Pleasant House Pub

Chicago’s resident royal pie baker has made some big changes this past year—condensing both the Chicago location and Three Oaks, Michigan location into the former Nightwood spot to turn it into an all-day pub. But the new space is lovely. It’s open all day, meaning you’ll find people hunched over tables with computers by their pastries, and couples on coffee dates chatting over snacks. In the evenings, the menu switches to a full-service dinner. Start with the pickles, a tiny jar filled with tangy pickled beets, carrots and gherkins, then pick any pie for dinner with a side of the salty, crunchy bubble and squeak, a traditional English dish with fried veggies—you can’t go wrong with the savory steak and ale pie and the creamy veggie-friendly kale and mushroom number. End your meal with the seasonal fruit trifle, adorable with sweet and boozy cake topped with tufts of whipped cream and layered with fruit and custard.