September 5th, 2009
Yes, Right on Rehoboth Ave., One Block from the Beach in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is a Slice of France and it is…Cafe Papillon
I was putting my thoughts together as I sat, yesterday, not even a block back from the Atlantic Ocean, in my beach town of Rehoboth Beach, but why is it that I feel like I am on a narrow side street in France? When I mentioned this to my friend, Shelley, she thought that I was having too much of an imagination. Nevertheless, that is what I felt.
At the Penny Lane Sidewalk Mall is where I found myself, specifically, at Cafe Papillon, 42 Rehoboth Ave., tel 302-227-7568 and the website is http://Cafepapillon.com/index.php. After Labor Day week-end, the Cafe will open only on week-ends.
This narrow “alley” has a tall clock and just has an aura of a narrow street with shops and eateries on either side. What made it feel French is that I was at an authentic French creperie and patisserie.
Cafe Papillon has been in existence for over 20 years. It is owned by a mother and daughter team, Maya and Penny. Maya fixes the croissants and pastries and her husband, Jerome, is French and makes the crepes. To help them in the summer, they employ French students.
At Cafe Papillon your order is placed standing in front of their establishment, almost like a street stall. On one side the crepes are ordered, cooked and paid for and on the other side is the patisserie, where you can purchase pastries, coffees, lattes, mochas, and so much more. Available seating for customers are small tables with umbrellas and a couple of picket fences, so it makes it really charming and casual.
I chose a crepe made with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and chives. It was made right in front of me and even though there had been a line, waiting, it was worth it plus I really did not have to wait too long. They can take care of 2 customers at a time at 2 windows.
The majority of people were ordering the crepes, from plain ones to the ones filled with fruits or the ones filled with ham and cheese.
I then proceeded to the other window and had a cafe au lait and sat down and people watched, enjoying every minute of it.
Crepes have always been popular, but, what excactly is a crepe? Well, it is a very thin pancake. The word is French, coming from the latin word “crispa” that means curled.
There are 2 types; sweet crepes made with wheat flour and sweetened a bit or made with buckwheat flour and not sweet. These are called savoury galettes. Galette comes from the word galet, which is French for pebble. Originally, crepes were made on a large fire heated pebble.
Batter made from buckwheat flour is gluten-free, which can be eaten and enjoyed by people with a gluten allergy or intolerance.
Crepes are quite diverse because they can be enjoyed as an entree or a dessert.
The word “patisserie” means, a bakery that specializes in pastries and sweets.
I use buckwheat flour all the time. Following is a recipe from Arrow head Mills Organic Buckwheat Flour. It is a gluten free recipe.
Crepes
2/3 cup Buckwheat Flour
1/3 cup Pastry Flour (I use Arrowhead Mills All Purpose Baking Mix Gluten free.)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups Soy Milk, or Milk Substitute
1 tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1-2 tbsps. vegetable oil, as needed to cook crepes
In a medium bowl, combine the flour and eggs, and mix well with a fork. Slowly stir in the milk. Add the honey and salt and beat with a wire whisk until the batter is smooth.
Drop a little less than 1/4 cup of batter at a time onto a hot, oiled skillet or crepe pan. Tilt and rotate the skillet to distribute the batter evenly over the bottom of the pan. Cook the crepe until it is done on the bottom (lift the crepe by the edge and look; the bottom should be lightly flecked with brown).
Turn the crepe over and cook briefly on the other side, a few seconds. Repeat this process with the remaining batter, oiling the skillet as necessary to prevent sticking.
Stack the cooked crepes and cover them with a clean cloth until you are ready to fill them.
It will yield 9-10 crepes.
Notes: The Joy of Cooking has a good recipe for crepes, using just flour.
Sometimes the best crepes are the ones just dusted with a little bit of powder sugar or just sprinkled with honey.
Information on crepes was taken from www.enwikipedia.org.siki/Cr%C3%AApe.
Au revoir, mes amis.
Tags: breakfast and lunch, Carryout, Delaware Beaches, Dewey Beach, gluten free recipe, Recipe, Recipes, rehoboth beach, Restaurant, Reviews
