3 Generations, 75 Years At Bennison's Bakery

Bennison's Bakery, 1000 Davis St., in Evanston celebrates its 75th anniversary this October. Owner Jory Downer, his father Guy Downer, and Jory's 28-year-old son all still work at the bakery.

When Larry Bennison opened Bennison's Bakery at 1000 Davis St. in Evanston in 1938, he brought a love of dairy from his native Wisconsin, preparing his goods with fresh cream, butter, buttermilk and eggs. As the bakery prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary in October this year, owner Jory Downer believes that emphasis on fresh ingredients is still the secret to Bennison's success. “We try not to skimp on anything when purchasing ingredients," says Downer, who took over the shop from his father, Guy Downer, who bought the bakery in 1967. "Our croissants are all butter. We use a lot of imported chocolate. We respect the process of baking. There are no shortcuts here.” Want more stories on Evanston business? Sign up for our free …

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Bakeries Stocking Cases With Paczki For Fat Tuesday

You can get the traditional Polish fried pastries with fruit and custard fillings through Fat Tuesday, Feb. 12, at Bennison's and Tag's Bakery in Evanston.

The cases at Bennison's Bakery, 1000 Davis St., are already filled with fluffy paczki, a sweet Polish pastry typically eaten before the Christian observance of Lent. While paczki are traditionally filled with fruit, Bennison's debuted chocolate praline mousse paczki last year. Traditional flavors include prune, apricot, cheese, raspberry, custard and apple, as well as fresh strawberry with whipped cream and banana cream. The bakery's biggest sales day for paczki is Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, when customers line up to buy the pastries as a sendoff before the Catholic Lenten fast begins on Ash Wednesday, which falls next Wednesday, Feb. 13. Tag's Bakery, at 2010 Central St., will also be selling paczki, beginning this Friday Flavors at Tag'…

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North Shore Foodie Finds

Maple. Bacon. Donut. Need We Say More?

In Patch's weekly column looking at unusual foods around the North Shore, we drool over the bacon-topped, maple flavored long john donuts for sale at Bennison's. Part of this complete breakfast?

Sometimes, it's a tough decision between sweet and savory in the morning. Do you want something salty and greasy, or just a good old-fashioned sugar high? Bennison's Bakery in Evanston makes it easy. On Thursdays through Saturday's, stroll in for the maple flavored, bacon-topped long john donuts. We're talking a full strip of bacon laid lovingly atop a thick smear of maple frosting.  Bennison's started making the donuts a little less than a year ago, after the store owner heard about bacon-topped donuts being sold in Seattle, according to store manager Sam Griffin. They've been popular ever since. "People just get that for breakfast--it's filling," says Griffin. She recommends pairing it with orange juice or coffee for a complete breakfast…

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Sweet: Friday Is National Donut Day

Evanston area shops are handing out free or discounted donuts on Friday.

It seems like there is a special day for just about everything these days and the donut is no exception. In honor of National Donut Day this Friday, donut shops across the nation — including many in Evanston — will hand out free donuts to customers. Bennison's Bakery, famous for its red velvet donuts, will be celebrating with 49 cent glazed donuts, according to its Facebook page.  Dunkin' Donuts is also on board with the holiday. For a free donut, you'll need to purchase a beverage (hot or cold), according to the "Behind the Beans" blog. You might want to do this in the morning, since Dunkin' says that they'll hand out one free donut of your choice "while supplies last." (Could Dunkin' Donuts ever really run out of donuts?) Find your …

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Readers Vote Bennison's Best Bakery in Evanston

Bennison's takes the cake (pun intended) in this week's Readers' Choice poll on the best bakery in Evanston.

Bennison's Bakery has served up cakes, cookies, pastries and bread to Evanston for nearly a quarter century--and Evanstonians are loyal to this local favorite at 1000 Davis St. In this week's Readers' Choice poll, Bennison's swept the voting, with 47 percent of readers casting their vote for the bakery that opened in 1938. Coming in second, with 26 percent of the vote, was an even older Evanston institution: Tag's Bakery, opened in 1937 at 2010 Central St. Newcomer Fraiche, at 815 Noyes St., came in third, with 8 percent of the vote.

