Vanille Patisserie

The stars aligned when an instragram pic came up on my feed the last day of a four day stretch of endless meetings. Vanille Patisserie to the rescue.
It was the Verger Champanois – this beautful desert made with champagne mousse, rasberry coulis, almond biscuit and lemon-​lime Cremeaux. It was a great way to celebrate a hard week at work and a wonderful introduction to Vanille Patisserie.
I’ve had their macarons from their French Market location and had passed by the Clark St store many times as the LPZoo is not far and I’m glad I finally made time to visit.
Their bakery display case is full of these beautiful pastry confections, each so intricately made with vibrant colors. There is also a wide assortment of macarons and other baked goods like croissants and danish. The space is warm and inviting. There is seating for customers as well as a small private room where I spied a small gathering of women having afternoon tea it seemed.
Of course I can’t say no to some macarons so I purchased some for later – getting a free one as it was Valentine’s Day. (how sweet was that?). Of the few I tried, the Passionfruit was my favorite and then the Lavender. The meringue shell had the perfect crisp to chew ratio and the flavors were bright and true.
Friendly service, wonderful items.

I absolutely love Vanille, everything they have is tasty and delicious. Highly recommend the croissants, stud muffins and Macarons! The atmosphere is peaceful and it feels like a short vacation to Paris.

It is hard to pick what to eat first. The girls are super helpful depending would you have a taste for. The latte was delicious. The seating area is small but very relaxing. I absolutely love all the decorations.

I had several macaroons — all were very good, and since it was their opening weekend, had they were giving out free macaroons and tastes of other sweets.
They had about a dozen different varieties of macaroons, quite a few entremets, croissants, and other assorted sweets. They serve coffee & tea, but I did not have any.
The shop is fairly small with seating for about 8 or 10 people inside.

Vanille Patisserie makes some of the best French desserts in the city, and I can attest that they taste as delicious as they look. And they look impressive to say the least! My boyfriend and I were immediately drawn to the macaroons, and at Vanille they are of a different style than the Laduree originals (and the more common type). Vanille makes the ganache of their macaroons much more dense, with the meringue as flaky and delicate as macaroons rightly should be. I love this unique style, it makes for a very delicious macaroon. Maybe it was becase my friends and I arrrived around 8:30 before their 9pm close, but the employees had quartered samples of the coconut and chocolate macaroons out for the taking. Obviously we did some taking.
I love that they give you what you purchase on actual plates (from Crate and Barrel I might add), and let you sit down to enjoy your desserts. The helpful and exciting staff even give you water in a glass upon request!
We also ordered a dessert called the Michelle, which was absolutely beautiful in appearence: it was bordered by green merignue in a macaroon shape, with fresh raspberries and some passionfruit filling. Absolutely amazing! I would give this pastry alone 6*. My friends ordered a red velvet cupcake (the cupcakes all had male names like Evan haha), which they were unimpressed by. They had macaroons too and loved them — they just ordered the wrong thing!

My boyf and I have been waiting for this Vanille location to open for weeks now. So to walk past today and see the paper off of the windows and the lights on, we were very excited!
The inside is decorated adorably, and was spotlessly clean. For seating, you can choose to sit in the back at cute little tables or you can sit by the window in their row of tall chairs.
We ordered an almond croissant and three macarons. We got complimentary water which was ice cold and absolutely delicious with our dessert pairing. The almond croissant was also free as there had been something wrong in the preparation; in taste, though, the almond croissant was divine.
Overall, what a great addition to N Broadway. I cannot wait to come back many more times!

The service is really great here and I love the location. The macarons are fabulous, and much tastier than the macarons they sell at the new place on Armitage. I picked up a few desserts for my girlfriends house warming, and while small, they sure do wow. If you’re coming out of chicago pizza grinders or one of the two italian places that have almost identical names (but one is slightly better than the other?), this is a great place to pick up a nice post-​dinner dessert since it’s pretty close.

Went back a second time and I can’t say enough about how lovely this place is. The person who helped me was so pleasant and helpful. My friends and I received our complimentary macaroons this time and every one of them was delicious with the flavors we had chosen bursting through.
I would suggest trying everything here. I don’t think you can go wrong with any choice.

Beautiful afternoon tea! Leslie was so gracious and accommodating! Can’t wait to come back!!!

The macarons are great. Very delicate pastry. With the money. The vanilla, salted caramel were my favorites. The casis was OK. The chocolate caramel had no flavor of caramel, more like double chocolate.

Wow! Awesome variety of pastries and they are beautiful too!
What I tried:
The Royal– in a word, Fantastic. It is a chocolate, mouse, ganache, and hazelnut celebration. If you love chocolate, get this one!
Each pastry is carefully crafted. The display case is full of gorgeous gems, but better because they are all edible. Also, they have more macaron flavors than you could possibly eat.
This place merits several return visits. It’s on the spendy side, but for a special treat, it’s definitely worth it.

Cute place. Zero vegan options.
I attended a shower here recently. We used the small room off to the side, which was nice although we felt somewhat on display to the street and the rest of the shop.
The tea selection was good, but I do hope they will come up with at least one vegan option in the future so I can return.

