The coffee was also good and came out in nice big mugs.
If you’re picking up dessert rather than breakfast we later tried one of their cakes and that was extremely good as well.

This my favorite neighborhood spot for bakery items. The owners are wonderful, and everything is fresh. I recommend the medialuna sandwich combo which comes with coffee (I suggest blueberry tea) and fresh OJ. I’ve also had the scones and the tuna sand which– excellent and addictive! The place is clean and well decorated
with an intimate area for sitting with friends and neighbors. Super close to the Metra stop on 56^th.

I was excited when I saw the five star reviews for this place, but there weren’t as many options as I would have hoped. The pumpkin cheesecake I got was alright, but not the best I had ever had. For six bucks… I expected more

This place is absolutely fantastic. Part of its appeal is that it is not heavily frequented, and that makes it a great place to study or relax. Still — the ambiance is perfect, as is the nice view of the lake and the Museum of Science and Industry. Prices are very reasonable, service is perfect, food and tea are excellent. I would say this is my favorite café — I highly recommend it! Thanks to everyone there for making it so nice.

To be honest, I can’t really speak about the bakery because I’ve really only had 2 things here: the coffee and the tiramisu, both of which is excellent. The tiramisu seems to use fresh, and real (as in, not corn syrup, etc) ingredients according to the label that is on the tiramisu container – mascarpone cheese, sugar, egg yolk, coffee liquor, lady finger biscuits, bacardi rum, vanilla, espresso, etc. The best part about this tiramisu is the biscuits… they are soaked with syrup which is how I think tiramisu should be. Some might complain the rum/​coffee liquor is too strong, but if you don’t mind that you’ll love it. One of the best tiramisu I’ve had. I don’t have much to say about the coffee. just good coffee, that’s all. Too bad the location of this bakery is terrible/​unknown to many. I hope more people are able to discover it.

i don’t know if many people in Hyde Park realize that Piccolo Mondo opened its own bakery awhile ago (1 year this August), or that its hours are PHENOMENAL, or that it serves delectable Argentinian goodies despite being inside an Italian ristorante – i certainly didn’t until a few weeks ago. to our credit, TBAPM doesn’t have its own website yet, and Piccolo Mondo’s still in-​progress page doesn’t even acknowledge that this place exists, which is a huge disservice to both entities. hopefully something is in the works~ in the meantime, let’s get the word out!
although there is always construction on 56^th, i’ve never had a problem catching street parking on Cornell. service is exceptional and the prices are great, plus they take credit cards. there is not a lot of space to watch the world go by (or frantically study, since LBH it’s U of C) but there are a few tables at which you could stream soccer to your laptop during the next World Cup.
truthfully, i’ve never been to a dedicated Argentinian bakery. there seems to be enough culinary and cultural European influence however for any lover of good pastries or stress-​eater w/​a crippling sweet tooth to feel right at home. while i stay away from anything with caffeine as it makes me look alternatingly coked out and withdrawing from EtOH, the submarino (steamed milk w/​a bar of chocolate) was bawse and reminded me of something i would find on the streets of Italy or Ethiopia. the alfajores were similarly delicious and reminded me a lot of Viennese cookies, though i prefer more traditional filled croissants to their medialunes.

The Bakery at Piccolo Mondo would benefit from being in a location that is not under perpetual construction because, screw you French bakery on 55^th, this place is money!
Unlike their closest geographic competitors, this place decouples baked goods from snobbery. The husband and wife owners are open and friendly; her face lights up when she talks about the necessity of controlling the dough and oven temperatures when making alfajores. «It’s not just a cookie.»
Their medialunas, vigilantes and cañoncitos are the bakery equivalent of Dutch speed skating: a full podium sweep in the event of croissant-​family products available for consumption in the city. So simultaneously crunchy and chewy.
Unfortunately, just like speed skating, Argentine baking only comes to mind once in a blue moon (and with an oddly similar 4-​yr periodicity), which is really a shame.
Two pieces of unsolicited (and unwanted) advice:
«The Bakery at Piccolo Mondo» should jettison the dead weight of the mediocrity that is «Piccolo Mondo the restaurant», and soar into high orbit under its own name and powered by its outstanding quality.
Tea-​time munchers and weekend brunchers of Hyde Park should embrace their consumer power and leave the musty shores of Old Europe for the vibrant smellz and tastes of Arrhhentina!

The place is extraordinarily charming and understated. You can get some real studying done here or, conversely, have an extended quiet conversation with a friend. The baked goods are excellent and with an Argentine slant. The espresso drinks are fine though not as good from a purely technical standpoint as Plein Air or Bridgeport.

Finally a place where I can get Argentine facturas in Chicago!
I made a quick visit to this adorable café a week ago and I’m starting to have dreams about it.
They’ve been at that spot for about 8 months now and my only regret is not finding them sooner. I’ll definitely be back to try more of their delicious baked goods. Last time I was there that included medialunas, alfajores, vigilantes, cañoncitos and sandwiches de miga. Can’t wait!

Pastries, drinks, and service were all excellent.

Best place for coffee and hot chocolate.
The Argentinean bakery has all types of delicious pastries.
Excellent place to stop and enjoy the best alfajorcitos con dulce de leche, croissants and facturas. Lunch and breakfast are always a good excuse to visit this european style café.

East Hyde Park needed a cozy coffee shop with excellent coffee and delicious homemade pastries and this spot east of the Metra tracks on E. 56^th St. fits the bill. The Piccolo Bakery is the newest gem in Hyde Park. It is located in the front of Piccolo Mondo restaurant where the deli counter used to be. The owners, Diego and Lu, hail from Buenos Aires and their coffee and pastries reflect the style of their country. The bakery is open every morning at 7 a.m. serving delicious South American style coffee. You can sit at the counter and watch Diego baking the facturas (pastries) while Lu describes what everything is. The café con leche is the best café au lait you will find anywhere. Piccolo Bakery offers inexpensive breakfast and lunch combinations consisting of coffee or tea, fresh-​squeezed orange juice, and an assortment of pastries or two miga or medialuna sandwiches. The miga sandwiches are crustless English tea sandwiches, owing to Argentina’s past history with England, and the medialuna sandwiches are made using their small Argentinean croissants. Be sure to try any of the pastries filled with dulce de leche, that deliciously thick South American caramel. The canoncitos are especially nice. In the drinks department, try a submarino in the winter. This is a large glass filled with steamed milk served with a dark chocolate bar on the side which you plunge into the hot milk and stir to make your own hot chocolate. Piccolo Bakery would be an excellent stop for anyone coming to or going home from the Museum across the street. It is halfway between the Metra stop and the bus stop on 56^th St. so it should pick up a lot of foot traffic.