Sweets With Wanderlust

For a decade, Jefferson Park's Delightful Pastries has been a neighborhood favorite for its eclectic, international array of pastries. The hodgepodge of styles is inspired by the globe-trotting background of baker Dobra Bielinski--and is in full effect at the new store, her second, which opened in Old Town last week.

There you'll find Polish paczki (filled doughnuts) and kolaczki--soft butter cookies with jam or cheese folded inside--next to multicolored Parisian macaroons and oversize French croissants. The pastry case is packed to the gills with sugar rushes, like towering German chocolate cake, Italian tiramisu and bittersweet chocolate cream pie, piled high with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

The savory offerings have as much wanderlust as the sweet. Try the spiced Spanish lamb pie, made with béchamel and Mint Creek Farm lamb, or the creamy leek and Gruyère tart.

A steamer to heat the homemade pierogi is on the way; once it arrives, the tables near the front window will be prime spots for an afternoon snack of mushroom pierogi with brown butter and a pile of greens.

Come December, there will be traditional European Christmas pastries like potica, a Czech walnut roll, and English fruitcake, whose fruit spends three weeks bathing in Grand Marnier and Cognac until it's bloody sloshed, as the English would say.

Delightful Pastries, 1710 N. Wells St.; 312-255-0724 or delightfulpastries.com