Inside EvaDean’s: The Wilmette Café Rewriting the North Shore Food Scene With Heart, Heat, and Handmade Flavor

In Wilmette, tucked neatly into the rhythm of the North Shore, EvaDean’s Café & Bakery feels less like a new business and more like the heartbeat the neighborhood didn’t know it was missing. Owned by husband-and-wife duo Garrett and Jordana VanBergen, the café carries the easy warmth of a place built on soul, sweat, and a whole lot of scratch-made magic.

Garrett, a classically trained chef with chops sharpened in some of Chicago’s most respected kitchens, brings the fire. Jordana — a French Pastry School grad with baking in her bloodline — brings the finesse. Together, they’ve built EvaDean’s into something more than a café: it’s a slow-down-and-stay-awhile refuge in a world that’s always scrolling past itself.

Walk into EvaDean’s and you’ll find what food lovers chase: handcrafted pastries still warm from the oven, sandwiches stacked with intention, soups that feel like comfort in a bowl, and a bakery lineup that hits with the precision of a band playing its greatest hits — daily, from scratch, without shortcuts.

But what truly separates EvaDean’s from the North Shore pack is the duo’s unwavering commitment to community. They collaborate with local makers, host pop-ups, and team up with businesses like Bitter Pops for charitable events. EvaDean’s isn’t just serving food — it’s feeding connection.

Garrett’s Story: Born for the Line

Born in Geneva, Illinois, Garrett found home in the chaos of the kitchen long before he ever stepped into a professional one. Whether cranking out pies at Nancy’s Pizza in high school or cooking Christmas dinner for twenty in his family’s Evanston home, the rhythm of the line called early.

He started as a dishwasher at 15, soaking in the pulse of the back-of-house world before enrolling at Kendall College. His climb through Chicago’s culinary landscape is the kind of map young chefs dream about: white-tablecloth steakhouses, boutique hotels, neighborhood hot spots — each one sharpening his creativity and grit.

It was in these kitchens that he met Jordana, the spark that would turn into a shared culinary vision.

His first sous chef job at Farmhouse Tavern led to chef de cuisine, then executive chef at Farmhouse Evanston — a crash course in leadership, seasonal Midwest cuisine, and working with farmers who help shape the region’s food identity.

After seven years working with Jordana and her father, Jory, as wholesale customers of Bennison’s Bakery, the dream became clear: build something of their own, together. One roof. One mission. One café built on intention.

Jordana’s Story: Built by Butter, Family, and Precision

Jordana’s relationship with baking is ancestral. The craft runs through her family like a well-earned recipe passed from hand to heart. After college, she trained at the French Pastry School in Chicago — the kind of institution where technique is obsession and perfection is the goal.

Her internship placed her shoulder-to-shoulder with world-class instructors, working across restaurants, hotels, and pastry shops. Kneading, whisking, tempering, layering — she built a talent shaped by years of repetition and the kind of passion you can taste.

At EvaDean’s, that expertise shows up in every pastry, loaf, and cake. These aren’t just baked goods — they’re edible proof that love and technique still matter.

A New North Shore Staple in the Making

“We are thrilled to become a new staple in the North Shore community for dining and baked goods, having already received a warm welcome from the village and residents of Wilmette. We look forward to feeding good food and drink for years to come,” the VanBergens say.

EvaDean’s isn’t trying to be trendy — it’s trying to be timeless.

And that’s exactly why it’s working.

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