Every Friday morning for the past four weeks, I must ponder the same question: How quickly should I eat my chocolate chip cookie from Sugar Moon Bakery?
Obviously, the idea of going more than a week without devouring one is off the table. But since the shop regularly sells out before closing time at 3 p.m., my family now swings by shortly after opening at 8 a.m. to grab our ration. And there, on the sunny sidewalk of Wrightwood Avenue, I debate whether I should save the cookie for later or down the whole thing before work.
Like any great chocolate chip cookie, each one is positively loaded with chunks of chocolate, and features a crispy crust that gives way to chewy interior. But the batter also has thick tahini running through it and arrives sprinkled with fat flecks of smoked salt. There, in every bite, you’ll find a combination of sweet, salty, nutty and rich. When someone recently asked about my favorite chocolate chip cookie, I picked Sugar Moon Bakery without hesitation.
This is the work of Dina Cimarusti. To be clear, Sugar Moon Bakery is almost entirely and solely the work of Cimarusti. “I’m so tired, because I haven’t had a day off,” Cimarusti said on a recent morning. Even though the shop is only open Thursdays to Sundays, she has to spend the rest of the week preparing.
“My body is exhausted,” she said. “I did hire some people to help with prep and front of the house, but mostly it’s me here every day, prepping and responding to emails.”
From the moment she first opened the bakery’s doors at the start of September, the response has been intense. “For the soft opening, there was a line down the block,” Cimarusti said. “I was not expecting that. I hadn’t done any advertising, and I was turning down interviews.” (This I can confirm, as it took me four weeks of polite pestering to line up an interview.)
Despite the lack of promotion, she sold out of everything in the shop in three hours. “That was 600 items,” Cimarusti said. “I baked all of that.”
Considering the response to Sugar Moon Bakery, it’s genuinely surprising to learn that if you Google Cimarusti’s name, you’ll realize that she’s best-known for a completely different reason.
Back in 2014, Cimarusti won Season 7 of “Face Off,” a special effects makeup competition show on the Syfy Channel. Since then, she’s worked on local productions such as NBC’s “Chicago Med.” To see her work, glance at her Instagram page, where you’ll encounter photos of some astonishingly realistic models she’s worked on.
So what’s a special effects wizard doing opening a bakery?
Turns out, she’s been working in kitchens since she was 14. “My family are super hard workers, mostly in construction, and they pushed me to get a job at a young age,” Cimarusti said. But she also grew up loving art and design, and when she graduated from high school, she felt conflicted about which direction to take.
She eventually decided to get a culinary arts degree from Harper College, which she realized combined her two passions. This became especially clear when she took a course on cake making, where she was able to lavish time on the decoration.
After school, she got a job working in the kitchen of the Rosemont Convention Center (now called the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center), though that quickly turned into a much more demanding job than she expected.
“The head pastry chef left shortly after I was hired, and I had to step up and take the job,” Cimarusti said. “It was crazy. Then they found out I could make wedding cakes.” She found herself working incredibly long hours. “I had to make wedding cakes to feed like 800 people, while also preparing 1,000 muffins for a corporate event,” Cimarusti said. “I’d sometimes work from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. It screwed me up. I got burned out.”
She left to work at Alliance Bakery (1736 W. Division St.), a job she liked much better, staying for eight years. But she always had another plan in mind. “I knew I wanted to eventually own my own place, but it was so expensive,” Cimarusti said.
During that time, a chance visit to the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo exposed her to Kosart Studio and the world of special effects makeup. “I was looking for another creative outlet, and I found this school at the expo that teaches how to make Halloween masks,” Cimarusti said. “I took a couple classes there, and my teacher suggested I try out for ‘Face Off’ on the Syfy Channel.” To compete, she had to leave town for 2 1/2 months and avoid all contact with the outside world. But she eventually won, picking up the $100,000 prize. “It sounds made up,” Cimarusti said.
Though she had the money to open a shop, she felt an obligation to give special effects work a try. This led to work with “Chicago Med” and other local productions. “It’s been great, and I learned a lot,” she said, “but I really missed baking.” For a while, she did special effects jobs and worked as the pastry chef at Hexe Coffee Co. (2000 W. Diversey Ave.), while also looking for a place to make her own.
Finally, she found a small storefront in Logan Square and picked a name: Sugar Moon Bakery. “It’s the last full moon before maple trees start leaking sap,” Cimarusti said. The name inspired the shop’s signature pie, which features maple custard made with Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind Smoked Maple Syrup from Vermont. The delicate custard rests on a spectacularly flaky crust, which crackles audibly when you dig in.
Originally, she planned Sugar Moon to focus more on cake. “Cakes are kind of my specialty,” she said. “The whole plan with this place was to be a custom cake shop, while offering slices of cake, sort of like a pie shop, where I had different flavors ready to go.” But she also wanted to offer a few breakfast pastries for anyone who wanted to grab something in the morning.
“On the first weekend, the savory stuff was gone in an hour,” Cimarusti said. “People liked the cakes, but clearly there was a demand for pastries.”
While not what she expected, the pastries allow her to serve the food she likes to eat. “I like to do comfort food,” Cimarusti said. “All my pastries are inspired by my favorite dishes that I eat at home.” A brioche pastry ($6) was inspired by eggs in purgatory, a dish her dad loves to make. A recent focaccia special included plenty of crunchy, spicy giardiniera ($4), which she loves on pizza.
“I don’t like super sweet things,” Cimarusti said. “Everything needs a savory aspect.” This explains the tahini in the chocolate chip cookies ($3.50) and the balance found in the espresso salted caramel cornflake cookie ($3.50), which is a play on haystacks, a no-bake cookie with cornflakes she ate in Wisconsin.
Currently, besides the very popular chocolate chip cookies, no item is permanently on the menu, which adds to the excitement for customers. You might spot a galette topped with chimichurri sauce and mushrooms, or a roasted poblano scone. She also usually has a few vegan options in stock.
Even with all the business, Cimarusti has no plans on expanding. “I’m trying to keep it small scale,” Cimarusti said. “I just want it to be a little neighborhood spot. I’m inspired by bakeries you find in small towns. The food is a little rustic and messy but tastes like mom made it.”
Sugar Moon Bakery, 3612 W. Wrightwood Ave., 312-945-6813, sugarmoonchicago.com
nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com
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