Cupitol Coffee & Eatery

Coffee, breakfast, brunch and a bar list share one room at Cupitol Coffee & Eatery, and the Nutella latte is the drink people name first. Coffee and tea sit beside breakfast, everyday brunch, soups, salads, sandwiches, shared plates, large plates, cocktails, beer and wine, so the appeal here is breadth rather than espresso alone. The concept was built to bring a European-style café and dining atmosphere to Chicago and the wider United States, with house-made pastries, specialty roasted coffee and a continental menu.

Coffee, pastry and the sweet side

The coffee side stays classic: Americano, lattes, and the Nutella latte for anyone who wants the drink to lean toward dessert. Specialty roasted coffee and tea run all day, which is what holds the wider menu together.

Baking is part of the identity rather than bought in. House-made pastries fill the case, and lemon blueberry pancakes are the sweet plate to order if breakfast is the reason for the visit. Between the two, the counter covers both the quick sweet and the sit-down one.

An all-day room in Streeterville

Cupitol frames itself as an all-day lounge rather than a single-purpose restaurant, combining restaurant, bakery, café and bar functions across breakfast, brunch, soups, salads, sandwiches, shared plates, large plates and a kids menu. That flexibility is the point. A coffee stop can turn into breakfast, brunch can stretch into a longer meal, and the drinks list widens past coffee and tea to cocktails, beer and wine as the day goes on.

The room is comfortable, bright and uncluttered, with neutral tones, oak tables on heavy black pedestals, eight-foot windows facing the street and a large community table. Ordering happens at the counter and food arrives by order number, which fits the café-and-kitchen hybrid. It works for a stretch of laptop time, though the Wi-Fi can be uneven, so it reads as work-friendly rather than as a dedicated work room.

What to order

A focused order starts with the Nutella latte, the most distinctive drink on the list, or a plain latte or Americano if the coffee should stay straight. Lemon blueberry pancakes are the sweet plate to pair with either, and the pastry case covers anyone in more of a hurry.

From there the menu framework does the rest. Sandwiches, salads, soups, shared plates and large plates all sit on the same list, which is why a table here can be a coffee, a brunch or a full lunch without anyone moving rooms.