What an adorable bakery! About a 10 minute walk from Lincoln park, the first thing you notice is that beautiful macaroon Eiffel Tower!
Unfortunately, we got there about 45 minutes before closing time so there weren’t a lot of pastries left. They had some scrumptious looking cupcakes and a wide variety of macaroons. Flavors included: lychee, pecan pie, Nutella, red velvet, pistachio, mango passion, green tea, etc. I wish I could’ve tried them all! But I’m trying to be less of a glutton :-p.
The staff were very friendly, and they let my friends and I sit in their private «tea room». It would be the perfect place to reserve for high tea, or an intimate celebration/​get together. The room’s décor was a little Alice in wonderland-​esque which I loved!

Incredible café– try the mango passion macaroon– and their pastries are a amazing as well.

We had our wedding cake and macaroons from Vanille. Everyone loves the cake. It is beautiful with ombré flowers and tastes great. A lot of wedding cakes are too sweet, too heavy but their cake is light and airy like a chiffon dress.
The macaroons are so good! We ordered about two hundreds of them. They are not cheap but this is macaroon, the ingredients cost a lot anyway. I had macaroons from the famous Laduree and Pierre Herme. Pierre Herme is hard to compare with others because they do so creative flavors. But Vanille can tie or is better than Laduree.

Really cute bakery in Lincoln Park on Clark. I ducked in here one day when I was out for a walk and it stated to rain. To wait it out, I ordered a chocolate croissant and macaroons (Nutella and vanilla). Both were excellent. The croissant wasn’t out of this world, but it was delicious and they offered to warm it up for me. The macaroons I enjoyed since they were cheap and perfectly made.
The workers were excellent and made small talk with me. Plus the place itself is adorable!

I ran in here to get a quick cup of coffee because the line at Starbucks was long and I was in a hurry. However, I found myself distracted by the beautiful array of pastries at Vanille and I had to get one of the macarons. I asked the woman helping me what she preferred and she recommended strawberry champagne. She then asked if it was my first time there and when I said yes, she proceeded to give me my macaron for free: apparently, that’s the policy at Vanille.
Honestly, the macaron was a little too sweet for me, but it was light and chewy just like a macaron should be and I can’t wait to try the other flavors. My coffee was also great.
I was having a really bad afternoon when I walked in here and the combination of the free pastry and the fact that the two women who helped me were kind, friendly, and generally good servers literally turned my afternoon around and I walked out smiling. Thus, 5 stars for Vanille. Can’t wait to try all of the other seriously beautiful pastries there.

[Out-​of-​Towner Review]
California seeks chocolate help in Chicago.
I had the pleasure to work with VP from a distance for most of my experience. From phone calls to emails, VP was nothing but professional, easy to work with, and exceptional.
I have a fun job at times, which allows me to commission various places to make things for my company. This case was no different. We were headed to the Windy City for a trade show and we needed goodies to incorporate in our booth. Another company we use in Chicago, recommended VP to us.
From my initial phone call to the delivery, VP was easy to work with. Sadly, I never set one foot in their store. But I don’t need to, to know what excellent service and goodies they provide. Most of their goodies went uneaten, since they were on display, but they were gorgeous and we were happy to display them in our booth.
We even tasked them with two specialty cakes, which they did with ease and grace. Also, to accommodate our need they made a special tart that is only made during the winter season, but they made them for us. They were very thorough and made sure they knew exactly what they wanted.
I dealt with Leslie a lot of the time and she deserves to be recognized for her customer service. She was a delight to work with and went out of her way to ensure her products suited every need I had. I can’t thank her or VP enough for their service.
I did get to eat a special-​for-​us chocolate and almond bark they made, since it stayed wrapped in a package for the entire show. Their chocolate is amazing. It was simple in nature, literally just chocolate and almonds, but the chocolate taste of class and elegance. You knew there was high quality products and workmanship put into this bark. I only wish I could have tasted the macrons, the chocolate croissants, or the pear tarts that were teasing us through out the tradeshow on display!
Thanks for making me look good with your gorgeous goodies!

We were in Lake View and used Unilocal to find the closest place for dessert and this came up very high on the list. I am so glad we used Unilocal because we wouldn’t have passed this place otherwise and it was worth the visit.
I shared the vanilla cupcake and the Sophia (hazelnut and chocolate) and both were delicious. I preferred the Sophia and could have eaten the whole thing myself. The cupcake was good but not comparable to say Magnolia bakery or Sprinkles. The macaron on the cupcake was delicious and next time I’m in Chicago I plan on getting a few… or a dozen. I also had an Earl Grey Tea which was very good. My sister had the almond tea which turned pink and was soooo cool! I didn’t like the taste but she loved it and I’m glad I got a picture of it!
The décor was beautiful inside. It felt very fancy and fit the decadence of the desserts. There were 6 of us and I was happy to get the private room in the back of the café.
I look forward to retuning soon! Such a fun treat!

