Gaslight Coffee's Impressive Pedigree - Chicago

We tend to avoid name-dropping.

But the list of industry veterans at Logan Square's new Gaslight Coffee is too impressive to ignore.

Its owners are Metropolis veterans, its roaster a former proprietor of Star Lounge. Cheese comes from Oak Park's Marion Street Cheese Market, charcuterie from Indiana's Smoking Goose, and pastries from La Boulangerie.

The result is an exceedingly pleasant and delicious place to spend the morning or afternoon, eating and caffeinating.

Start the day with a croissant and a cappuccino, or a soft-boiled duck egg with a hunk of baguette, a sliver of lardo and fruit on the side ($6). There's a to-go version, too, with the egg hard-boiled ($7). After 10:30 a.m., the cheese-and-charcuterie plate ($8) appears. Its makeup varies; on a recent visit, there was aged French goat's milk cheese, a mild cow's milk from Vermont, bresaola and Delaware Fireball, reminiscent of Spanish chorizo, but with a strong chile kick.

Beans are roasted in-house, and are available as drip, pour-over and espresso, or in bags ($16) to take home.

There's one last name to drop: The roaster is shared with HalfWit, the new roasting venture from Wormhole and Fritz Pastry.

Gaslight Coffee Roasters, 2385 N. Milwaukee Ave. (at Fullerton Ave.); facebook.com/gaslightcoffee