Business & Tech

Clarendon Hills Native Cuts Ribbon at New Sweet & Savory Spot

Clarendon Hills resident Danielle Kirin and Dan Polak opened the new Westmont bistro and bakery in July.

Bakery sweets are coming together with bistro eats at one of the area's newest eateries.

Clarendon Hills native Danielle Kirin and her boyfriend Dan Polak cut the ribbon last week at The Sweet & Savory Spot, 31 N. Cass Ave., Westmont, which opened over the summer and features a menu spanning the taste spectrum from pulled pork off the bone to cinnamon rolls made from scratch.

Polak, who grew up in Westchester, takes care of the savory end. The 30-year-old trained chef says he’s all about comfort food—meatloaf, short-rib pasta, homemade sausage sandwiches.

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“It makes me feel good because it’s that stick-to-your-ribs type of food that grandma or mom or even grandpa would make,” Polak said.

Keeping the display case full of chocolate-chip cookies, coffee cakes, brownie pies, and other sweets is Kirin, 28. An Elmhurst college graduate whose first career was working with autistic children, Kirin is a self-taught dessert chef who ran her own business, D’s Sweet Berries, for three years.

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“We love to cook and that’s what we do,” she said.

A lot of Kirin and Polak’s cooking, though, is done with little twists.

One example is Polak’s meatloaf, which he says is a “spin on a cupcake,” featuring mashed potatoes as icing. Another is Kirin’s chocolate-dipped wine bottle, allowing one to “pull the chocolate right off the bottle and enjoy your wine,” Kirin said.

“We’re always switching things up and constantly pushing ourselves to do new things,” Polak said. “By doing that we like to keep it fresh.”

So far, the community has responded. Kirin said business has grown each month since Sweet & Savory Spot opened in early July. She credits her fellow Clarendon Hills residents for turning out for one of their own.

“It’s just nice that I grew up in this community and there’s always that community feel,” Kirin said. “We’ve definitely gotten the support, and I’d like to keep that because I love Clarendon Hills.”

Coming up, Sweet & Savory Spot will hold an Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will feature live music and Polak on the grill. Westmont’s downtown train crossing will be closed that day for improvements.

“We took construction and made it a party,” Kirin said.

Sweet & Savory Spot is open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday. It’s closed on Mondays. 

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