Labriola Bakery Cafe

After such a rich breakfast we had planned on having a light dinner of salads. But 30 min after we ate our  salads we were still hungry. Lucky for us that along our route of doing errands for the evening is one of Natalie's family's favorite bakery places - Labriola Bakery Cafe in Oakbrook. It is set up like a Panera in that you order at a counter, are given a number, and the food is brought out to you. Where it is unique is that there is an Italian slant to the bakery and it has its own wood fire stone oven. We have been there before for breakfast and were wowed. We also saw it on Chicago's Best featuring their burgers, sandwiches and pizzas, so we wanted to try the lunch/dinner menu.

buffalo mozzarella pizza

We ordered a pizza and a burger.  We had the buffalo mozzarella pizza, a traditional Neapolitan style pizza made in the wood fired stone oven. We were seated where we could see all of the pizzas being made so we got to see them put large chunks of buffalo mozzarella over a fresh sauce and topped with basil.  We wondered why there were so many cheese pizzas being ordered. Then we realized that most of the pizzas were meatless because most of the Catholic faith was not eating meat on that day. Needless to say you don't need to be avoiding meat to enjoy the Pizza. The pizza is thin but chewy; it came out before our burger and didn't last very long in front of us.

Richie burger

The Burger came out next.  It is served on a pretzel bun (a signature bread of Labriola that is even available at Costco) and is topped off with white cheddar, lettuce and tomato. The Richie burger is served with a side of fries. The meat was cooked to a perfect medium.  The patty was warm, thick and jucy. The burger was great but was made much more special due to the pretzel bun.  What a great way to take the burger to another level.

Final thoughts on Labriola:
Food - very good, especially for a more casual place. In addition to the burgers and pizzas, there are salads, hot and cold sandwhiches
Service - Since we sat right near the kitchen we probably we're served our food faster than other groups. Servers bring your food to you and clear plates.  You are also given a plate of bread up sitting down.  But you are responsible for getting your own drinks.

Atmosphere - It seems like this place is alwasy busy and this Holiday Friday was no exception.  The lines didn't take too long to order, but it is a little crazy to manuever around some of the spaces.