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mij

11:04 am on Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bennison's won poll is over   more ›

Bennison’s is Offering $3.14 Pies on 'Pi Day'

The Illinois Science Council organizes the specials to mark the importance of math.

I bet you didn't know that today is Pi Day, a day to pause and reflect on the importance of math — and that super helpful mathematical constant. And to help you with that reflection, participating bakeries in the Chicago area are offering pie specials. In Evanston, you can get $3.14 4-inch pies in four flavors, apple, cherry, boston cream and chocolate cream, at Bennison's Bakery. The Illinois Science Council, which organizes the pi/pie celebration, offers this primer for those whose math lessons are a bit foggy: Pi, if you’ve forgotten the geometry lesson, is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  Pi is abbreviated to 3.14 but continues indefinitely.  To date, it has been calculated by computer to over 1.2 trillion digits…

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Customers Line Up for Paczki at Bennison's on Fat Tuesday

The Polish doughnuts are an annual treat.

"It's a special doughnut day," Katie Colino explained to her two children as they walked into Bennison's Bakery Tuesday afternoon. Isabella, 5, and Luca, 2, needed little persuading that the Fat Tuesday delicacy called paczki were worth checking out. The family hasn't made a tradition of paczki eating in the past, Colino said, but she thought it was a good annual ritual to start. Bennison's had a full house of customers waiting in line for the fruit-filled Polish pastries all day, according to an employee. The store's owner, Jory Downer, tweeted in the morning: "Paczki count as of 11:30: 3033!" According to the bakery's website, the pastries are traditionally eaten the day before Lent to use up the eggs and lard that wouldn't be allowed …

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About Town

Eating My Way Through The Weekend

I don't think I can eat another bite...

Well, it finally felt like a summer weekend in Evanston, right?  It’s about time! I really don’t mean to sound bitter and annoyed (but I am…a little).  It’s just been QUITE a challenging season, weather-wise.  I’ve read the updates from Camp Echo (where my daughter is), describing all the rain they’ve endured this past week.  Bless the heart of the lovely Camp Echo newsletter writer for always putting a positive spin on the camp’s activities: unfortunately, there are only so many ways to describe monsoons in an upbeat manner.  While our daughter’s been out of town, we’ve missed her terribly.  Without her, I’ve been the only girl in the household, and it’s been harder than I imagined.  The boys and I did manage to attend two incredible …

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About Town

Cookies Delivered To Your House!

Great concept, right? Why don't we have a business like this?

This weather is killing me. Sunday afternoon, I sat in front of the fireplace trying to wrap my head around the concept that Evanston’s beaches open in just over three weeks.  Good times. While these cold and dreary conditions offer Evanstonians extra time to work on their beach bodies, they have just the opposite effect on me, stirring up cravings for things like chicken-pot-pie and warm chocolate chip cookies. When we moved to Evanston in 1997, I was pregnant with our first child.  I craved sweets like never before.  Imagine my thrill when I discovered a (now defunct) business that delivered freshly baked cookies until midnight.  Just to clarify:  it wasn’t a dream. The best part (oh yes, it gets better):  they also delivered milk and – …

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About Town

Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Web-Cam

Bennison's Bakery welcomes you into its kitchen.

Blind Item: No names will be used in this column. On a recent weekend evening, some friends and I were walking  south on Maple Avenue after enjoying some freshly made guacamole at That Little Mexican Cafe.  As we crossed Davis Street,  we came upon the side entrance of Bennison's Bakery.  The interior door was open, allowing the smell of freshly baked delights to waft across the sidewalk.  I stood at the bakery's screened door, peering in at the two men working amongst an army of rolling carts; shelves were filled with croissants, cinnamon rolls, scones, donuts, danish, bear claws, turnovers, and muffins. I stood frozen.  As much as I couldn't help staring, I wanted the men to see me and offer me a sample. "Come on!" my friends called, "…

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