Hilldale Cafe & Catering

05/29/2026

🌞 Happy Friday, Hilldale friends! 🌞

The weekend is peeking around the corner, and we’ve got all the cozy comfort food and sweet treats you need to kick it off right! 😍

🥣 Today’s Soup:
Wisconsin Cheese with Bacon (GF) – rich, creamy, cheesy goodness with just the right amount of bacon to make your taste buds do a happy dance.

🍰 Fresh from the bakery today:
You all completely cleaned us out of cakes yesterday (and honestly, we’re not surprised! 😂), so we baked up another fresh round:

✨ Lemon Berry Bliss Cake
✨ Cookie Crunch Cake
✨ Apple Turnovers
✨ Apple Cherry Pie Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls
✨ And plenty more delicious goodies waiting in the pastry case!

Whether you’re stopping in for lunch, grabbing soup to go, or treating yourself to a little emotional support pastry (no judgment here 😉), we’ve got you covered.

📍 Open today and ready to add a little razzle dazzle to your Friday!

☕🍰🥣💕

05/28/2026

Good morning, Hilldale fam! ☀️🔥 We are back and ready to add a little razzle to your Thursday! ✨

Today’s soup feature is one of your all-time favorites: Chicken & Wild Rice (GF) 🍲 — warm, hearty, and worth sweating through the humidity for 😅

And ohhhh the pastry case today… let’s just say she understood the assignment 👏😍

Freshly stocked with:
🍋 Lemon Berry Bliss Cake
🍪 Cookie Crunch Cake
🍎🍒 Apple Cherry Pie Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls
🐢 Turtle Cheesecake Caramel Rolls
🍏 Apple Cinnamon Scones
🍓 Raspberry White Chocolate Scones
🥐 Chocolate Croissants
…and so much more!

Swing in for lunch, coffee, or just a little sweet treat therapy — we fully support emotional support pastries around here 😉☕️

See y’all soon! ✨

🍴

05/24/2026

Deb and I (mom) would like to thank all of you who took the time to wish us a happy birthday. Very much appreciated.

05/23/2026

Happy Birthday to the Dynamic Duo 💃🏼💃🏼 — the Moms, Mom & Mom2, the Twins, the Rockstars… Denise & Debbie! 🎉✨

Life with these two is never boring and always comes with a side of laughter, adventure, and just enough chaos to keep everyone on their toes 😂. This year, I wanted to throw it back to one of our favorite memories together — our very first National Restaurant Show in 2022.

Now imagine this: we get invited to an exclusive VIP rooftop event to thank us for using their software. Fancy rooftop drinks 🍸, extravagant food displays 🍤, city views 🌆… the whole works. Naturally, we all thought we had officially made it.

Then there’s Debbie… our wonderfully picky eater. And when I say picky, I mean this woman is so saucy she doesn’t even use salad dressing 😭😂. But on this particular evening, she decided to be brave and try a mystery appetizer. Let’s just say… Debbie has never emotionally recovered from that appetizer experience and honestly, neither have the rest of us from laughing so hard 🤣.

Cheers to the twins for always bringing the fun, the stories, the love, and the unforgettable memories everywhere they go. The world is simply better — and way more entertaining — with you two in it ❤️

Happy Birthday Denise & Debbie! 🥂✨

05/22/2026

Well friends… it appears our convection oven has officially decided it would also like a vacation. 😅

After additional service work today, we were informed that more parts are needed and unfortunately they will not arrive until next week. Because of this, Hilldale Café will remain closed until Thursday, May 28, 2026.

While this definitely wasn’t the plan, I’ve learned over the years that sometimes life forces you to slow down whether you want to or not. Challenges seem to love finding me lately, but one thing I can promise is that we will keep pushing forward — one day, one repair, and probably one dramatic car karaoke session at a time. 🎤😂

For all catering clients: please do not worry — all scheduled catering events will continue as planned and will not be impacted in any way. Our catering side remains fully operational and we are still rocking and rolling behind the scenes.

One thing that always helps me get through the tough stuff is music. I recently became absolutely obsessed with artist IngaRose, especially this song. It hit me hard because we truly never know what someone else may be carrying behind the scenes. Sometimes people are fighting battles quietly while still showing up with a smile every day.

If you have a moment, give it a listen:
🎶 https://open.spotify.com/track/1UcCAYT16qXS2Tts2NdHhM?si=OBExJCzzRO6V34sCUwnRdw

Spread kindness. Check on your people. Give grace freely. But most importantly — don’t forget to love yourself too. 🤍

Thank you all for continuing to support us through every twist, turn, flood, repair, chaos tornado, and “you’ve got to be kidding me” moment. We appreciate every single one of you more than you know.

We’ll see y’all next Thursday with fresh pastries, hot soup, and hopefully an oven that finally got its act together. ✨

IngaRose · Celebrate Me · Song · 2026

05/20/2026

Important Hilldale Update 🚨

Since opening the doors many moons ago, I’ve learned that the old saying “when it rains, it pours” is painfully accurate… although at this point I’m considering trademarking “keeping Jesus on his toes daily” or “professionally winging it.” 😂

Sometimes all you can do is crank up the car karaoke, roll the windows down, have a tiny dramatic meltdown, maybe cry for 3.5 business minutes… and keep moving forward. Challenges and I apparently have a long-term relationship. 🤝

Unfortunately, due to a last-minute reschedule from our service company today, our less-than-a-year-old convection oven will not be repaired until tomorrow morning. Because of this delay, we will not be able to open tomorrow.

