Petit Chou

Location: Carmel, Indiana
Date: July 29, 2010

Today's my third time to dine in this casual, French restaurant, perfectly situated in the corner of Clay Terrace boulevard.  They have patio seating which is very popular in all restaurants during summer but hubby and I prefer to be seated inside especially dining during lunch.  Once seated, you will be served with a glass of ice water.  (Water is a staple for me.  I seldom order drinks, only in special occasions.  I know I should start ordering a variety of drinks if I continue making reviews).  One of the things I like about this restaurant, is they have this variety of coffees in thermos bottles, oh, like in Panera Bread.  Just help yourself, feel at home and grab a mug from their coffee mug tree and pour your heart out.  Their selections this time are Costa Rica blend, coconut cream pie and the usual patachou blend and patachou blend decaf.  The coconut cream pie tastes coconut and the aroma is distinctly coconut too.  But this is only at first.  After the few sips, you begin not to notice it anymore.

So, for my lunch, I chose Crepe Complete, which is a choice of bacon or ham, goat cheese and a touch of bechamel - a French white sauce made of butter, flour and milk.   Their crepes, as they mention in their menu, are made to order using French flour to ensure authenticity and flavor.  And that is true.  The crepe was made perfectly.  Once you make that gentle slice to the paper-thin crepe, the bechamel began oozing as well as the ham and goat cheese.  This is just a simple meal, nothing complicated.  But it always amazes me how they make a perfect crepe.  You know, how they look like neatly folded.  I can barely cook an omelet without dissolving it into pieces.  The lightly dressed field greens which is served alongside the crepe also compliments the flavor.  

I also ordered Harrison's crepe to go for dessert.  Hubby is already late for work so I just savored it (all by myself hahaha!) in the hotel.  Our server forgot to include a fork in the bag so I just got one from the hotel's cafe.  With berries and chocolate, you can never go wrong.  It's really the best of both worlds.  The crepe is filled with strawberries and blueberries, chocolate ganache and creme anglaise (rich vanilla-flavored sauce).  The warm chocolate ganache is just perfect, not too sweet.

Just a trivia:  What does "petit chou" exactly mean?  I learned that the literal translation is "a little cabbage" but generally used, however, to express how cute or sweet someone is.