Crepes are not something easily found on every corner of America. These thin pancakes are seen as somewhat of a delicacy, and have developed an interesting artistic atmosphere around their creation and ingestion. Crepe-A-Delic has come to town and brought a whole lot of thin pancakes with them to expose us to the savory and the sweet side of this dish.
According to Crepe-A-Delic’s Web site, crepes exist in almost every country, but it was in France’s Brittany region where the tools and techniques were created and perfected to make crepes an art form. They also note that when crepes originated, white flour was expensive, and therefore the savory crepes were made out of buckwheat.
Crepe-A-Delic holds to this tradition in using a variety of batters to make their crepes. When I visited, they had a buckwheat batter, a spicy batter, and a coconut almond batter for the sweet crepes.
Crepes seem to traditionally be considered a dessert. This may come from their early time in France, when they were served in fine restaurants exclusively as desserts, and the initial root of their popularity when the Prince of Wales requested a crepe for dessert. This crepe was one with orange sauce flambé and named Suzette in honor of the lady who accompanied the Prince. This is the origin of the name of the Crepe Suzette, one of France’s most celebrated deserts.
Crepe-A-Delic has many kinds of sweet crepes on hand. The Gnarly crepe has peanut butter, Nutella and banana. The Seven Dwarves crepe has apples baked in a cinnamon glaze, drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with almonds. The Red Angel crepe ($6.66) has chunks of low calorie homemade angel food cake, a bed of strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.
Sadly, Crepe-A-Delic was out of bananas the day I visited, but their Banana Nut and Banana Dream crepes seem to be very popular orders.
The savory crepes that they offer are very meticulously prepared, all from ingredients that are fresh and sliced to order. This makes the wait time a bit long (we waited an hour for our food to be served from the time of ordering), but it’s understandable when considering the preparation involved and the taste accompanying them that leaves no doubt of their freshness.
The extended wait may have also been because there was only one employee doing all the cooking, serving, and prep work and perhaps because their credit card machine was down. The employee (wearing plastic sunglasses) was polite, made jokes with the customers, and checked on us once we got our food.
The Margarita Crepe I ord-ered features mozzarella cheese, steamed basil, Roma tomatoes, bacon, and a garden spice blend. I added feta cheese for $1.50 more. The taste of this crepe was truly fantastic, extremely savory, well seasoned and satisfying. With a side of juicy and equally well-seasoned bruschetta, it was a great tasting lunch.
The Vegg Head crepe was also a good choice. Filled with mushrooms, cheese, spinach, tomato and potato, it offered something for the health conscious crepe lover.
Custom crepes are also available at Crepe-A-Delic. Choose Nature Boy sweet batter or Plain Jack savory batter with jack cheese to get started and then pick toppings to fill them up. The specialty crepes that they offer pack more into the crepe pocket and add a little more to the price accordingly. The Galaxy Crepe at $8 has chocolate, marshmallows, caramel and crème. They compare it to the taste of the Milky Way candy bar. The Cheese Plate specialty crepe rings in at $11 and includes a blend of house cheeses and seasonal specials. The king of crepes, recommended for only the “truly” hungry, is the Stacker at $15.50. It has a four topping maximum.
These crepes don’t even begin to cover half of the crepe offerings at Crepe-A-Delic. It’s hard to imagine someone going in and not finding the perfect breakfast, lunch, or dinner crepe. Crepe-A-Delic dinner crepes are relatively new since the location opened last year, but are causing a buzz around town.
Crepes filled with salmon and crème; crepes filled with chicken, cheese, potatoes and more; and crepes filled with things one could not imagine crepes to be filled with are some of the dinner offerings that Crepe-A-Delic has been recently unveiling.
Although crepes are the main offering here, there are also eggs, omelets, French toast, salads, fruit and bruschetta as side items. The daily desserts alternate between brownies, pound cake, cookies and other sweets. Although only the size of a small bedroom, Crepe-A-Delic offers a lot within its NorthShore location. This crepe stop is sure to satisfy the taste buds. Bring a book to sit out the wait time, and enjoy the art of crepes.
Email Erica Tuggle at reporter@hamiltoncountyherald.com.