My girlfriend and I have kind of a Jack Sprat and his wife thing going on. She tends to hone in on sweet things, whereas I'm the kind of person who will go back for a little more of the main course rather than partake of dessert if I'm still feeling peckish at the end of a meal. I've listened to her waxing lustful on the subject of crepes on several occasions, but I was never really able to muster much enthusiasm because my only experience with crepes had been of the sweet variety. I had heard before that a vendor was peddling a selection including savoury crepes at the Capital City Public Market, but for many reasons I just never made it down this year. I have no recollection at the moment of how it was brought to my attention, but I found out a few weeks back that the vendor in question was opting in to a more permanent structure in the Edwards Cinema complex on Overland Road in Boise. We decided to hit up The Creperie about a week and a half after their grand opening. We had just come out of a matinee of Black Swan to find ourselves in the aforementioned sideways hail. Dashing across the plaza that separates the theater from the eatery strip as fast as we could without falling flat on our derrières, we were soon happily indoors and pondering the rather diverse selection of sweet and savoury crepes on the menu board.
You would think that with only twelve options for a savoury crepe, ordering would be an easy matter. Not so, as I found myself violently torn between the Ma Provence (chicken, goat, Gruyere & mozzarella cheeses, garlic, basil, green onion, tomato and crème sauce) and the De Poulet (chicken, bacon, cream cheese, cheddar, mixed greens, tomato, sprouts and creamy honey mustard). In one of those all-too-rare perfect twists of fate my beloved opted for the Ma Provence, enabling me to select the De Poulet and relax knowing that I would get to try them both.
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| Ma Provence |
Ugh, those horrible pictures. Subdued café lighting and a bad camera phone is a horrible combination, and every picture I took makes the food look positively sallow. I assure you, it is much more appetizing in person. Speaking of which, my gal and I seem to be developing this routine where I usually pick the better entrée, while she tends to choose better desserts than I. This is not to say by any stretch of the imagination that there was anything wrong with the Ma Provence. The chicken was grilled beautifully, the cheeses blended perfectly together, the basil was lovely and my fears that the sauce would be too rich were totally unfounded. And the crepe itself? Any thinner and it would have been translucent, and if it had been cooked any longer it may have lost that terrific chewiness. In fact, the only thing that kept me from totally falling in love with this dish was the fact that I had already tried mine...
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| De Poulet |
I've been trying to find the right words to describe the De Poulet, and the one that keeps popping into my mind is "exquisite". As I was eating it, I believe my exact words were "it may be because I'm starving, but this is pretty much the best thing ever". Food writers tend to bandy about glowing and/or stinging adjectives like they're going out of style, but I say the following with no exaggeration whatsoever: this is one of the best things I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Every single bite was a small moment of pure pleasure. The crepe, tomato and chicken were the same amazing quality as in my girlfriend's dish, but that's where the similarities ended. Into the mix came absolutely wonderful mixed greens, sprouts, cheddar and cream cheeses, not to mention two of my all-time favorite ingredients, bacon and honey mustard. I cannot recommend this specific item enough, and if that list of components sounds good to you, I can pretty much guarantee you won't be disappointed.
At this point I was pretty well satisfied, but my lady insisted on dessert just like I knew she would. Looking for the lightest and least sickeningly sweet option available, I settled on the Citron, simply a crepe with lemon and powdered sugar.
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| Citron |
This was very good, but it was a little more tart than I was expecting. The last bite actually caused me to pucker a bit. Don't consider that a warning, I love lemon and that bright, sweet/sour combination was exactly what I needed. My dining companion couldn't decide between the Nutella crepe with powdered sugar or the La Strawberry Chocolat (do you really need an explanation?), and after explaining her predicament to one of the extremely pleasant and genuinely friendly staff, she was provided with the best of both worlds, a strawberry and Nutella crepe with powdered sugar.
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| Nutella and strawberry crepe with powdered sugar |
Even though I wouldn't have been able to handle something that rich at the moment, I did have to admit that on flavor alone her dessert had a distinct upper hand.
To put it as succinctly as possible, I cannot wait to return to The Creperie. The only question is whether I'll go straight for the De Poulet again or branch out to some of the other offerings. And of course there is always their package deal of two crepes, two fountain drinks and two movie tickets for $29.95. And if I'm feeling a little lower-brow next time, there's always the hand-dipped corn dogs and funnel cakes...
Food: A+
Value: A
Service: A+
Atmosphere: B+
Final Grade: A
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