One Illinois bakery has been baking since 1930. Another still stretches its strudel dough by hand until it’s practically see-through. I love that these old-fashioned traditions haven’t disappeared, especially when the results involve buttery pastry and warm apple filling.
The eight bakeries on this list take their sweets seriously. Some have German roots, others bring Polish and European baking traditions to the table, and one even offers a Saturday discount on its famous apple strudel.
Along the way, you’ll find cherry-filled pastries, poppyseed strudel, sauerkraut rye, and enough coffee cakes to make choosing just one nearly impossible.
I’m leaning toward cherry, but that classic apple filling keeps making a convincing argument.
1. Schlegl’s Bakery & Cafe
Doors open at 6 AM, which makes strudel a perfectly reasonable breakfast in Lincolnwood. Nobody behind the counter is going to argue with that logic.
Schlegl’s Bakery & Cafe sits right on Touhy Avenue and leans hard into German classics. Apple strudel leads the charge, and it’s the treat this shop gets praised for most often.
The flaky layers aren’t the only reason to swing by, though. Coffee cakes and specialty danish carry serious reputations here, even in a Chicagoland bakery scene packed with competition.
German pretzels share case space with donuts and cupcakes. The chocolate cupcakes are a smart pick if someone in your car insists on frosting.
Custom cakes are part of the lineup too. That makes this a handy stop when a birthday sneaks up on you midweek.
Strudel fans in Illinois have options, but few shops treat the old recipes like the main event. Here, the European pastries feel like the headliners rather than a side gig.
Timing matters with this one. The bakery runs Tuesday through Saturday from 6 AM to 3 PM, and it stays closed Sunday and Monday.
Saturday mornings are the busiest stretch of the week. A weekday visit usually means a calmer counter and more time to stare down the danish.
Paczki Day cranks things up several notches. Those filled Polish doughnuts draw a serious line, so plan ahead if you want a box.
Holiday season brings its own lineup. Look for Jule logs and fruitcake once the weather turns chilly.
Coffee is available, so you can pair your slice with a cup on the spot. A free parking lot makes the quick stop even quicker.
Some families have been coming here for more than 30 years. That kind of loyalty says plenty about a bakery that keeps its quality steady.
Grab an extra slice for later. Future you will thank present you for the planning.
Address: 3915 W Touhy Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712
2. Weber’s Bakery
Bakers on Archer Avenue have been at it since 1930, and they still start before the sun does. The doors open at 5 AM on most days, so early birds get first dibs.
Weber’s Bakery is a true Southwest Side institution. Generations of Chicagoans have picked up birthday cakes, tortes, and donuts at this counter.
Let’s talk strudel first, since that’s why you’re here. The cherry version earns the loudest applause, and plenty of fans call it the best thing in the building.
Apple strudel is right there too, ready to compete for your attention. Honestly, the easiest solution is buying one of each and calling it research.
Bread lovers have a reason to visit as well. The sauerkraut rye is a standout, and it makes a mighty fine base for a sandwich.
Toast it for breakfast if you want to feel extra Old World. A smear of butter is all it really needs.
Chocolate pecan bites make a sneaky add-on for the drive home. Coffee cakes and cupcakes fill out the cases for anyone who wants variety.
The strawberry cake is another crowd-pleaser on the menu. It’s a solid choice for a party table when you need something bright and fruity.
Plan on taking your treats to go. There’s no dine-in seating and no restroom, so this is a grab-and-go kind of stop.
Curbside pickup is available if you’d rather stay in the car. Free parking options nearby keep the whole trip simple.
Hours run Tuesday through Saturday from 5 AM to 5 PM. Sunday hours are 5:30 AM to 3 PM, and Mondays are closed.
Weekends get busy, which tells you something about this place’s fan base. Tuesday afternoons tend to be quieter if you’d like breathing room.
Nearly a century of baking doesn’t happen by accident. One bite of that cherry strudel helps explain the staying power.
Address: 7055 W Archer Ave, Chicago, IL 60638
3. Lutz Bakery
Stepping through the door here feels a bit like borrowing a time machine with a sweet tooth. The room is lined with pastry cases, and the whole place has a charming throwback look.
Lutz Bakery on Montrose Avenue serves continental classics with Austrian and German roots. Think tortes, cookies, cakes, and, of course, strudel.
Apple strudel ranks among the most recommended treats in the shop. It shares the spotlight with a famous Black Forest cake that many folks call a must.
Chocolate fans should eye the chocolate ganache cake. It’s rich, it’s classic, and it pairs nicely with a cup of coffee.
Here’s a fun one for history buffs. Sacher torte was born in Vienna in 1832, and Lutz is a go-to spot in Chicago for this chocolate and apricot classic.
