LAKEVIEW — Dogs need dessert, too.
This became clear as Sophie Evanoff scouted the location for her third outpost of Vanille Patisserie in a former hat shop at 3243 N. Broadway.
"The neighborhood is so dog-friendly," she said. "I don't know how many dogs walked by as I was standing on the street."
So when Vanille opens (end of the month is the target, Evanoff said), she'll have all the macarons and other French pastries her customers have come to love, plus some special treats for four-legged companions.
At 1,100 square feet, the new shop is slightly smaller than Evanoff's flagship location at 2108 N. Clark St., with room for about 12 seats. It will be a retail-only spot. All the baking will be done at the Lincoln Park location.
Evanoff is timing the opening to the introduction of a few other proverbial buns in the oven: gluten-free chocolate-and-vanilla cake and a redesigned website so she can ship her pastries and desserts nationwide.
The gluten-free options came about chiefly because Evanoff's cake designer doesn't eat gluten.
"She does all of it and she can't even try it," she said.
Evanoff said her gluten-free version is indistinguishable in flavor and texture from the regular cake.
"I honestly could not even tell it was gluten-free when I tried it," she said. "It doesn't leave an aftertaste like others, and it's so moist."
The new website will take orders for local delivery and pickup by Chicago customers as well as nationwide shipping, something Evanoff tried early on but stopped.
"We had so many issues with product quality and consistency in shipping," she said.
This time, she said she's figured out packaging and shipping so the sweets get to where they're going overnight, tasting and looking as good as when they left.
Vanille Patisserie specializes in traditional French desserts and pastries. [Vanille Patisserie/Facebook]
Evanoff, a French Pastry School graduate, bought Vanille in 2011 from Dimitri Fayard, a former instructor at the school and now the Peninsula Chicago's executive pastry chef. He and wife, Keli, opened the pastry shop in 2002 at 2229 N. Clybourn Ave.
The second location inside the Chicago French Market, 131 N. Clinton St., has been an anchor tenant since the market opened in 2009.
After expanding to Clark Street in late 2013, Evanoff closed the original Clybourn shop last year. The lease was up and business wasn't what it had been, she said.
But always on the lookout for new retail opportunities, Evanoff said she was drawn to the Lakeview neighborhood for its "really strong sense of community."
"When I first looked at the location, people were saying 'Hi' to each other on the street. You don't see that anymore," she said.
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