Vanille Patisserie is a favorite bakery of most that has been around since ’02. Founded by chef Dimitri Fayard, this bakery offers French pastries, desserts, tarts, cakes, handmade chocolates, French macarons, and croissants. I tried a mini pistachio cake with raspberry cream — it was more mousse-​like, but more airy and fluffy. Slightly bitter (maybe over-​roasted pistachios?), this cake (as all their cakes) need to be consumed quickly as they are quite perishable. I really like their smart cake boxes that won’t turn your dessert into mush and keep its form. I’ve tried their macarons as well, and preferred the lemon more than the lavendar; slightly chewier than I would have liked, each had a really strong flavor, which I appreciated. On a side note, they have another location at the Chicago French Market!
+French pastries and desserts
+cake boxes to keep your cake’s form
+highly-​perishable cakes!

This place had been on my list for years and then one day, I was walking down the street and almost missed it. I was full from dinner but I had to stop by and I’m so glad I did.
I walked in with the intention of trying macarons and immediately spotted the samples on the counter. Then, because it was our first trip, we got free samples. By the end of the trip, we had tried the Cassis, Lavender, Rose, Caramel, Vanilla, Nutella, Red Velvet and Lemongrass. The Cassis was our favorites followed by Lavender. But all were amazing and were completely devoured by the end of the evening.
Overall, I definitely recommend dropping by. The macarons were totally worth it.

They were open for an event, however were kind to take in some walk ins after regular hours. I’ve passed by here many times always after their closing time, tonight as I was driving I noticed an open door, and I thought great they’re open. Turns out they were past their normal hours, but they let me get some goodies to take home.
They didn’t rush me and they answered questions about the various delights behind the glass. My choice was as described not quite cheesecake, but denser than mousse, was just right and delicious. Their cleaver packaging had my treat arriving home just as if it came out of the case.
I plan on making an effort to be in the area earlier, so I don’t scooch in before an event.

I went with a friend to this pastry place. We both wanted something sweet. This place is fancy. Beautiful cakes are on display, colorful macrons are lined up, and modern eating. The pastries are about $ 7, so I think it’s alright because the pastries are very detailed. One tiered cakes are $ 34 each. I got a caramel pastry, and I thought it tasted yummy and sweet. I really enjoyed the different layers and textures. I think there should be more places like these, because sometimes you just want to savor a small dessert. My friend got a brownie and two macrons. He ate it up so fast so I know he found it delicious. It’s a win-​win for everyone.

This is one of the best pastry shops I’ve been to since I moved to Chicago. I have tried macaroons all over Chicago and their’s are the closest to Laduree in Paris. I’ve tried their cupcakes as well and I’m loving all the flavors. I’m definitely returning to try more of their goodies and I’m recommending them to my family and friends too.

Vanille Patisserie is by far the most impressive pastry shop I found in all of Chicago. If one thing Chicago lacks, it’s really good pastry parlors, but this one really took the cake! Just like any classic French patisserie, there were several glass cases in an L shape around the store full of small entremets, layered cakes, cupcakes, laminated pastry, macarons, and more.
The one Saturday I went I opted for three macarons and the chef’s special dessert. As for the three macarons, the coffee one was absolutely dry, horrible, and disastrous, but the mango-​passion fruit combination was baked perfectly and exotically brilliant, and the red hot cinnamon imperial macaron was the star of the day. It was exactly the same color as the famous candy we all know and love, and the flavor mimicked it perfectly! It was rich, gooey, and full of that intense burning cinnamon flavor we’ve all come to expect. Definitely a perfect bite of spicy sweetness for a windy and cold Saturday morning.
The chef’s special plated dessert was also outstanding. Layers of lemon, lime, and champagne mousse, raspberry glaze, and red currant gel were shaped into a half-​moon dome on top of an almond biscuit and just oozed out wonderfully when you cut through it with a knife. If I were to knock it for anything, there was honestly perhaps too many flavors, which is shocking coming from me of all people. The champagne and raspberry went really well together but by the time you bit into the almond biscuit with lemon and lime cream, the champagne and red currant flavors were lost completely. That said, the technique used in making such a dessert was nothing short of masterful. The pastry chef who runs this joint has definitely got the skills to take on the world.
Although I don’t think Vanille Patisserie would fare magnificently well in a city like NYC, it definitely is the breadwinner in Chicago for me. I’m really looking forward to my next visit when I can see what else the head pastry chef here has come up with!

What a fun place. When you sit in Vanille Patisserie, you might feel like you are sitting in a patisserie in Paris. Well, until you look at the gloomy Chicago weather outside.
Everything they make is beautiful. I posted a few pictures of their display cases to show you all how magnificent they are. Each pastry is like a little work of art.
My family tried a couple of almond croissants. I, unfortunately, cannot eat anything with milk. Everything they make except for jellies have milk or butter in them, so I was out of luck. I am told, though, that the croissants were delicious.
I did try their coffee. Vanille Patisserie has their own blend specially made. I can’t say it was the best coffee I’ve ever had, but it was very good.
Even though I couldn’t eat anything there, I enjoyed watching the people around me enjoy their pastries.