Some people search the city for years before landing on a version they love here. That’s a pretty strong endorsement for a single cake.
Cakes are made with fresh ingredients and a careful balance of sweetness. The strawberry whipped cream cake is another light, fruity option worth a look.
Breakfast is on the table too, along with coffee. You can linger inside or grab a seat on the patio when the weather cooperates.
Unlike some old-school bakeries, this one keeps generous hours. It’s open daily, with Friday and Saturday stretching to 9 PM.
Monday through Thursday, the hours run 7 AM to 8 PM. Sunday opens at 8 AM and closes at 8 PM.
Need dessert delivered? Delivery is available, which feels like a modern twist on a very traditional shop.
Street parking is your main option, so build in a few extra minutes. A restroom on-site is a nice bonus if you plan to stay a while.
Bring a friend who loves cake. Splitting a slice of Black Forest and a slice of strudel is the move.
Address: 2458 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60618
4. Gerhard’s Elegant European Desserts
Wedding cakes, espresso, and apple strudel walk into a bakery in Lake Forest. The punchline is simply a very good afternoon.
Gerhard’s Elegant European Desserts is a long-running, family-owned shop on Western Avenue. The name promises elegance, and the dessert cases try hard to deliver it.
Apple strudel is a fixture on the menu here. Pair a slice with an espresso, and you’ve got a pretty classy midmorning break.
Chocolate lovers get plenty of attention too. Dark chocolate mousse sits among the richer picks, and the German chocolate cake has some devoted fans.
Breakfast pastries deserve a closer look. The Danish hazelnut cinnamon roll and the almond croissant are both strong reasons to show up early.
Savory cravings have an answer as well. The spinach pie appears only on Fridays and Saturdays, so mark your calendar.
Handcrafted breads fill out the lineup. Grab a loaf for dinner and pretend you planned the whole meal around it.
The shop also handles wedding cakes. That’s handy if you’re shopping for a big celebration on Chicago’s North Shore.
Inside, the feel is homey and a little old-fashioned in the best way. You can dine in, and free Wi-Fi makes it easy to linger over coffee.
Expect premium pricing on some items. Treat it as a special-occasion stop rather than a daily habit.
Hours run Tuesday through Saturday from 7 AM to 4 PM. Sundays and Mondays are closed, so plan your sweet tooth accordingly.
Getting there is simple. Free lot parking and free street parking make the visit low-stress.
Lake Forest has no shortage of pretty streets for a stroll afterward. A pastry box in hand makes that walk feel complete.
Bring someone who appreciates fancy dessert. Splitting the mousse and the strudel keeps peace at the table.
Address: 720 N Western Ave #1820, Lake Forest, IL 60045
5. Bennison’s Bakery
Imagine rolling out pastry dough so thin that you can practically see the kitchen counter through it. At Bennison’s Bakery in Evanston, that isn’t a baking-school challenge. It’s how the German apple strudel gets made.
This longtime North Shore favorite has been around since 1938, and its apfelstrudel is a beautiful example of why some recipes shouldn’t be rushed.
The bakers stretch the dough by hand, brush it with butter, and tuck in a filling of apples, raisins, cinnamon, and sugar. A floured canvas helps roll everything together before the strudel heads into the oven.
What comes out has a crisp outside, a soft apple center, and a snowy dusting of powdered sugar. It’s the kind of dessert that makes sharing sound like a questionable decision.
There’s one important catch. Bennison’s only offers this traditional strudel from Labor Day through Memorial Day, so summer visitors will have to find another sweet temptation.
Luckily, the bakery has plenty.
Croissants, Danish pastries, artisan breads, cookies, and Bavarian pretzels give the display cases plenty of variety. Custom cakes are another specialty, and the seasonal paczki bring their own excitement when Fat Tuesday approaches.
The strudel comes in full or half strips, which is handy when you’re shopping for a family gathering. Of course, buying the larger size also solves the problem of someone sneaking the last piece.
Hours run Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 6 PM, Saturday from 7 AM to 5 PM, and Sunday from 7 AM to 4 PM.
Online ordering is available for pickup, a smart option if you’re making a special trip for the strudel. Bring a little patience and an appetite. Nearly nine decades of baking tradition deserve both.
Address: 1000 Davis St, Evanston, IL 60201
6. Jarosch Bakery
Saturday has a delicious little tradition in Elk Grove Village. At Jarosch Bakery, the apple strudel gets a 15% discount every single Saturday, which is a pretty good excuse to make dessert part of your weekend plans.
This neighborhood institution opened in 1959, and its German baking roots still show up in a menu packed with old-fashioned favorites.
