Cafe Yaya, the familial Mediterranean and French bakery and bistro in Lincoln Park, by the chefs and owners of Michelin-starred Galit next door, exceeds high expectations with deep explorations.
James Beard Award-winning executive chef Zachary Engel co-owns the businesses in Chicago with operations director Andrés Clavero and beverage director Scott Stroemer.
Mary Eder-McClure, executive pastry chef at both restaurants, has established Cafe Yaya as an ephemeral bakery destination since opening last March with her extraordinary range of sweet and savory work available throughout the day and night.
When I arrived one night, they had already put away the tiny countertop daytime pastry case and dimmed the lights as the reclaimed vintage storefront space filled with friend groups and young families.
“People can come and go at different times and have a similar yet different experience,” said Engel. “And everything is very intentional, to be comforting and familiar, but always paying homage to Galit or where we’ve cooked before.”
I loved my visits (at brunch, happy hour, dinner and even takeout for pastries), indeed finding some classic bistro fare on the menu, but most impressed by their interpretations.
A smoky Big Sis lamb burger, with a za’atar-spiced aioli and an enigmatic amba honey mustard, has deservedly become a bestselling signature item. It refers to big sister restaurant Galit, which was named for Engel’s older daughter, Margalit. The chef created a similar burger there for COVID era takeout. He continues to use only lamb from Trent Sparrow at Catalpa Grove Farm near Dwight, Illinois.
Amba, a complex condiment with Iraqi Jewish and Indian roots, is one of Engel’s favorite ingredients.
“It’s fermented curried green mango,” said the chef. “It makes this very fruity, zippy, sweet, tangy, well-spiced, kind of funky mustard.”
Middle Eastern-style toppings of baby Persian cucumber, pickles, red onion and shredded lettuce finish the lovely lamb burger, tucked in a potato bun. At happy hour, it’s a deal at $16, and comes with a nice side of shoestring fries. The bun and fries are the few items not made in-house.
The Yaya fries, however, are absolutely house-made and fried four times, explained server Arthur Bastardo at dinner. They’re so golden and glorious that you may rethink the potato. I call them The Yaya Potato, because “fries” is not quite sufficient. Dusted with umami-imparting kombu salt and served with an allium-forward green garlic labneh ranch dip, their childlike origin story is surprising.
“My younger daughter, who the restaurant is named after, loves french fries and ranch dressing,” said Engel. “I wanted to do something that was just kind of almost to the point of silly.”
Her namesake Yael was a biblical heroine who’s depicted in one of the many beautiful murals at the restaurant by Ilana Engel. The artist (and chef’s sister) also designed the feminine and powerful branding. Look for her frescoes on the exposed brick walls in the main dining room, and more art on the second floor that’s open as a workspace away from home.
The chef credits the french fry research of chef Heston Blumenthal and author J. Kenji López-Alt. But the Yaya fries make a much bolder statement. They transform potatoes into striking edible sculptures, intended to be silly, but seriously shatteringly crisp on the outside, while buttery soft on the inside.
The stunning shakshuka is by far the most popular dish at brunch, assured server David Neitzke-Pizarro without hesitation when I asked.
A forest of fresh herbs covers a radiant tomato landscape that’s hiding a pair of soft yolk eggs. It’s brilliantly matched with malawach, the Jewish Yemenite flatbread that’s wood-fired here and pulls apart in lacy croissant layers.
But the beauty of a place like Cafe Yaya comes with its creative daily specials.
A radiant quiche of the day was studded with tender nuggets of butternut squash when I went, with a perfect petite salade verte alongside. A silky soup of the day offered another view on the squash, blended smooth and swirled with labneh and pomegranate ribbons, then bejeweled by Urfa-spiked pepitas. A Thanksgiving-esque toasted marshmallow-topped squash challah extravagantly challenged the idea of morning pastry. And Mary’s daily slice was Eder-McClure’s rich New York cheesecake by way of the tropics with precious guava pâte de fruits, the chewy French fruit confection.
Drinks should start with The Cafe Yaya by day, which I had lightly iced, and was essentially like a delightfully nutty pistachio espresso milkshake. A seasonal Hot Date latte with brown sugar and warm baharat spices hints at a comforting infusion of fig cookies. An elegantly frothy and not too sweet cold brew coffee shakerato can also be made boozy with amaro. But the Yaya Old Fashioned is the cocktail to get, beautifully balanced with bourbon, coffee, cardamom bitters and the caramel essence of medjool dates.
The L.B.L.T. carries a touch of that sweetness in house-made lamb bacon layered with lettuce, tomato and their za’atar aioli on that potato bun.
