Dreamed up by husband-and-wife pastry chefs Dimitri and Keli Fayard, Vanille Patisserie proves that an authentic French pastry shop is right at home in Chicago. After all, Dimitri is from France while Keli is a Chicago native; the two met while working at a pastry shop in New York and decided to open Vanille Patisserie in 2003. Inside the Lincoln Park shop (a second location is located in the Chicago French Market), you'll find an almost overwhelming selection of culinary delights, including petit fours, tarts, macarons, and Dimitri's specialty, entremets, or mousse cakes. "My husband's known for entremets; they're balanced in sweetness, textures, and flavors, and they really set us apart," Keli says of the creations, which include Vanille Patisserie's signature Entremet Vanille, a vanilla bean cream on top of exotic coulis and coconut cake, all wrapped in light white chocolate mousse. Also popular are the shop's 12-plus daily flavors of French macarons (the latest include lemon and peanut butter and jelly, but "each flavor has its own fan club," Keli says) and croissants, though any admirer of pastries is sure to find something at Vanille Patisserie. "Our clients include those who are celebrating a special occasions and those who pop in to get a croissant or treat themselves to a nice dessert and a cup of coffee in the middle of the day. Students, housewives, chefs, doctors . . . we see them all."
Jimmy Choo
Castaner