Explore Milk Bar’s Chicago Debut as Christina Tosi Revels in Midwest Nostalgia

It’s game on for Christina Tosi, the empire builder behind Milk Bar, now armed with Chicago-style Hot Dog Bombs and ready to open her first location in the Midwest. Allied with Boka Restaurant Group, Milk Bar’s Chicago location will officially debut on Saturday, February 8 at the Hoxton Chicago Hotel in the West Loop.

As passersby walk in front of the hotel and catch a glance of Milk Bar’s highly recognizable pink neon sign, Tosi asks if anyone will show up. Chicagoans love standing in line for food, even for New York imports like Prince Street Pizza, which opened a nearby location in January, or Levain Bakery, which also opened in the neighborhood in 2022. But Tosi still possesses first-day jitters; this is the first Milk Bar opening in five years: “We have all these ideas about how it might go, but you also just don’t know until you open the door,” Tosi says

Tosi, dressed in special Milk Bar Converse Chuck Taylors, is a native of Berea, Ohio, and grew up in Virginia. She wanted to bring her brand of nostalgic cookies and cakes to the Midwest earlier and says she was close to signing a lease before the pandemic. That was also before motherhood; she’s got a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old with husband Will Guidara. Guidara and Boka co-founder Kevin Boehm are close, with Boehm bringing a version of Guidara’s Welcome Conference to Chicago. That friendship led to the collaboration with Milk Bar.

Milk Bar’s always been great at selling nostalgia to New Yorkers who often fall victim to the city’s fast pace. A sweet treat, like Cereal Milk soft-serve ice cream or a savory Bagel Bomb with Everything spice helps them reconnect with their childhood. But the Midwest, where Tosi hails, has long been a prime source of nostalgia with novelty Americana. Whether that’s an insult or a compliment depends on who you ask. Many of Milk Bar’s treats are brightly colored and Instagrammable. However, Tosi points to the relatively bland Corn Cookie as the unsung hero of the display case. Tosi is regularly asked about taking the cookie off the menu, but she holds strong.

The bleacher seating at Milk Bar.

“There’s no rainbow sprinkles in it, there’s no potato chips,” she says. “But if you’re a Midwesterner, you’re like, corn — it’s like one of the food groups.”

She suggests taking extra sharp cheddar and griddling two Corn Cookies into a grilled cheese. No additional butter is needed; there’s plenty in the cookies.

The Hot Dog Bomb is filled with Vienna Beef hot dogs and has a lighter texture compared to Milk Bar’s standard Bagel Bombs. When Boehm visited their Nashville home over Labor Day, she had all the Chicago-style hot dog ingredients ready for some light research. Milk Bar’s not just about the sweet items as Tosi sees the bakery as an oasis for folks on their way to work in the morning, or perhaps out late at the Hoxton’s basement bar, Lazy Bird.

Some Chicagoans may feel the Milk Bar has arrived in town too late in a city full of great bakeries with Milk Bar’s innovations not as fresh as they were when Tosi opened in 2008, as part of David Chang’s Momofuku. Tosi says she has seen her staff get upset when they see other pastry chefs riff on Milk Bar’s signature items. But she’s not too concerned, saying the imitation is flattering.

“If someone wants to come in and be highly influenced and highly inspired, that’s okay,” Tosi says. “We know why the Compost Cookie is what it is, and we have to have confidence that we’re going do it on our level because we’re the only ones that do that.”

Milk Bar has been in Chicago at ghost kitchens, available via third-party deliveries, for a few years. Tosi is mindful of that but hopes customers will enjoy the location’s patio seating and exclusive items, like a cookie inspired by Portillo’s chocolate cake. It’s a different experience. For example, a parent could score big points by bringing their children to that famous bakery exploding on everyone’s social media feed.

The conversation then shifts to giardiniera with Tosi asking if the spicy pickled concoction can be used on ice cream in the same way as chili crisp. As she brainstorms she taps into her inner Midwesterner and mentions her mother’s pot roast recipe that uses condensed tomato soup and either cranberry or grape jelly.

“It’s guttural and delicious and true, like, but in a way that’s unapologetic, that’s you’re not going to find that on the menu in other parts of the country,” Tosi says.

Milk Bar, inside the Hoxton Chicago, 200 N. Green Street, opening on Saturday, February 8.