“It’s cured with curing salt and brown sugar for seven days,” said Engel about the lamb. “Then we finish it with a pastirma spice, so paprika, cumin and fenugreek.”
They let that sit overnight, before smoking, slicing thin and cooking on the griddle. Just when you think everything’s been done with bacon, theirs is so delicate and different, crisped ribbons with a distinctive flavor.
The sandwich became so popular after tomato season that they couldn’t take it off the menu. Now the tomatoes are heirloom from hothouses, and unfortunately, my tomato slices were mushy. I say wait until summer tomatoes return from their purveyors, Frillman Farms and Nichols Farm, or just order a side of lamb bacon like the friend group next to me did.
Mary’s biscuit sandwich fared a bit better with sun-dried tomato, but the rustic crusty biscuit style was thick and hard to eat as a sandwich with the awkward Yaya egg sticks tumbling out.
A caramelized onion miso labneh dip is so subtle and small, but comes with your choice of generous dippers: socca (chickpea flatbread that’s woodfired here); simit (the circular sesame bread often called a Turkish bagel); a bread basket with a fantastic focaccia; an adorable quartet of challah rolls; and a cornucopia of crudités. Get everything except the socca, which was sadly gummy.
A French onion dip challah pastry, on the other hand, was fun and smothered in ruffled potato chips, but a bit overwhelmed by too much dip.
This Week’s Ice Cream Sundae featured two scoops of an autumnal vanilla apple butter swirl ice cream, with hazelnut and an intriguing croissant crunch, but curiously no saucy topping.
The sublime baklava, though, flaky and floral with orange blossom and Midwestern honey, honors the ancient pastry with the technique Eder-McClure has been perfecting since she was 9 years old.
“My mom would make baklava for Rosh Hashanah,” said the pastry chef. “As soon as I became able, my mom was like, ‘You can sit down at the table and make the baklava, because I’ve got a whole other dinner party to worry about,’ so it became my job every year.”
She also translates those flavors into an ingenious baklava bun, reminiscent of a cinnamon roll flecked with fragrant orange zest.
“The cardamom kouign-amann is my personal favorite,” said Eder-McClure in a rare chef’s admission.
Her variation on the legendary caramelized pastry may be the best I’ve had outside of France, and took me back to Brittany, where it was invented.
“I wanted to make it a little different, so I added a little cardamom sugar in between the layers,” said the pastry chef. “It’s also something that I myself enjoy eating and I don’t eat a lot of sweets.”
Fortunately a properly made kouign-amann is not that sweet. I do wish that there was a bit more cardamom flavor, as does the chef.“I would do more too,” she said. “But some people are so sensitive with those flavors.”
The shakshuka bun, a fan favorite, evidently needs no adjustments since it sells out every day.
“We make a limited amount, because they have a whole egg inside,” said Eder-McClure. “They generally sell out by 11 a.m.”
I can attest to that, because despite multiple attempts, I missed them, even after ordering a box of pastries online, which are chef’s choice with no option to choose. Full disclosure: my identity was revealed through that order. I picked up at brunch, and my check showed “Louisa Chu Tribune.” They did add a pretty little fudgy tahini brownie and jumbo rice krispy treat without charge, but I bought another pair at the counter and gave the treats to the table next to me.
A highly underrated Cubano croissant also made the box, with smoked ham, Swiss cheese, sharp mustard and pickle bits, made daily in tribute to operations director Clavero’s Miami roots.
Closer to home, I asked Engel about a notation that’s across their website’s “What We Do” page, menus, checks and clarified by servers.In practice, they now simply add a 20% service charge in lieu of a gratuity for full service when dining in, 10% for counter service and takeout, and no further tips are expected.
“I think that people want to think that every restaurant fits into some cookie-cutter mold of how it operates,” said the chef. “And as someone who owns two restaurants, I can tell you that that is definitively not a fact of the world.”
Everybody operates differently, he said, and how they choose to operate is dependent on what makes sense for them. The service charge in lieu of gratuity and the health care surcharge help benefit all their employees and have given them the ability to create a more professional work environment, he added.
“And it shows our employees that when they go on in the future, it is a feasible thing for them to do when they are the decision makers for a business.”
Cafe Yaya
2431 N. Lincoln Ave.
Open: Tuesday to Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (closed Monday)
Prices: $24 (Big Sis lamb burger), $15 (The L.B.L.T), $11 (Yaya fries), $15 (Yaya Old Fashioned cocktail), $8 (The Cafe Yaya refresher); $21 (shakshuka), $4 (baklava), $36 (online preorder box of half dozen sweet and savory pastries, chef’s choice)
Sound: OK (61 to 66 dB)
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible with restrooms on single level
Tribune rating: Three stars, excellent
Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; zero stars, unsatisfactory.
Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
