Creperie Saint Germain: a Bistro Bordeaux Production

Occupying the space Donatella Mediterranean Bistro formerly resided in comes a new restaurant by Pascal Berthoumieux, owner of Evanston's Bistro Bordeaux. Currently, they're still in their 'soft opening' and are BYOB. By the beginning of April they plan to be full service.


Pillows on the ceiling.

Excellent coffee served in a small French Press


Soupe à l’Oignon caramelized onions/ classic beef broth / aged gruyere


Terrine de Canard duck terrine / cranberry / fig / Dijon mustard / grilled garlic crostinis


Puriste sliced French ham / aged gruyère / classic mornay sauce

DH might be happy to hear that all crepes are made with organic buckwheat. thicker and heartier, these wraps made for a nice and savory meal. I had some ham placed on top, my friend who ordered the Coq Au Vin had some bacon on top to distinguish who had what.

Normande caramelized apples / chantilly / candied walnuts / caramel sauce

Your more traditional crepes are reserved for the desserts. This was shared by 3 people and went quickly.

Another nice little restaurant available for lunch in Evanston.

Creperie Saint-Germain
1512 Sherman Ave
Evanston, IL 60201
847-859-2647

Currently they are open Monday-Saturday from 11:30 am "through dinner." Closed Sunday.
They suggested they may open on Sundays once they are fully up and running.

Good times with the Evanston Lunch Group Wednesday. I was impressed by the casual atmosphere and attention to detail in the food.

We started with two appetizers:

The Tatre aux Oignons was a combination of caramelized onions on a puff pastry base, with salad (no picture).


The Gateau de Saumon was served with batons of Granny Smith apple and celeriac.

All the savory crepes are made with organic buckwheat, although they can be made with organic wheat flour upon request.


First up was the Canard Confit — a crepe in the style of a cassoulet, with beans, minus the pig.


The Puriste had ham and gruyére in a Mornay sauce.


Crepe Provençale was filled with a ratatouille, topped with some creme fraiche.

We ordered one dessert for the table, but two arrived.


Owner Pascal Berthoumieux mistakenly figured we were an important group, and comped us an order of crepes Banane & Nutella


The dessert we actually ordered was the Mediterranéne, with figs in a Madeira sauce

Overall, I liked the casual vibe and the price point; the nice selection of hard cidres was a plus.

I'll probably be back.

How are the prices, and is it still BYOB?

nr706 wrote:First up was the Canard Confit — a crepe in the style of a cassoulet, with beans, minus the pig.

Thanks for the report and wonderful pictures; I've been very curious and now it looks like we have a new place to add to the list.

Apropos of my curiosity, the only pig I'm accustomed to in a cassoulet is pork (i.e., Toulouse) sausage. Am I missing something?

Judy H wrote:How are the prices, and is it still BYOB?

Don't know if you can BYO, but there's a very interesting list of beers, ciders and wines.

Judy H wrote:How are the prices, and is it still BYOB?

You can still BYOB--corkage fee of $10.
I forgot to pick up a menu on the way out (for prices), but a chalkboard out front indicates that on Tuesdays 5-9 pm, all savory crepes are $7 (I think they all come with a salad), and all sweet crepes are $5.

We went last Friday night, and while it was good, I was less than impressed.
The service was enthusiastic, but spotty: our server came back a couple times to ask what we'd ordered, forgot the gelato with the dessert crepe, etc. (his drink recommendations were spot-on, though - the Clos de Duc cider is spectacular).

The food was all a matter of near-hits. Definitely not misses, but could use a little refinement.
OK the french onion soup was definitely a hit. Not a flaw to be found.
Mussels were very tasty (I like the raw baby spinach sprinkled over the top), but tasted of raw wine.
SueF's Coq a Vin galette was very good, my Canard Confit I found somewhat underseasoned (a little more sauce on all the galettes would be a big help). I found it had too much potato, SueF said she could only taste cabbage in the bite she had, while I didn't taste it at all (maybe she got all the cabbage in one bite).

The crepes ran $11-16, not unreasonable at all... but I think they need some fine tuning.

I was there Saturday, and I agree with Joel's post; the crepe (duck with kale, corn, potatoes and other stuff) was decent, but not great, and a little on the small side. There were no potatoes. I ordered escargot for an appetizer and was very underwhelmed; the whole dish was so bland I wish I hadn't ordered it. There was an accordion player there...nice touch at lunchtime. The server we had also was a little brusque and an even worse water-pourer than I am—each time he refilled my glass, he splashed water everywhere. The last time he even noticed and did not come back to wipe it up. I didn't care, but this really pissed off two of my dining companions.