A new French bakery serving all of the classics recently opened its doors near downtown Evanston.
Founder and owner Remy Ruiz opened the Praline Cauldron on the ground floor of an office building at 500 Davis St. in late September. The France native, who has 25 years of experience, offers 12 different flavors of croissants, baguettes, croque monsieurs, charlottes and more daily.
Ruiz, originally from Saint-Étienne, France, some 40 miles from the southeastern French city of Lyon, named his new bakery Praline Cauldron because of his region’s connection with the candy.
With both of his parents working in the food and restaurant business their entire lives, Ruiz’s first shot at a business of his own was the Le Point Du Jour bakery in Saint-Étienne. His first big leap from Europe was to Canada, then to Washington, D.C. and finally to Chicago.
The baked goods are as close as he could recreate from France, Ruiz said, though some of the main staples of French baked goods, including special flour and butter, are not as readily available in the U.S. as they are in France.
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Ruiz’s goal with the bakery is to give locals a shot to try food from across the world. The only thing not French on the menu is the coffee, which is Italian, he said.
Ruiz said he chose to locate his bakery in Evanston to hopefully make a connection with his customers, he told Pioneer Press. Cities like D.C. and downtown Chicago were just a little too busy for what he liked, he said.
Though the bakery is open five days a week and from 7 a.m to 3 p.m., Ruiz said he plans to expand his staff to be open longer hours and seven days a week.