InterUrban Opens In Lincoln Park - Chicago

Morning buns from San Francisco's Tartine Bakery have long been on our list of things we'd like to import to Chicago.

Now that Christine McCabe opened InterUrban in Lincoln Park, we're no longer covetous.

Behind a tiny walk-up window in an alley off Armitage, McCabe, who was last seen designing doughnut flavors for Glazed and Infused, produces a slew of sweets and savories, including outstanding cinnamon- and brown-sugar-filled morning buns.

The croissant-sticky bun hybrids ($2) are made with butter-packed yeast dough and lacquered with a caramel-hued cinnamon glaze. At once flaky, chewy and crisp, they're a wondrous way to start the day.

Scones ($1.75) are crumbly and barely sweet, studded with dried cherries or speckled with jalapeño and cheddar. There's plenty of unabashed sweetness, too, like peanut butter cookies, blondies, pumpkin-cream cheese whoopie pies, coconut macaroons and crisp chocolate meringues.

McCabe bakes focaccia ($3) each afternoon, and plans to start offering grab-and-go sandwiches and salads soon; in January she'll open a full storefront in the Grand Avenue Red Line train stop.

But don't wait until then to start your day with one of these miraculous buns.

InterUrban, 2008 N. Halsted (walk-up window in the rear alley; enter from Armitage); 773-698-7739 or facebook.com/interurbanchicago