Floriole Cafe and Bakery
1220 W. Webster
773-883-1313
When chef-owner Sandra Holl was planning her brick-and-mortar cafe (Floriole had a stand at Green City Market for five years before opening a permanent Lincoln Park location last year), she wanted people to know that she and her staff were making everything from scratch. So she installed a big window between the cafe and the kitchen that allowed people to see exactly what the bakers there do. “But nobody notices,” she says. “People ask if we make our own stuff here all the time.” It’s hard to believe that people could miss the window, which takes up most of the back wall of the cafe—but people are “not very observant at all,” Holl says. “The children are, and then the random person that likes to stare at people is also very observant.” The creepy people who sit and stare for hours are a downside to having the window, but “they’re few and far between.” And “it’s nice when somebody’s watching and then they knock and ask a question. That’s not creepy at all.” —Julia Thiel