Stan's Donuts in Chicago is the Wicker Park doughnut chain on Damen from the Sahagun family, with yeasted pocketed long johns and red-velvet doughnut frosting.
Tip: Order online for pickup if the line is out the door, which it usually is on Sunday mornings.
Address: 1560 N Damen Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Middle East Bakery & Grocery in Chicago is the Andersonville Lebanese bakery on Foster, with manakeesh from a brick oven, spinach pies and pickled vegetables.
Tip: Order a za'atar manakeesh hot from the case and a bag of pickled turnips; eat the bread in the car.
Worth the queue: Za'atar manakeesh
Weber's Bakery in Chicago is the Garfield Ridge Polish bakery on Archer since 1930, with rye breads, kolacky cookies and the Fat Tuesday paczki line out to the kerb.
Tip: On Fat Tuesday the queue is two hours. Pre-order on the website by the Friday before; collection runs all day.
Worth the queue: Paczki
Lost Larson in Chicago is Bobby Schaffer's Andersonville Scandinavian bakery on Clark, with stone-milled rye and the cardamom bun that pulls the morning queue.
Tip: Cardamom buns sell out by 11:00 on weekends. Arrive at 08:30 or call ahead to set one aside.
Worth the queue: Cardamom bun (kardemummabullar)
Publican Quality Bread in Chicago is One Off Hospitality's wholegrain bakery on Grand, supplying The Publican, avec and Big Star with sourdough and laminated buns.
Tip: Friday is the kouign-amann day; they bake a single batch in the morning and it is the move.
Worth the queue: Country sourdough boule
Kasama in Chicago is Tim Flores and Genie Kwon's Ukrainian Village daytime bakery, with the ube cruffin, longanisa breakfast plate and pan de sal at a small counter.
Tip: Doors at 07:00 weekends; ube cruffins gone by 10:30. Get there at 07:15 and order three.
Worth the queue: Ube cruffin