Apple strudel is one of the bakery’s signature coffee cakes. Flaky, buttery pastry surrounds a homemade apple-cinnamon filling, with a crunchy sugar topping adding a little extra sweetness.
Cherry and strawberry-rhubarb strudels give the fruit lovers more to consider. The strawberry-rhubarb combination is especially tempting if you enjoy a little tartness alongside all that buttery pastry.
But here’s where things get interesting.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, Jarosch makes Apple and Cherry Delights. These smaller pastries use strudel dough, a coating of sparkling sugar, and generous spoonfuls of scratch-made fruit filling.
Think of them as a way to satisfy a strudel craving without committing to an entire coffee cake.
The rest of the bakery isn’t exactly short on temptations, either.
Butter cookies are a longtime specialty, with enough varieties to make choosing a few feel like a serious assignment. Sweet rolls, donuts, rye breads, and decorated cakes round out the selection.
Need something for a birthday or family celebration? Jarosch also makes custom cakes, although those require advance planning.
The bakery recently moved to a newer storefront at 111 E Higgins Rd in Elk Grove Village, keeping its familiar neighborhood corner while giving shoppers a fresh place to browse.
Hours are Monday through Saturday from 6:30 AM to 5 PM, with Sundays closed.
If you’re visiting specifically for the little Apple and Cherry Delights, Wednesday or Friday is the day to circle.
Otherwise, Saturday’s discounted apple strudel is awfully hard to argue with.
Address: 111 E Higgins Rd, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
7. Harner’s Bakery
Some bakeries make you choose between breakfast and dessert. Harner’s in North Aurora solves that problem by putting a full restaurant and a scratch bakery under the same roof.
The Harner family has been feeding Fox Valley appetites since 1960, and the business still leans into the kind of baking that takes time, butter, and a willingness to get up before sunrise.
Apple strudel and cherry strudel are both part of the coffee cake lineup. They share space with butter pecan, maple walnut, almond, and fruit-filled varieties that make a simple pastry run surprisingly complicated.
The bakery makes its treats from scratch in its own ovens, a detail that gives this stop a genuine old-fashioned connection.
And the pastry cases don’t stop at strudel.
Apple fritters, cinnamon twists, cream horns, brownies, fruit pies, and homemade sweet rolls are among the other temptations. There are cookies and fresh breads, too, in case you need something that feels slightly more practical.
Here’s what makes Harner’s different from a typical neighborhood bakery.
You can sit down for a proper meal before tackling the dessert counter. The restaurant serves familiar comfort food, including fried chicken and hearty daily specials.
It’s a handy arrangement for families with different appetites. One person gets lunch, another gets a pastry, and nobody has to negotiate a second stop.
Hours start at 5:30 AM on operating days. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday close at 8 PM, while Friday and Saturday stretch to 9 PM.
Sunday hours end at 3 PM, and Tuesday is currently listed as closed.
If you’re coming for strudel, consider picking up a box before sitting down to eat. That way, dessert is already taken care of.
A little planning beats discovering the last apple strudel has gone home with somebody else.
Address: 10 W State St, North Aurora, IL 60542
8. Oak Mill Bakery
Poppyseed strudel might not be the first pastry that comes to mind when someone mentions an old-fashioned bakery. At Oak Mill Bakery in Niles, though, it has a family connection that makes it worth a closer look.
The bakery opened in 1986, bringing traditional Polish desserts to the Chicago suburbs. What began as one family business eventually grew into several locations, but the original Niles shop remains part of the story.
Flaky phyllo strudel was among the specialties that helped establish Oak Mill’s reputation, alongside kolaczki cookies and paczki.
Poppyseed strudel has a particularly personal place in the bakery’s history. It’s listed among the founder family’s favorite desserts, which gives this pastry more significance than simply being another item in the case.
If you’ve never tried poppyseed filling, expect something different from the usual apple-and-cinnamon combination. The tiny seeds give it a distinctive texture and a rich, nutty character.
That makes it a fun choice for anyone who already knows their way around a traditional fruit strudel.
Cream puffs, eclairs, fruit tarts, and beautifully decorated cakes are all part of the European dessert lineup. The bakery also makes assorted pastry trays, a handy option when you’re feeding a crowd.
Special-occasion cakes are another major part of the business. Wedding cakes and elaborate dessert tables keep the bakery busy well beyond everyday pastry shopping.
Hours run Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM, Saturday from 8 AM to 5 PM, and Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Specific pastry selections can vary, so calling ahead is sensible if poppyseed strudel is the main reason for your visit.
And if you’re bringing dessert to a family gathering, consider picking up something with chocolate, too. Not everyone appreciates poppyseed until they’ve tried it.
Address: 8012 N Milwaukee Ave, Niles, IL 60714
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