Look out, Upper West Side: there’s a new crêperie in town! Crêpes & Délices may not look like much from the outside, but this fall when you’re wandering around the chilly Manhattan streets hungry for a treat, you’d do well to stop in at this brand new outpost of French comfort food.
With its red chairs and stark décor, Crêpes & Délice still feels brand new — it opened in early September — but the crêpe recipe is as traditional as it gets. “I used to eat crêpes on Boulevard Saint-Michel in Paris,” explains the restaurant’s creator, Florent Cohen. “When I moved to New York ten years ago, I missed that taste.”
Formerly of the finance industry, Cohen took a week-long crêpe-making course in Saint-Malo in the heart of crêpe country so that he could bring the one-of-a-kind taste to his adoptive city. “This is the perfect neighborhood for us, because there are schools and families like to stop by at the end of the day.”
If you stop by, you can see one of five employees using the unique wands and pans to make each order fresh with completely organic batter. You’ll find all the classic crêpes on the menu (jambon-fromage, anyone?) but also a bit of the good old USA: “We want to stay close to Americans by using peanut butter,” says Cohen.”
For an even more authentic experience, try the savory items with a crêpe made from buckwheat or “sarrasin” flour. This nutty, textured recipe is well-known and well-loved in France but still hard to find in the US. Bon appetite!
