This dine-in and carry-out spot provides South Loop lunchers and snackers with their daily fixins. Unlike your typical Subway (not to hate on Jared), everything is homemade: breads, soups, pastries, even the coleslaw. For breakfast grab a warm muffin, danish or yogurt and fruit parfait. Top it off with a buttery and fresh holiday cookie, a perfect mid-morning indulgence, and you're good to go.

Rather than the traditional salad bars, Bake For Me presents the original sandwich bar. Pick your bread, meat, cheese, veggie and dressing and voila: the sandwich of your dreams. Eat your heart out, baby. To calm the wintry chill, try one of the soups, which change daily and include vegetarian and meat chili, clam chowder, chicken noodle and fat free veggie. Allegedly, the chicken tortilla soup, served every Tuesday, is so popular that people stand outside waiting for it (which is no small feat in Chicago). Lunch specials also change daily and seasonally. During the cold season, go for the chicken pot pie, a creamy, wholesome combo of chicken and veggies baked into a crumbly crust. Yum.

Bake For Me also offers an extensive selection of made-to-order cakes, hence its name. Owner Joe Kapacinskas and his staff produce cakes that serve parties of six to 96. The chocolate chip cheesecake will make your eyes roll back in your head, in a good way. For something lighter but just as delicious, try the angel food cake, a three-layer creation of fluffy goodness, topped with scalloped whipped cream and fresh fruit. At the end of your experience, you'll want Kapacinskas to bake for you again and again.

Centerstage Reviewer: Emily Fiffer