Logan Square Kitchen serves up fixes for the Chicago locavore sweet tooth

I‘m often kvetching about the lack of food trucks in Chicago, thanks to draconian local health regulations. Well, last weekend Logan Square Kitchen reminded me of the wealth of delicious locally produced foods—and the wealth of local culinary talent—with a pre-Valentine’s Day Pastry Market.

Logan Square Kitchen is itself an outcome of an increased interest in local, artisanal foods. Created by longtime Logan Square residents Zina and Nick Murray, it houses a shared-use commercial, two-galley kitchen that chefs, pastry chefs and entrepreneurs armed with secret family recipes can rent to produce their creations. Unlike home kitchens, it is up to health department code, so users of the space can legally market their wares.

The front half of Logan Square Kitchen is an event space. And that’s where we found a number of delights last Saturday, all locally produced.

Katherine Anne Confections. As her website says, “Katherine Anne has been making decadent confections ever since her childhood on a Wisconsin farm.” For the past ten years, she’s been producing six truffle varieties and three caramel flavors, along with a changing menu of seasonal varieties of both. Her artisanal confections are handmade using only the finest ingredients: Guittard chocolate, heavy cream, and locally produced wildflower honey. They’re then packaged in handmade, sustainable boxes. Katherine Anne Confections

Rare Bird Preserves. We first learned of these amazing preserves made from seasonal, local and sustainably grown fruit around the holidays. Their Peach Lavender preserves were a huge hit as a stocking stuffer. Next came a jar of their Meyer Lemon Rosemary. Rare Bird’s kitchen practices artisan methods, infusing floral and herbal pairings with hand cut fruit to create inventive flavors in small batches. Often too small—many flavors sell out as soon as they’re available in local stores. This spring, as local fruit becomes available again, they’re planning to double production. I’m guessing that will sell out quickly too. Rare Bird Preserves

Macaron Chicago. Need an example of how food can change your life? Beth Jacobs launched Macaron Chicago just last fall, after falling in love with French macarons on a trip to Paris. Not to be confused with coconut-rich macaroons, macarons are “delicate meringue shells—primarily almonds, egg whites and confectioners sugar—filled most often with buttercream, ganache or jam.” For now, you can find Beth’s macarons at events like this, at the Downtown Farmstand in Chicago or on her website. Macaron Chicago

Nice Cream. Our brief time at the popular Pastry Market event produced many “omigod, you have to taste this” moments. A couple of the biggest came at the Nice Cream table, as we sampled Kris Swanberg’s handmade seasonal ice creams. We started with her Spicy Chocolate, made with 72% dark chocolate, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Even though Kris had told us the ingredients before we tasted it, the flavors hit in precisely that order. First, creamy rich chocolate, then the cinnamon, followed by—wait for it—a serious hit of heat from the cayenne pepper. You would think that something as, well, vanilla-sounding as Vanilla Bean and Fresh Mint Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Chips would pale by comparison. You would be wrong. It was equally complex, equally delicious. Having only limited freezer room, we left with just one pint, the spicy chocolate. We will most definitely be back for the vanilla bean and fresh mint. Nice Cream

There were more great local foods than we were able to sample. But I’d like to give some others a mention here: B True Bakery, Fig Catering, Floriole Bakery, Flour Cake and Pastry, Rich Chocolates & Candies, Ruth & Phils Gourmet Ice Cream, Tinycakes