Crepes in the City
Jul. 26th, 2009
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By Dana McMahan
FoodConnect Louisville
foodconnect.com@gmail.com
Crepes in the City
Crepes I expected on our trip to Montreal and Quebec City last fall. Crepes I would even expect on the East and West coasts. But the last thing I expected while on a quick weekend trip to St Louis, Missouri, this weekend was a creperie. To be honest, when I thought of food and this Midwest city I thought beer and meat. And that’s not wrong, it’s just that there’s more to this French-influenced city than that.
After a late night at a concert Friday night my husband and I navigated our way through what frankly looked like a sketchy part of the city Saturday morning, looking for a place I’d read about. We found Crepes in the City situated on a corner across from a small city park, just this side of what seemed to be a dividing line between rough and downtown.
We stepped in the bright, airy building (formerly a shoe warehouse but now delightfully packed with mismatched furniture like big old-time kitchen tables) and breathed in the heady scent of crepes on the griddle. A woman greeted us, handed us breakfast and lunch/dinner menus and explained that we order at the counter and take a number, then told us about the day’s specials. We studied the menus for a few minutes – when confronted with so many tempting choices it’s hard to make a decision. I liked that they divided the lunch menu into vegetarian (nine options), meat (seven) and (one) seafood, with another dozen or so sweet crepes. Prices ranged from about $6 to $10, with breakfast crepes between $4.25 and $8.50. Crepes are available with white flour batter, whole wheat, herb, chocolate and espresso.They also offer soups, salads, quiche and a full array of drinks including coffee, wine and local beer.
I finally selected a brie and granny smith apple crepe with grapes, walnuts and caramel, while my husband went for the “Denali,” with smoked salmon, red onions, tomatoes, capers, spinach and homemade dill fraiche in the herb crepe. We elected to share dessert – a chocolate crepe stuffed with seasonal berries (my first blackberries of the summer!) and crème fraiche.
We settled at one of the big tables side by side to watch the crepe makers – several women in colorful kerchiefs stationed at five crepe griddles. They have it down to a science, pouring the batter, swirling, flipping and stuffing. And indeed we’re in the Midwest – they didn’t just fill the crepes; they mounded a heap of goodies before wrapping it up and passing to a server for delivery to the anxiously waiting diners.
We’re picky about crepes -- having first fallen in love with them in France, we compare any we taste to those. These crepes were brilliant. The crepe batter was perfect, the fillings fresh and tasty. We both cleaned our plates, then dove into the dessert crepe. I ran out of room before I could finish, and sorely bemoaned my lack of capacity.
Before leaving we chatted with one of the owners, Jose, for a bit and learned that St Louis has no fewer than five creperies. Who would have thought?! He started out making crepes on the weekends at a coffee shop, but word spread. Crepes in the City is now packed on weekends, with lines out the door and crepes selling like, well, hotcakes. He said it’s not so hopping during the week. All I can say is if I lived and worked in downtown St Louis I’d be at risk of turning into a crepe, because I’d eat there every day.
***
Crepes in the City
500 N. 14th Street, one block south of Washington Ave.
Saint Louis, MO, 63103
Phone: (314) 436-1900
Crepes I expected on our trip to Montreal and Quebec City last fall. Crepes I would even expect on the East and West coasts. But the last thing I expected while on a quick weekend trip to St Louis, Missouri, this weekend was a creperie. To be honest, when I thought of food and this Midwest city I thought beer and meat. And that’s not wrong, it’s just that there’s more to this French-influenced city than that.
After a late night at a concert Friday night my husband and I navigated our way through what frankly looked like a sketchy part of the city Saturday morning, looking for a place I’d read about. We found Crepes in the City situated on a corner across from a small city park, just this side of what seemed to be a dividing line between rough and downtown.
We stepped in the bright, airy building (formerly a shoe warehouse but now delightfully packed with mismatched furniture like big old-time kitchen tables) and breathed in the heady scent of crepes on the griddle. A woman greeted us, handed us breakfast and lunch/dinner menus and explained that we order at the counter and take a number, then told us about the day’s specials. We studied the menus for a few minutes – when confronted with so many tempting choices it’s hard to make a decision. I liked that they divided the lunch menu into vegetarian (nine options), meat (seven) and (one) seafood, with another dozen or so sweet crepes. Prices ranged from about $6 to $10, with breakfast crepes between $4.25 and $8.50. Crepes are available with white flour batter, whole wheat, herb, chocolate and espresso.They also offer soups, salads, quiche and a full array of drinks including coffee, wine and local beer.
I finally selected a brie and granny smith apple crepe with grapes, walnuts and caramel, while my husband went for the “Denali,” with smoked salmon, red onions, tomatoes, capers, spinach and homemade dill fraiche in the herb crepe. We elected to share dessert – a chocolate crepe stuffed with seasonal berries (my first blackberries of the summer!) and crème fraiche.
We settled at one of the big tables side by side to watch the crepe makers – several women in colorful kerchiefs stationed at five crepe griddles. They have it down to a science, pouring the batter, swirling, flipping and stuffing. And indeed we’re in the Midwest – they didn’t just fill the crepes; they mounded a heap of goodies before wrapping it up and passing to a server for delivery to the anxiously waiting diners.
We’re picky about crepes -- having first fallen in love with them in France, we compare any we taste to those. These crepes were brilliant. The crepe batter was perfect, the fillings fresh and tasty. We both cleaned our plates, then dove into the dessert crepe. I ran out of room before I could finish, and sorely bemoaned my lack of capacity.
Before leaving we chatted with one of the owners, Jose, for a bit and learned that St Louis has no fewer than five creperies. Who would have thought?! He started out making crepes on the weekends at a coffee shop, but word spread. Crepes in the City is now packed on weekends, with lines out the door and crepes selling like, well, hotcakes. He said it’s not so hopping during the week. All I can say is if I lived and worked in downtown St Louis I’d be at risk of turning into a crepe, because I’d eat there every day.
***
Crepes in the City
500 N. 14th Street, one block south of Washington Ave.
Saint Louis, MO, 63103
Phone: (314) 436-1900
Dana has eaten her way from Inverness to Istanbul, and from Monaco to Morocco. A food and travel writer, she lives to explores the world and tell stories of foods discovered and meals devoured in far-flung lands. She once hand-carried a tagine across three continents in order to recreate a Moroccan feast, her backpack smells of spices, and she has been known to smuggle butter home from Paris. Her most recent adventure was learning all about the duck at Camp Confitt in Gascony, France. When at home in Louisville she dishes on restaurant news for her column in the Courier Journal.
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