Guillotine brings authentic French pastries to Chicago
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Pastries from Guillotine. Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios
The new West Town bakery Guillotine is French in every way — from the butter to the pastries to the way you order.
What to expect: French-style laminated pastries, like pain suisse, pain du chocolat, croissants, raisin swirl and French cinnamon rolls (no thick cream cheese frosting on these).
- Guillotine opens June 17 at 1711 W. Chicago in West Town.
Plus, Guillotine is serving pastries that aren't as common in Paris, such as a Kouign-amann, which co-owner Alizé Bikard says is rarely served outside of Normandy.
- Lucky for us, head baker Vince Le Bec is from Normandy and his millions (or what seems like it) of layers of sweet pastry caramelized to perfection pay perfect homage to his hometown.
If you go: Guillotine opens June 17 at 1711 W. Chicago in West Town.
Flashback: Neither Bikard nor co-founder Vincent Didry had been to Chicago when they started talking about opening a bakery in the U.S. in 2024.
- "I met one guy who's French. He'd been living here for six years, and he told me one thing. He told me, 'If I was not living in Chicago, I would not be living in the U.S.; I would be back home,'" Didry told Axios during a media preview of Guillotine. "I just had the feeling it was the right place."
State of play: Guillotine is importing many of its ingredients from France, including chocolate, butter, flour and some cheeses.
- The bakery is also serving coffee from Sparrow.
Between the (long) lines: It seems the marker these days of new hot spots is a line out front, but Didry says he hopes that doesn't become the norm.
- After all, in France, waiting ten minutes for a pastry is practically unheard of, Didry jokes, because customers would cross the street to another great bakery.
Yes, but: With pastries like this, expect a line, at least at first.
My fave: The pain suisse, which tasted like a chocolate chip cookie in between a perfectly flaky croissant with crispy stripes of chocolate on top.