Two nice surprises in Waddington
WADDINGTON — There's a new café-style eatery here serving up a variety of crepes, and a restaurant on the main road just outside town specializing in locally produced organic fare.
They're both worth the trip to this tiny village on the St. Lawrence River in St. Lawrence County.
Here's our report:
THE CREPERIE AT ARTWORKS
2 MAIN ST.
WADDINGTON
388-4000
Sacre bleu!
It's a miracle. It's a little café in downtown Waddington serving homemade crepes — breakfast crepes, savory crepes and dessert crepes.
It's a new addition to a corner gift shop called Artworks Gallery at the foot of Main Street next to the river.
Maria makes the crepes to order. She's a local gal who had a vision of one day operating a creperie. She researched it on the Internet, befriended the owner of a shop in Lake Placid that makes crepes, and voila! she's crafting crepes in her hometown.
Crepe is the French word for pancake, a light, paper-thin pancake made in a special pan. Maria makes them fresh daily, then fills them as the orders come in.
Savory crepes are filled with various meat, cheese or vegetable mixtures, sometimes topped with a complimentary sauce. Dessert crepes may be spread with a jam or fruit mixture, then rolled or folded.
We stopped by for lunch and got to enjoy both types, and were they ever delicious.
Ham and cheese had lots of flavor with what tasted like a touch of Dijon. Chicken pesto was good, and we detected a touch of grated Parm that gave it some zing. The vegetable crepe was just right, a nice combination of gently sautéed veggies running the gamut from mushrooms to sweet peppers.
The savory crepes were served with a very simple salad of field greens with a balsamic vinaigrette.
Dessert crepes were wonderful. Nutella-chocolate was smooth and rich with an aroma akin to putting your face in a big box of chocolate candy. Blueberry-lemon was a surprise, fresh blueberries mixed with a pudding-like lemon filling that made for a great taste experience.
The key lime dessert crepe filling had a combination sweet and tart taste with a visibly green color. The chocolate-strawberry used a chocolate crepe fairly bursting with berries on the inside.
We both enjoyed classic Boylan's cream red birch beer with our lunch.
Savory crepes were priced at $7.95 each; dessert crepes were $5.95. Our total tab before tip came to $54, and it should be noted that we took most of the dessert crepes along to enjoy with our spouses at home.
The Creperie at Artworks is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The small dining room has a nice view of the river.
COUNTRY GARDEN RESTAURANT
10951 ROUTE 37
WADDINGTON
393-6252
WWW.CARIORGANIC.ORG/
RESTAURANT.HTM
Just down the highway from Waddington toward Ogdensburg, approximately 6 miles, you'll see a big red barn close to the road on the right.
Inside is the quaint and rustic Country Garden Restaurant, an on-again-off-again eatery that has been around for years. Bright and cheery with a real country feel, it's part of Iroquois Farm, a not-for-profit organization that also operates an organic farm and B&B on the property.
Lucky for us, the restaurant was in one of its on-again modes when we stopped by for lunch. Unfortunately for the restaurant, the cook was a no-show, home recovering from bee stings after stepping on a nest on the farm earlier that day.
This did not affect things all that much. Debby, the manager, stepped up to the plate and became chef-for-a-day, with assistance from her dad, and both of them took turns bringing food to our table.
We shared a large "signature salad," romaine and fresh greens from their garden, we assume. The addition of red grapes, walnuts, a lovely balsamic vinaigrette and a sprinkling of Parm yielded a tasty and unusual salad with a nice presentation.
From a choice of three paninis, we chose turkey with roasted tomatoes, onions and fresh mozzarella and mayo between two toasted pieces of panini bread. Very nice.
There are also three wraps available. We sampled the Italian chicken wrap, pieces of fresh, seasoned chicken breast, greens and black olives and a shot of Italian dressing in a spinach wrap.
The wrap was part of a lunch special that included a serving of mac and cheese and a slice of homemade pie.
The mac and cheese was quite unremarkable (actually, the only disappointment of the meal), but was made up for exponentially with the homemade pies made by Debby (not to be confused with Little Debby).
Peach and apple were the choices; we had to have a slice of each. Both had flaky crusts, the kind you just don't get anymore, and fillings that were distinctively fresh.
Debby divulged the secret to her stunning crust, confirming our suspicions. Lard.
Lunch, a very pleasant experience, came to $25 for two before tip. Lemonade and iced tea were our beverages of choice, although we were offered beer or wine.
Country Garden Restaurant operates seasonally, from April 15 to Dec. 15. It's open for breakfast and lunch from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Monday. They serve dinner Friday only, featuring fresh beer-battered or grilled haddock and fried St. Lawrence River perch.
You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
