Coffee, Seasonal Pastries, and Community Spirit Fuel This Avondale Cafe

Metric Coffee has made its way to Avondale with Milli, a sprawling cafe and roastery that’s officially open at 3110 N. Kedzie Avenue. The project has been in the works since 2021, transforming a 12,000-square-foot former antiques warehouse into Metric’s new headquarters and a daytime third place.

For now, Milli is focused on its first phase, serving coffee and pastries daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The team plans to expand gradually, rolling out breakfast and lunch in the coming weeks before introducing dinner service later on. Future additions include natural wine, beer, and kombucha on tap, along with a dedicated pickup window meant to help ease the long lines.

Designed by Metric co-founder Darko Arandjelovic, the cafe is bright and inviting, with marble counters, custom lighting, and lush greenery. Every detail was selected to help the space shift naturally from day to night. Co-founder Xavier Alexander says they were immediately taken with the site and worked to preserve much of its original character.

“We found the building, saw it, fell in love with it. I mean, it’s a gorgeous building … we tried to keep a lot of the integrity and original sort of structure the same,” Xavier Alexander says.

Although Milli is only in its earliest days, culinary director Kristin Alexander — wife of Xavier Alexander — says it’s already been buzzing with activity. The cafe has a long communal table up front, additional seating in two back rooms, and plenty of power outlets and free Wi-Fi, making it a cozy spot to settle in for a few hours. Kristin Alexander is excited for Milli to grow into a neighborhood gathering spot, similar to the ones found in Europe, where people feel welcome to share a table with neighbors.

“I’ve seen people coming in to work on their medical school projects, also someone quilting in here. There was a group of people playing chess … several knitters in the place as well. Lots of photographers, artists,” Kristin Alexander says. It’s really inspiring to see people doing creative work in this space.”

The menu, led by pastry chef Lou Turner (Obelix), features items driven by personal stories and nostalgia. For instance, the campfire cookie evokes Turner’s childhood on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, when she would make s’mores. Hyper-seasonality and local ingredients play a big role, too, with the zucchini bread highlighting produce from nearby farms and other offerings rotating to reflect what’s fresh. Currently, the pastry lineup presents choices like croissants, fig cross-laminated buns, raspberry rye eclairs, and canelés.

The journey to opening has been a long one for the Metric team. Launching the project during the pandemic brought its own challenges, compounded by rising construction costs over the years. With Milli now up and running, Metric’s roasting and day-to-day operations will relocate from its Near West Side location, though the cafe there will remain open. The vacated space will be turned into a coffee equipment showroom and also serve as a venue for classes.

While Xavier Alexander is thrilled to finally welcome in guests, he emphasizes that this is just the beginning for Milli. Along with expanding the menu to include small plates, sandwiches, and dinner fare, he envisions hosting community events and is preparing to debut an outdoor patio by next spring.

“We want to be the kind of space where you’re coming in to work and you have a latte, and then maybe it’s 11 o’clock and you have a salad and a glass [of wine],” Xavier Alexander says. “We just want to excel at being the type of space that people want to be in.”

Milli by Metric, 3110 N. Kedzie Avenue. Open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Sunday.