Breakfast at Counter Cafe

So, it was time to try a new place for breakfast yesterday. Decided to go with Counter Cafe on Lamar since I’ve generally heard only good things about the eatery. The website and the menu of the place can be found here: http://www.countercafe.com/. I went with the Counter Crab Cakes. For once the crab cakes did not taste or smell too “fishy.” The sauces, the lemon aioli and the curried peanut sauce, nicely complemented the cakes and the 2 poached eggs. I was swayed into ordered the breakfast potatoes instead of the toast, as they are supposedly the “best in town”. They were a little too greasy, and overall did not add or take away from the main event, the crab cakes and the eggs poached to perfection. 

The place is small, and if you get there when it is busy, then you might have to wait a while. In general though, I really liked the vibe of this place. The people were nice and the quality of the food was great.

Below is a photo of the Texas Quail and Eggs. Comes with a homemade biscuit made just for you, jam, potatoes, 2 eggs any style, and of course, the quail. This was also a solid choice, but I would recommend the Counter Crab Cakes if you’re looking for some interesting flavors.

I did good, huh!

Bienvenidos!

Fitting to the title of the blog, I spent most of my morning making brunch. A sweet brunch. Sweet as in awesome, and sugary as well: Crêpes!

Let’s be honest. Crêpe is just a fancy word for “thin pancake”. Although crêpes originat from France, they are not only French. Known by their hard-to-pronounce names, crêpes have long been a part of various cuisines across Europe. In Finland they are known as ohukainen or lettu, in Hungary as palachinta, in Italy as crespella, in Poland as naleśniki, etc. You get the idea.

As my first post, it kind of makes sense that I’d write about crêpes. They’re really the first thing I learned how to cook, other than cereal and leftovers, which I was really good at preparing. I’ve always had crêpes as either breakfast, dessert, or a snack, and only recently broadened my horizons to preparing savory crêpes.

On the left is chocolate coconut crêpe topped with home made mascarpone cream, home made fruit jam, and dark chocolate chips. Keeping the chocolate crêpe company is the cinnamon peanut butter crêpe filled with, of course, peanut butter and topped with honey, apple chips and slivered almonds.

If you’ve never made crêpes before because you’re afraid the task might be too difficult, I would advise you to grow a pair, go to the store (or just the kitchen if you already have these food stuffs on hand) put on your apron, and start concocting. The guide below might look convoluted, but that can mainly be attributed to the excessive amount of detail I’ve provided. I anticipate that I’ll be posting about crêpes later on, but for now, here’s the main recipe you may want to familiarize yourself with. Make sure to read the section labeled “Notes”.

Basic Crêpes

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup all-purpose flour
2. 2 eggs
3. 1/2 cup milk
4. 1/2 cup water
5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. 2 tablespoons butter, melted
7. Pam (or other non-stick spray)

Tools:

1. Small non-stick frying pan
2. Whisk
3. Butter knife and/or spatula

Process:

1. In a decent sized mixing bowl, whisk together the everything but the flour*
2. Add flour gradually while whisking frantically to avoid clumps
3. Heat frying pan over medium-high heat
4. Spray lightly with Pam
5. Pour or 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan*
6. As soon as you add the batter, tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the it coats the surface evenly*
7. Loosen the edges with a butter knife as soon as the batter sets (about one minute)*
8. Begin to detach the crêpe from the pan using either a knife, a spatula, or your hands*
9. Turn crêpe on its other side and let it cook for another minute
10. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until the crêpe is fully cooked through
11. Viola!

Now what? Repeat steps 4 if the batter starts to stick, and 5-10 until there’s no batter left…or…wait a few minutes and indulge in your (first) crêpe!

Suggestions for fillings

Sweet:

1. Nutella or chocolate powder (you might want to fill it while it’s still warm, or heat it in the microwave to melt the chocolate)
2. Fresh fruit, fruit sauce, jam, jelly or spread (my favorite is apricot preserves)
3. Honey or maple syrup
4. Powdered sugar and lemon juice
5. Maple syrup
6. Custards
7. A combination of any of the above, or anything sweet!

Savory:

1. Cheese
2. Spinach
3. Asparagus
4. Ham or Turkey
5. Eggs
6. Anything typically in a tortilla or sandwich that you have on hand and find suitable for a crêpe

*Notes

1. Everyone has a different process for mixing the batter. This process has worked well for me, but I’ve seen others mix the flour and the eggs first, adding the water and milk gradually afterwards. Play with it and see what works for you.
2. I actually prefer to use slightly below 1/4 cup for each crêpe. As common sense would dictate though, the more you use, the thicker your crêpe is going to be.
3. Once I add the batter to the pan , I tend to get a little frantic with the pan, to avoid the batter setting fast before it coats the entire pan. Crêpes are by definition meant to be thin, so if you use more batter, you may not have to engage in this step with gyrating motions, but they will be significantly less authentic.
4. I tend to use my hands to flip each crêpe once I’ve successfully detached them from the pan with the butter knife. Others like to use a spatula but with experience I’ve stop that bad habit.
5. Your first crêpe is probably going to suck. The first crêpe of almost every batch I make is far from perfect, but I’ve found that to be pretty normal. Do not be discouraged! You’ll get the hang of it quickly.
6. Once you’ve mastered the basic crêpe, you can get all sorts of creative with it. You can separate the original batter into as many different parts as you’d like, mixing in nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, peanut butter, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, vanilla extract, etc.
7. If you want to get really creative, you can combine more than one type of batter. It makes the crêpes look really cool, and it will definitely impress.

Yay!