I swear crepes are France's best creation -- next to the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. They can be sweet or savory and somehow always taste decadent while feeling light as air in your stomach. Of course, that can be dangerous for your waistline. It's easy to down a crepe or five before you start to notice the food baby looming over your jeans.
That's why we were excited about Le Chalet's lunch specials, which offer one savory 8-inch crepe and a small side salad for just six bucks. There aren't many choices (just four daytime specials, only two of which are crepes), but rosemary ham and Swiss or turkey would likely please any picky eater. We ordered the ham crepe lunch and amused ourselves with conversation and the crepe-making action on the TV above the bar while we waited.
The menu is a strange confluence of French and Swiss comfort cuisine, with gooey, shareable noshes like Swiss fondue ($17.50 per serving), brie tartine ($9.50) and oven-roasted cheese tarts called Flammenkuchen ($9.50). You can't escape cheese on this menu, which is fine by us. Even the meat fondue ($23.75 per person) and signature "La Potence" beef tenderloin flambéed tableside ($25) come with a side of cheesy bread at dinnertime.
The crepe, though smaller than their dinner crepes, was delicious. Le Chalet uses a traditional dark buckwheat batter, which was rich and hearty. Think the crepe equivalent of pumpernickel or molasses wheat bread. The ham was delicately spiced and the melted Swiss pungent and chewy. The crisp salad with savory dijon dressing was a nice textural contrast.
We opted for the $3.90 salted butter caramel crepe for dessert, which was a lighter, slightly sweet crepe with a delicious caramel sauce oozing all over the plate. The only that could've made it better was the addition of Nutella, chocolate and/or bananas, all of which you can order at Le Chalet. It's worth the trek to Glendale if for the desserts alone. Hey, who says you can't have dessert for lunch? That's the benefit of being an adult: you call the shots.
