Ann Sather Cinnamon Roll

Posted by Edmund in Breakfast/Brunch, Chicago, Featured Articles, Restaurants | 0 comments

Cuisine: Breakfast/American Baked Goods.
Location: 3 in Chicago. I went to the one at 5207 North Clark Street, Chicago.
Price: $3 for a cinnamon roll.

While I don’t normally review breakfast restaurants, breakfast just so happens to be one of my two favorite meals of the day. My other favorite is, unsurprisingly, dessert. So any time I get to combine the two, I don’t even hesitate. That’s how I ended up at Ann Sather, the premier cinnamon bun producer in Chicago.

Now, you may have heard about this place before. In fact, the cinnamon bun was featured on Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” As you all know by now, I’m a sucker for anything from that show, and I just had to head over to check out how good this goliath of a cinnabun was for myself.

It turns out, though, that Ann Sather isn’t just a bakery or a cinnabun maker. Instead, it’s a chain breakfast restaurant—not that I’m surprised, since Chicago seems to be full of these family-friendly, high-quality food chains. And for a chain, the restaurant didn’t look too shabby either. The link I ate at had lots of color, with simple designs of different rural scenes across the walls. It’s very tacky, but it goes along with the idea of Grandma Sather sitting there and pumping out fresh, home-made cooking. One thing to note, though, is that it really was not too spacious, so don’t expect to get much privacy, especially with all the rambunctious people.

The service, too, was okay but nothing spectacular. People are friendly enough, but it’s really, really hectic with everyone rushing around and trying to take and serve orders. I barely even got to talk to my waitress, since she was rushing around so much.

More interesting to me was just how popular the restaurant and its cinnamon roll were. Ann Sather looked like just a simple breakfast joint, but it was packed. And as I looked around, regardless of whatever breakfast people got, there was always at least one cinnamon roll right next to the plates. How anyone could actually manage to eat a whole breakfast and one of the gigantic, luscious cinnamon rolls is a bit beyond me, but that really does speak to the quality of those rolls.

Once I myself took a bite of that cinnamon roll, though, I finally understood what all the fuss was about.

Believe me, this is not your ordinary cinnamon roll. I normally don’t like things that are overly sweet, but this cinnamon roll was irresistible to the point that I practically vacuumed it into my mouth. It’s jumbo-sized but still packed with jumbo flavor. To do justice to its quality, I really do have to go through every component one by one.

I’ll begin with the frosting. It’s smothered all over the cinnamon roll, but it’s very light and more on the liquid, melted side rather than the thick and heavy. Still, it has a really great, gritty sweetness, as though you can actually taste all the grains of sugar. It’s too sweet for me, but it’s extremely satisfying nonetheless, especially when combined with the fluffiness of the roll.

That fluff is really the star of the show. It’s firm enough so that it’s not falling apart, and it’s soft enough so that it’s really chewy and can just soak up all the frosting. Moreover, I like that it’s intensely buttery, giving some heavier fat to balance out the sweetness. The crust, too, is excellent, with that slight crisp that every good cinnamon roll needs.

Finally—and here’s where Ann Sather takes the cake (or the roll, in this case)—is the cinnamon. There’s so much cinnamon that you can actually see thick, heavily brown layers that just circle through the whole interior of the roll. The cinnamon is not just dusted on top or in certain parts but rather is distributed almost perfectly throughout so that you get an equal amount in almost every bite.

It might seem like just a cinnamon roll, but trust me, for $3 you get one of the biggest, richest, most perfectly fluffy creations you can eat. If you love sweet treats or pastries of any kind, you will love Ann Sather’s cinnamon roll. I can’t speak for the rest of the breakfast, but just this roll is enough for me to recommend the whole restaurant.

Scores

Ambience: 2.5/5.0 (not formally considered)
Service: 2.0/5.0 (not formally considered)
Taste (Cinnamon Roll): 4.5/5.0
Value (Cinnamon Roll): 4.5/5.0
Overall Score for the Cinnamon Roll: 4.5/5.0