Rose's Wheatfree Bakery and Cafe

I made a detour on my way to work today to see if this place had opened for business. It's open and much larger than I thought it'd be. However, for the space--what looked like a very big kitchen and cafe seating with I'm guessing 10 tables (I'm really bad at estimating)--I thought their bakery and cafe offerings were pretty limited. I stopped in shortly after 7am, so I didn't expect everything they usually offer in the bakery to be ready, but I asked what items were missing, given the hour, and there weren't many.

I picked up a small bag of goodies--an apple cinnamon scone, a blueberry-cranberry scone, an almond butter cookie, a white chocolate oatmeal cookie and a chocolate chip-cranberry-pecan biscotto. The scones were OK. I didn't care too much for the apple one because I don't like huge chunks of fruit in my scones, and there was too much cinnamon on the exterior for my liking. The blueberry-cranberry was a little better--also packed with fruit. I would have liked it more without the sugar on the outside. The almond butter cookie was good--there aren't many butter cookies I dislike... It melted in my mouth somewhat, but the ground almonds were a bit rough. The white chocolate oatmeal was nothing special. The biscotto was weird--I can't pinpoint why this was...maybe too much stuff was packed into it, or, more likely I guess, the little cookie I could taste didn't taste very good. I ended up crumbling it into the Greek yogurt I usually have for breakfast--used that way, it was better than the granola I usually add.

In addition to what I bought, Rose's usually sells sandwich bread, some other standard cookies like chocolate chip, some cakes and some chocolate truffles. The cafe menu didn't intrigue me at all--run-of-the-mill-sounding soups, salads, sandwiches and burgers. The prices were pretty average for Evanston--same with the bakery items. I don't know if gluten-free items usually cost more, like vegan stuff...

I don't have any gluten intolerance, I can eat as much wheat as I like, but I was curious to try Rose's. I just came back from Australia, where there's a lot of awareness about gluten sensitivities--much more than in the US. I realized I hadn't really explored gluten-free foods. Rose's is a little out of the way for me, so I can't really see myself stopping in again except maybe to sample some cake. I'm wondering if there are any desserts that lend themselves particularly well to being made gluten free... Nothing I had this morning was terrible or really that much different tasting (maybe except for the biscotto) than their non-gluten-free counterparts--there's much more difference, again, with vegan desserts.

Anyway, maybe some people with gluten sensitivities can place Rose's Bakery in a broader context since I don't have anything to compare it to. I'm glad I gave it a shot.

Rose's Wheatfree Bakery and Cafe
2901 Central Street
Evanston, IL, 60201
847-859-2723
www.rosesbakery.com

This place is a godsend. Eating well on a wheat-free diet is very challenging. Generally, it means no pizza, no pasta, no sandwiches, no desserts, etc. Yes, there are a few select establishments that try making wheat-free breads and desserts. And guess what they taste like? Yep, they taste as bad as you'd expect. A mix between sand and styrofoam is probably pretty accurate.
That is where Rose's comes in. I've had their macaroon, carrot cake cupcake, quiche, frozen pizza crust, and sausage and pepper pizza. In every single item the lack of wheat was indistinguishable. The taste was full-flavored and the texture was appropriate. The best of the bunch was probably the cupcake, which was moist and not too dense. The cream cheese filling put it over the top.
If you know someone who is gluten or wheat-free, get to Rose's ASAP. They'll be forever grateful to eat like a real person again, and people without food allergies will just as happy with their food.

A struggling Evanston bakery is using fundraising tool Indiegogo to appeal to customers of its gluten-free goodies. Rose's Wheat Free Bakery & Cafe, a shop in north Evanston, announced Dec. 6 that it would be closing a day before Christmas

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... egogo-fund

And a "white knight" businessman has appeared on the edge of the precipice, and it appears that Rose's will have sufficient working capital to continue operation, and perhaps expand.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/evanston/ct-met-gluten-free-bakery-survives-1224-20121224,0,648897.story

I really applaud establishments that fill the void of gluten free diets. Upfront I sympathize with the anxiety of making that cash flow. Always the most difficult for the first ones on the beach. The people I know that are gluten challenged will travel a fair distance expecting to pay a little more for decent baked goods.

Thanks for the heads up LTH.

Marcus Lemonis announced that the Evanston and Highland Park locations of Rose’s Cafe will be renamed “Sophie’s Great Food,” in honor of his mother, Sophia Lemonis.

http://highlandpark.suntimes.com/2014/10/28/marcus-lemonis-mother/

Marcus Lemonis announced that the Evanston and Highland Park locations of Rose’s Cafe will be renamed “Sophie’s Great Food,” in honor of his mother, Sophia Lemonis.

Perhaps now Mr. Lemonis will consider repainting the Pepto-Bismol pink eyesore that is the Evanston location. I can't believe that they got away with that paint job in the first place, to be honest - Evanston is usually soooooo restrictive about this manner of thing!

Looking forward to the improvements. I've visited this place twice and was quite underwhelmed with both the food and the service. Baked goods were dry and stale, place was not clean, and servers seemed annoyed at having to deal with customers. Maybe I caught them on bad days, but I'm only going in once or twice more before I write them off.

Walked by yesterday and saw the new name on the signage and the outside is repainted a light neutral color. When I went inside I noted all the frozen products were 50% off.
Everything inside looked very clean and fresh and the counter staff was friendly and welcoming.

Last night at the Pita Inn Market on Dempster I noted a sign stating pita bread from Rosie's Gluten Free Bakery was available. I know Rosie's also provided gluten free pizza dough to at least one local restaurant.

Spoiler:

Walked by yesterday and saw the new name on the signage and the outside is repainted a light neutral color.

Outstanding!

Walked by yesterday and saw the new name on the signage and the outside is repainted a light neutral color.

Whoa! Ask, and ye shall receive.

Drove by today; the windows are papered over, and all signage gone. No idea what's going on. That's an awful lot of money down the drain, unless the place is being re-concepted yet again.

sundevilpeg wrote:Drove by today; the windows are papered over, and all signage gone. No idea what's going on. That's an awful lot of money down the drain, unless the place is being re-concepted yet again.

Rose's was renamed Sophie's Great Food several months ago. Yelp shows Sophie's as closed and the domain name is available.

Dave148: I am well aware of that. Entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis bailed out the concept last October, and promptly repainted the building from its garish pink hue. I am just saying that I am very surprised that the Money Man quit on the venture barely six months later.

sundevilpeg wrote:Dave148: I am well aware of that. Entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis bailed out the concept last October, and promptly repainted the building from its garish pink hue. I am just saying that I am very surprised that the Money Man quit on the venture barely six months later.

He's giving Highland Park another shot - http://patch.com/illinois/highlandpark/ ... hland-park