Out on a School Night: 3/5 Martinis

Although it resembles an outdoor café in France, La Pane Bakery's menu offers more than just French pastries. Located on 2954 W. Irving Park Rd., what this restaurant lacks in space, it makes up for in creativity.

In the middle of the room there is a brick post adorned with an old-fashioned lamp, a clock, and some photographs of cities from around the world. The wall on the left is painted to appear as if the bakery is in an outdoor French plaza, across the street from little shops. The chairs and tables look like patio furniture, perfect for lounging and reading a good book amidst an afternoon snack, and believe me, there are enough sweet snacks to give you a toothache.

La Pane's pastry options range from classic croissants, muffins and fresh baguettes to tiramisu, danishes, cinnabons and other cakes. To better enjoy these treats, La Pane offers hot beverages like coffee, tea, espresso, and cappuccino.

If you plan on checking out La Pane during lunch, choose from one of their sandwiches, which include the panini, veggie and prosciutto served on your choice of bread (baguette, croissant, or panini bread). The bakery also offers a Mediterranean salad for those craving only vegetables.

For dinner, La Pane prepares thin, 12-inch pizzas with sesame seed crusts; their cheese pizza is $4.99, pepperoni is $8.49 and signature ‘la pane' pizza is only $10.99—a bargain if you don't want to feel so full that you can't fit in dessert. The breakfast pizza (cheese topped with ham/bacon and egg) lasts only until 11:30 a.m. They even accept special pizza orders in which you can choose your own toppings.

La Pane also features special dishes on certain days; Buffalo wings are available on Thursdays and baguette sandwiches on Thursdays and Sundays. Special coupons that give discounts on items such as large croissants, large/mini pastries, and paninis, among others, are available inside.

There is no doubt that much time and effort went into the architecture, but if you're out of luck and there aren't any free tables, you may just have to stand at the table attached to the brick post. Perhaps this won't be too bad if you simply want to enjoy the food they have to offer.

La Pane Bakery offers catering and delivery during its operations hours of 9a.m.-10p.m, Monday through Saturday.