Suzette's Creperie Wheaton for authentic French cuisine in intimate casual setting
Thursday night out, we dined at Suzette's Crêperie in nearby Wheaton (IL), one of the few authentic French cuisine eateries in the western suburbs, and one of our favorite go-to casual fine dining sites.
Sited downtown Wheaton city centre, adjacent the convenient muni parking garage, a block from the Metra station, Suzette's offers intimate casual fine dining, al fresco dining out front or on the rear patio, a private dining room for special dinners, and a bar, adjacent the authentic Suzette's Boulangerie & Pâtisserie, a French inspired bakery.
We wish they'd offer a broader selection beyond the Crêpe centric menu, beyond the two nightly specials, which often aren't published or revealed until opening time. But hey, its Suzette's Crêperie, inspired by and built to bring to America authentic Parisian Crêpes.Notably, it's difficult enough for restaurants to carry on in the post covid era with reduced limited staff, Biden induced inflation increased costs, and budget conscious diners.
C'est la vie.
Tonight, I selected the 'daily special' Sole Meunière, which is one of my favorite dishes, along with the Country Style Pâté, another of my favorites.As featured in recent previous posts in these pages, the Chicken Liver Mousse and slice of Country Style Pâté are served with Dijon mustard, Cornichons and delicious Red Onion Marmalade with toasted Brioche on the side.
Suzette's Sole Meunière is served in the classic French style, Filets of Sole were dredged in flour, pan fried in butter and served
with the resulting brown butter herb sauce, parsley and lemon, alongside spring vegetables and mashed potatoes. Wonderful, delicious, as usual.
Linda order the Ham & Cheese Crêpe, which described in the menu as simple but delicious, and it was, delectable, exceeding both our expectations.
I had already ordered this Domaine Chevalier Les Voleyses Crozes-Hermitage Northern Rhone Syrah to accompany my Country Style Pâté starter, before selecting my Sole Meunière entree, otherwise, I would've opted for a white wine. Never-the-less it went well with the my starter and Linda's entree.
This was a wine we had ordered in a previous visit from their somewhat limited but artfully and carefully selected wine list. The Wine Spectator Magazine Award of Excellence wine list offers close to a hundred French wines from an inventory of nearly 600 bottles, as well as champagnes, sherries, French beer, French Ciders, Cognacs, Armagnacs and spirits. They offer wines in all price ranges from modest house W-B-T-G (wines by the glass) or bottles from basic to to super premium vintage first growths.
Marlène & Nicolas Chevalier Les Voleyses Crozes Hermitage 2018
I wrote about this wine and this producer in an earlier blogpost. This Tain-Hermitage, Domaine Chevalier is produced by brother and sister team of Nicolas and Marlène Chevalier. Nicolas tends the vineyards and crafts each cuvee, while Marlène handles all of the sales and marketing for Domaine Chevalier.
Marlène and Nicolas Chevalier farm three small vineyards at their meticulously tended family property comprising 3 1/2 acres in Crozes-Hermitage from which they produce on average 500 cases of red and white Rhône wines in tiny lots which are highly allocated. Their wines are found only in a couple of importer direct wine clubs and renowned restaurants in North American.The 2018 vintage was top rated in the Northern Rhône.
Consistent with my earlier tasting notes, Deep inky purple colored medium-full bodied, full round layers of blackberry and plum fruits, notes of black tea, spice and leather overtake the fruits, turning to soft chewy textured tannins on a medium finish.
RM 91 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3495672
http://suzettescreperie.com/index.html