Patisserie Coralie in Evanston

Patisserie Coralie recently opened in downtown Evanston; it's from the folks who also own Bistro Bordeaux, a couple of blocks away. I stopped at Patisserie Coralie this morning and brought home various items. Oh. My. God. They were all really, really wonderful.

I'll start with the almond croissant. Simple item, everyone's got 'em, right? Well, not so fast. The taste and texture were amazing, incredibly flaky and full of flavor. This was the best croissant I can ever remember eating. And whatever's in second place is not even close. At $2.30, pretty darn reasonable too.



Similar was the pain de raisin with cinnamon. Amazingly flaky and full of flavor. Pretty darn awesome. $1.90.



I had a sugared brioche, which I think they called a brioche parisienne. It too was amazing, full of delicious flavor and with a unique, rich texture. Again, the best brioche I can ever remember eating, and not even close. Also reasonable at $1.90.



They had canelés, too. I say "had" because I bought all four of them. These were excellent - moist on the inside, and crunchy on the outside. About as good as the ones at Bad Wolf Coffee, except for the fact that you know the latter ones come out of the oven at 10:00 so you can get them while they're still warm. But these were wonderful too. Again, reasonable at $1.90.



Finally, I got their Paris-Brest. Patisserie Coralie does this in a long shape rather than the traditional circular shape. This too was terrific, delicious and with a texture that's perfect, about as good as the ones at Bad Wolf Coffee, which is high praise indeed. Like most of the pastries in the refrigerated case, this was $6.50, which is a bit pricy IMHO. But oh, so good.



Their boxes and bags are lovely too:



I did not try any of their macarons (8 flavors, $2 each) or their madeleines, or any of their other refrigerated pastries (which included various individual-sized tarts and mousse pastries). They also have an assortment of the usual non-alcoholic beverages - coffee, tea, etc. - which, like the pastries, are available for consumption there as well as to go.

For those who enjoy absolutely terrific baked goods, Patisserie Coralie is a wonderful addition to the near north suburbs!

Patisserie Coralie
600 Davis Street
Evanston IL 60201
(847) 905-0491
http://www.facebook.com/PatisserieCoralie

Thanks for the report! I've been driving by and wondering what was going on in there...

I think these are easily the best croissants in Evanston (sorry, Bennison's; Hewn's are not bad, but not this good). I'll have to try Beurrage again to see how it stacks up, but these are in the ballpark.

The only thing I would not get again is the pain aux raisins -- tiny and not particularly transcendent.

They also have lots of $2 macarons, for those who think it's 2010.

Is that being served on Mary Alice Hadleyware?

Yes.

We stopped by here on Friday afternoon to grab a few treats after a kids' play nearby.

My gianduja tart was excellent, and so was the "Exotic Egg," a coconut-lime mousse in a white chocolate cup on top of a chocolate biscuit.

But the hot chocolates were thin and watery and tasteless (and it was all of ours, not just one bad cup). I'm the first to admit that I'm terribly spoiled in the hot chocolate department, after being exposed to the insanely decadent chocolate drink served by Christopher Elbow in Kansas City (it's almost more of a pudding than a drink, thick and rich and velvety and absolutely crammed with intense chocolate flavor), but this was approaching half-strength Swiss Miss minus the marshmallows... a sad state of affairs indeed.

The service was slow but full of care and attention to detail. One kid couldn't have eggs and they set him up with a crusty baguette and a generous chunk of butter (which the other kids immediately began to clamor for once they realized what was going on). The macarons I bought for Chouxfly were beautifully wrapped. And the owner herself was checking on us as we ate.

We'll be back!

For what it may be worth, we were in Paris less than 24 hours ago and have eaten virtually nothing since returning last night. I had to do an emergency errand first thing this morning and saw that Patisserie Coralie was already open (it opens at 7 am) so I stopped in. The croissants were literally being brought up front as I walked in. In our humble opinion, these are easily the equal of the best we had in Paris. They ain't cheap (at circa $3, they're pricier than Paris) but the quality was truly noteworthy. We may not have had the absolute best that Paris had to offer, but we tried croissants at many, many places in the past week and these are easily better than most, if not all, that we tried.

The second Evanston Patisserie Coralie location, Cafe Coralie, opened Feb. 9 on Howard Street, taking the place of a former Evanston Police outpost. The cafe — located at 633 Howard St.

https://dailynorthwestern.com/2018/02/1 ... rd-street/

French pastry and coffee shop Cafe Coralie at 633 Howard Street in Evanston is closed

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/1/14/181 ... sures-2019

First I am seeing this older thread.
Is the original still there, and so good and reasonable as first described in the original post?

jilter wrote:First I am seeing this older thread.
Is the original still there, and so good and reasonable as first described in the original post?

Per Eater and Evanston Now:

Patisserie Coralie on Davis Street in Evanston will remain open.

Dave148 wrote:

French pastry and coffee shop Cafe Coralie at 633 Howard Street in Evanston is closed

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/1/14/181 ... sures-2019

This is the satellite location, not the main one on Davis St.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:This is the satellite location, not the main one on Davis St.

It was originally intended to be a production facility in addition to a café, selling to other higher-end coffee shops and restaurants. Apparently, that didn't work out as planned.