I was recently in Chicago, IL for the GFF Magazine Dream Dining Series. While I was there, I had a chance to visit one of Sweet Ali’s Gluten Free Bakery locations – in Glenview, IL.

Previously, I had only had Sweet Ali’s from the Whole Foods locations around Chicago. Since I’m in Chicago at least once a year, I was used to going into any Whole Foods and grabbing some Sweet Ali’s to eat while I was there, and even more to take home back to Phoenix!

However, after all these years, I had never actually been to any of the Sweet Ali’s locations! I never have a car in Chicago, so it was just sheer happenstance that I ended up with Margaret from MI Gluten Free Gal. Who had a car. Who was up for an adventure. Who also loves Sweet Ali’s Bakery. So, with our day off, we headed to the suburbs of Glenview, IL! In a cute little suburb of Chicago, we found one amazing gluten-free bakery!

The prices were similar to other dedicated gluten-free bakeries throughout the country. Example, it was $3.99-$4.50 for a frosted packaged sugar cookie. Obviously, these are treats – and you wouldn’t buy a dozen to eat in one sitting, but they’re so cute and so tasty! I think the bread was a little pricey – a 2-pack of focaccia was $5.49 and a 3-pack of bagels were $8.29 (and honestly the only thing I didn’t like out of my almost $100 trip to Sweet Ali’s.

Like I said, I was already familiar with Sweet Ali’s from their frozen baked goods that are available throughout Chicago in Whole Foods and other grocery stores. This location had a huge freezer packed with frozen items that I hadn’t seen yet. These streusels, coffee cake, brownies, cookies – wow! Many of these items in the freezer were also dairy-free or had dairy-free versions. I really wanted to take some of them home, but I knew they wouldn’t last the long flight home in a hot suitcase in the middle of summer in Arizona!

If you’re headed to Chicago, and have a car, I would recommend that you visit one of Sweet Ali’s bakeries. However, if you don’t have a car – walk on over to a Whole Foods, or other local grocery store – and score some frozen Sweet Ali’s bakery items! You can ALSO ORDER ONLINE. That’s right – you can order select items online and shipped to you! You can order awesome stuff like the focaccia bread, vegan chocolate chip cookies, loaves (pumpkin, chocolate chip, banana), dinner rolls, and more!

Tagged: celiac, celiac disease, Chicago, Chicago Gluten Free, dairy free, gluten free, Sweet Ali's, Sweet Ali's Gluten Free Bakery