Jump to: Reviews | Crepes: American Style

Today's Groupon gets you $35 worth of French café fare and Belgian beer for $15 at L'Enfant Café & Bar. This Parisian-themed eatery is best known for their perfect crepes: "cooked enough to lose the doughy flavor and just thick enough to keep from tearing," according to The Washington Post. Get them with fresh strawberries, Nutella, amaretto liquor, lemon and sugar, stuffed with mushrooms and gruyère in béchamel sauce, or with roasted red pepper and goat cheese. With seven savory dinner crepes and more than 12 sweet options, L'Enfant can cook a staggering stack of crepe combinations (click here to see the sweet crepe menu).

L'Enfant Café & Bar has a menu straight from Paris’s Left Bank: crepes, French onion soup, a classic French dip, and croque-monsieur, their signature baked French-ham and Swiss-cheese sandwich. That's paired with a stellar selection of Belgian beers (including Stella Artois, Chimay, Delirium Tremens, and de Koninck), fine French wines and champagnes, and cappuccinos, lattes, and mochas served in oversized coffee mugs.

L'Enfant is a chic red and white landmark at the nexus of Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan. The interior is adorned with belle époque art posters over plaster walls, and the friendly service makes all feel welcome. With a bustling patio and round tables for two, L’Enfant "looks every bit the Parisian sidewalk cafe," the Post says.

Reviews

L'Enfant Café-Bar was reviewed by The Washington Post:

• The croque monsieur was made with a much tastier farm-style bread, and though the sandwich wasn't seriously pressed like the traditional Parisian cafe fare, the ham had a robust flavor. A special of quiche Lorraine was thicker than most versions, cooked through but not at all dry and with a good balance of bacon and Swiss cheese. – Eve Zibart, The Washington Post

More than 60 Yelpers gave L'Enfant Café & Bar an average rating of 3.5 stars, and some diners left comments on its Zagat listing:

• The owners are welcoming and just plain fun. Nobody is a stranger here. The place just makes you feel welcome, because you are. The food and service--humble, honest and right on target. – AdamN0560, Zagat
• This is a great place to go after work... They have a great selection of Belgian beers and even have some Trappist ales. The wait staff is friendly and don't disappear after you order your first round. – Matt D., Yelp
• Yummy yummy...fabulous Nutella and chocolate crepe and a cool bartender make for a decent nightcap! The fact that they have Lambic and Chimay is a HUGE draw for my buddies. – Fayelonious C., Yelp

Crepes: American Style

Crepes were invented in America in 1803 by a 14th-generation American, Mark Jones. Jones was searching for the most intrinsically American food he could create to celebrate America's quincentennial. He realized that a thin pancake filled with hamburgers and apple pies perfectly captured the spirit of our 400-year-old country's great freedoms.

During the stock market boom of the 1980s, the secret of our treasured crepes fell into the hands of French spies. The French immediately took out all the best parts of the crepes, namely the hamburgers and apple pies, and started filling them with oddly named cheeses and a concoction called Nutella. Now, crepes still taste pretty good, but each bite is tinged with bitter regret.