If you’re looking for something over the top in a way only middle America can do it, you’re in the right place. Bombobar captures the essence of Chicago: it’s own brand of trendy that cooler-than-you coastal cities can never pull off. Like, you can clearly see they put in an effort to brand and design it… and yet the product is so appealingly gaudy. But when you top hot chocolate with donuts and donuts with bottled chocolate, you’re committing to a distinct lifestyle choice that only Chicago can empower.

Bombobar has been around for a while, beginning as a little takeout window in the heart of West Loop right at the corner of Randolph and N Green. But its insane popularity among both adults (you can spike your drinks) and families (you can entertain a whole bunch of kids with enough gelato) fueled a more recent expansion to a larger, garage-like space in Old Town. Anyways, point is, they do bombolinis and gelato and combinations of the two and drinks (the chocolate kind, the caffeinated kind and the alcoholic kind and combinations of course), plus an array of toppings that ensure you are making a custom dessert that is just obnoxious enough to be satisfying. So thank you, Chicago, for this low hanging fruit.