great soup at La Creperie

Had lunch yesterday at La Creperie... I got the soup du jour, potato leek, and it was delicious! Also perfect for a cold day. Fairly smooth texture, sort of pale green-colored (but not particularly herby, so they must have used the greens too) and they told me it was vegetarian. I also got a strawberry crepe, and shared both with my 15-month-old, who approved. The waiter recommended adding creme anglais to the crepe as there would only be strawberries and no sauce, but I had frozen custard on my mind and hadn't been to Scooter's since they had reopened after their winter break, so I declined, even though it seemed like a good idea.

I remembered after having the soup that I had meant to post earlier about my last visit there in October, when I had shrimp bisque, which was equally wonderful (and I even ran into a little bit of shell). After two big successes, I'll probably go back for the soup whether I feel like getting a crepe or not.

Went to Scooter's as planned, and got a small plain chocolate custard in a cup, just as creamy and tasty as last year!

La Creperie
2845 N. Clark St.
773-528-9050

Scooter's Frozen Custard
1658 W. Belmont Ave.
773-244-6415
http://www.scootersfrozencustard.com/

La Creperie is and always has been such a wonderful and unique place. I've had crepes in France and Canada and none ever were as great as La Creperie. I remember in their early days waiting in a long line to get in. My order has always been the same--French onion soup and the spinach crepe. It's so nice to be able to relive such a wonderful meal.

Peggy

Hi,

I remember The Magic Pan chain with their circle of rotating upside smooth bottom iron skillets. There would be an attendant who would dip the pan in batter, then place pan upside down on a rotating carriage over a circle of gas flames, then collect a finished crepe and begin the process again. More dramatic than practical, yet a sight to see.

I have in my possession, and never used, an electric crepe maker using the same concept as The Magic Pan. It's something to play with once, like the Easy Bake Oven, then go do it the real way.

There is another restaurant featuring crepes (and afternoon tea) in Wheaton, which I have yet to visit:

Suzette's Creperie
French Bistro & Salon de The
Historic Downtown Wheaton
211 West Front Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
630.462.0898

I went to celebrate a friends b-day at the Creperie a few weeks ago and it was once again SO good! I love having dinner there...the boef bourginon crepe is very good as is the curry chicken crepe...the sauces they use are so rich! Plus love their cafe au lait...no doesn't go well with the dinner crepes but it does with a delicious nutella and strawberry crepe! Mmm....
The best is going to the Creperie in the summer and sitting on their porch...I absolutely love magical city porches like that...little tables, trees, lights everwhere...is it summer yet?

another (relatively new?) creperie in Chicago:

Crepe & Coffee Palace
2433 N. Clark
773-404-1300

anyone been?

as far as La Creperie, excellent ambience for crepes and kudos for them for having galettes which can be a wee bit hard to find here in the states. but... better than France? I just got back and... the 'real' creperies really impressed me w/ the jambon/sunny side up oeuf/fromage (or the chitterlin & saucisse) in galettes combo...

Aha, that's the new name of the place (formerly Icosium) I was talking about here.

Been to the other place on Clark too...ambience is not as exciting and I'm not crazy about having the crepes there as a meal but the dessert crepes are good. I had the nutella and banana crepe which is slathered with chocolate sauce and whipped creme. I think that Le Creperie is more authentic but the place on Clark (which also used to be called Crepe a la Paris I think) is pretty good...

Mike G wrote:Aha, that's the new name of the place (formerly Icosium) I was talking about here.

as they say.. "timing is everything"

My problem with the creperie is the waiters/esses always try to trick you into buying a prix fixe meal by asking what kind of soup you want with your crepe, as if it comes for free, then you wind up buying the prix fixe.

If you feel they are trying to trick you that's fine, but the Prixe Fixe is a great deal and the dessert crepes are not to be missed.

They haven't offered the prix fixe for a couple of years now. Everything is ala carte.

Speaking of Magic Pan: a new location is supposed to open in Northbrook Court this year:

http://www.northbrookcourt.com/html/Mallinfo.asp

new stores opening soon:
Apple Computer
Coldwater Creek
J. Jill
Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant
Magic Pan
Ralph Lauren
Red Door Salon
Tommy Bahama

Oddly worded statement "Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant, " does it mean LEY hasn't decided which hat-trick to install there or they are now opening a restaurant with their corporate name?

Magic Pan making a comeback here, great I will re-live 30 year old memories.

Unfortunately this is not your mother's Magic Pan.



http://www.leye.com/restaurants/rest_home.jsp?id=35

Hi,

I was wondering if the LEY was supposed to be tied to Magic Pan, then it fit so nicely alphabetically. So something new for the food court.

I rememeber hearing long ago the original Magic Pan had gone out of business, perhaps in a bankruptcy. Hope springs eternal, though not today.

Thanks!

Went to La Creperie for dessert tonight. I wanted to like it - I loved the outdoor patio, the decor inside, the French music piped in through the speakers. What I didn't love so much, sad to say, was the crepe. I ordered the nutella crepe ($6), which came out folded into a neat square with a dollop of whipped cream on top. So far so good. But when i tried cutting into it - sacre bleu! - the darn thing was so tough that I was doing more tearing than cutting. It had none of the spongy moisture of a great dessert crepe. It really had no moisture at all. The texture was no better once my hard-won torn crepe piece made it to my mouth. Leathery and difficult to chew, tasting almost right but feeling oh-so-wrong, I continued to tear apart my dessert, wondering how a crepe place could mess up its signature dish...

I took my 10-year-old there for her first savory and sweet crepes. Yes, the crepes, themselves, were dry and not of the more typical texture, but we still had such a pleasant experience last Sunday that I'm willing to overlook that characteristic as more of a blip on the big screen.

Me, I hadn't been there since sometime back in the 1980's (yikes!) As they had just closed the patio due to rain, we were seated in the cramped, dim, bistrot-like front. We ordered and ate our entree's (hers: scrambled egg wrapped in crepe with sides of bacon and Lyonnaise potatoes; mine was a chicken, tomato & herbed cheese crepe partnered with good darkroast coffee) and soaked-in the atmosphere (Dad, all the songs are in French!) Expecting something like pancakes, she was intrigued, though not put off by the paper-like crepes.

Dessert was the highlight for her. She'd been into craft projects lately, and here was the delicious opportunity to architect the construction of a dessert crepe from a selection of components. We negotiated and settled on sharing a strawberry chocolate crepe with vanilla ice cream that arrived pre-divided onto two plates, nicely dolloped with sweetened whipped cream (I wished Cathy2 were there to provide her soon-to-be-patented dynamic whipped cream analysis )

Yep, like Ms.Paris, I noticed the buckwheat crepe used for desserts was dry and difficult to cut. My girl, however, with her innocent eye, simply took it at face value and thoroghly enjoyed the whole package, albeit having to spend significant effort to cut off pieces.

Bottom line: Those who know crepes may well have reason to note La Creperie's discrepancies (no pun intended,) but let me assure you that we still had a darned fine lunch in this erstwhile Breton Shangri-la in Chicago.

--Matt