Even if the oven is up and running quickly tomorrow, the reschedule has unfortunately put us a full production day behind on baking and prep. We are hopeful this will be a simple fix and that we’ll be back open Friday just in time for all of your holiday treats, goodies, and . ✨

Thank you all, as always, for your patience, support, understanding, and continued love for this crazy little business of ours. Small business ownership is not for the weak… but thankfully caffeine, stubbornness, and good customers carry us through. ❤️

05/19/2026

Day 2 of the National Restaurant Show and whewwww… somebody check on our walking shoes because they’ve officially entered the witness protection program. 😂👟

If you can imagine walking through an amusement park packed wall-to-wall with incredible vendors, food demos, chef tools, samples, tech, trends, and enough innovation to make your head spin — that’s exactly what this experience has been! From flavor trends to game-changing restaurant technology, the inspiration level here in Chicago has been absolutely unmatched. 🔥🍴

One thing is for sure — we are coming home FULL of ideas, creativity, and plenty of future razzle dazzle for Hilldale. ✨

On our last full night in the city, we decided to trade convention floors for a little fun and took a cruise on beautiful Lake Michigan. Safe to say our hairstylist for the evening was 100% the wind. 🌬️😂 We also explored Navy Pier and the butterfly exhibit — and honestly, it was the perfect reminder that when you work hard, you’ve gotta play just as hard too. 🦋🌆

Can’t wait to bring all this inspiration back home to our amazing Hilldale family! ❤️

✨

05/18/2026

Chicago, you sure know how to keep a girl on her toes! 👟✨

We are back at one of our absolute favorite events — the National Restaurant Show — and day one did not disappoint! From incredible vendors and live demos to the latest chef tools, equipment, trends, and innovative ideas for the food industry… this place is basically Disneyland for restaurant people. 🍽️🔥

We walked what feels like 47 miles today and somehow still only made it through less than HALF of the booths 😳. Tomorrow we take on round two here in Chicago as we dive into even more inspiration, creativity, and all the newest innovations we can bring back to Hilldale.

One thing is for sure — investing in continued growth, education, and fresh ideas is what keeps small businesses evolving, inspired, and ready to serve our communities better every single day. 💡🖤

Now if anyone needs us, we’ll be somewhere icing our feet and preparing for another marathon tomorrow 😂

05/16/2026

🚨 Saturday Hours Update 🚨
Hilldale will be open TODAY from 8 AM – 12 PM ONLY as our team will be heading out this afternoon to serve two large funeral caterings. We appreciate your understanding while our small-but-mighty crew works hard to take care of both our café guests and catering families today. ❤️

Now onto the important business… 👀
It’s EVERYONE’S favorite day — BOGO Pastry Case Day! 🎉 Mix & match the entire pastry case and prepare yourselves because she is STOCKED and READY. ✨

Today’s sweet lineup includes:
🍪 GF Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies
🍑 Stuffed Peach Cobbler Cinnamon Rolls
🍋 Lemon Berry Bliss Cake Slices
🥐 And so much more freshly baked goodness!

And yes… this is an actual pre-opening photo. 😏 You know the drill — if you want the good stuff, don’t stroll in at 11:58 acting surprised when the pastry case looks like a crime scene. 😂

Today’s soup feature:
🥣 Roasted Red Pepper & Gouda Soup (V)

See y’all soon, friends! 💜

05/15/2026

Happy FriYAY, friends! 🎉 The coffee is hot, the pastry case is overflowing, and we are ready to add a little razzle to your dazzle today at Hilldale! ✨

Today’s soup feature is our amazing Chicken & Wild Rice (GF) — cozy, hearty, and exactly what your Friday needed. 🍲

The pastry case is fully stocked with freshly baked goodness including:
🥮 Peach Cobbler Caramel Rolls
🔥 S’mores Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls
🥐 Fruit Stuffed Croissants
🍓 And SO much more!

And my Gluten Free friends… brace yourselves for this one 👀
We whipped up an absolute monster of a treat: a 5-ounce GF Chocolate Chip Cookie topped with cheesecake, hot fudge, and extra chocolate chips. Basically… self-control left the building. 🍪🍫

Swing in, grab lunch, snag a sweet treat (or five — we don’t judge 😂), and kick off your weekend Hilldale style!

05/14/2026

✨ Happy Thursday, friends! ✨

We are PUMPED to be back and ready to add the razzle to your dazzle today! 💃🏼☕️

Today’s soup feature is our famous Cauliflower Bisque (V, GF) — rich, creamy, cozy, and packed with flavor without weighing you down. 🥣

And ohhhhhhh the pastry case came to play today 👏🏼

• Peach Cobbler Topped Caramel Rolls 🍑
• S’mores Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls 🔥🍫
• Cheesecake Stuffed Pretzels 🥨
• Caramel Chocolate Chip Muffins 🍪
• Blueberry Lemon Muffins 🫐🍋
• PLUS so many more freshly baked goodies!

A little Hilldale update for our Melt of the Month lovers — after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to press pause on the Melt of the Month specials during this wild event season. Between catering, weddings, events, and an INSANE amount of specialty pastry preorders booked over the next three months, something had to give this busy gal a little breathing room 😅

That said… don’t worry. The pastry chaos, homemade goodness, and Hilldale creativity are still rolling full speed ahead. 💜

See y’all soon!

☕🥣