After unwillingly handing over a four-dollar bill to your barista every morning, you expect your coffee to do more than a low-fat triple chocolate latte and your breakfast selection to do more than a toasted bagel. You're thinking: vegetable quiche, fresh ham sandwiches, fresh baked goods that are homemade fresh-baked right here in Chicago; like a farmer's market. Exactly.

Lisa Thompson started selling her homemade croissants, scones, cookies and cakes at the farmer’s market with a sweet success that led her to the opening of Blue Sky Cafe. Everything usual except, this little cozy little cafe with free wi-fi, sleek dark furniture, delicious homemade baked goods, sandwiches and coffee drinks ($2-5), goes beyond the standard cookie rating. Thompson's Blue Sky Inn non-profit program helps homeless and disadvantaged youth between 14-24, by offering part-time job placement in the Blue Sky Bakery & Café where they can gain skills and keep a stable job in addition to creative outlets, workshops and tons of encouragement.

So, next time you gripe and moan about the four-dollar low-fat triple chocolate latte and bite into another dry bagel, think how far your $4 could go at Blue Sky Bakery & Cafe. And by all means, order a vegetable quiche or a made-to-order sandwich.

Centerstage Reviewer: Beatrice Smigasiewicz