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Type: French
Hours: Mon.-Sun. 8 a.m.- midnight
Good choices: Goat cheese and leek crepe; croque-monsieur (warm ham and cheese sandwich); French onion soup; smoked salmon, hard-boiled egg, and basil sauce sandwich; fresh fruit crepe; flambee.
Credit cards: Cash only.
Access: Down five steps.
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LE GAMIN
550 Tremont Street, Boston
(South End)
(617) 654-8969
Restaurant reviewed 12/10/98 by Ann Cortissoz
When I told a couple of friends that a creperie had opened in the South End, they were practically beside themselves with excitement. This reaction may be hard to understand if your only exposure to a crepe restaurant has been the Magic Pan. Happily for those who have enjoyed the atmosphere and the thin French pancakes of a real creperie, Le Gamin has about as much in common with the Magic Pan as a boulangerie has with a supermarket bread aisle.
The first thing you notice when you walk into the garden-level space is the European tone of the restaurant. The room is oblong, with seating for about 30. The lovely, buttery yellow walls and the black-and-white checkered linoleum floor create the impression of a casual but sophisticated French bistro; magazines in racks invite people to linger over their cafe au lait.
The six-week-old restaurant is run by Omar Kaghat, an Algerian who spent seven years working in restaurants in Paris and whose business partner operates two Le Gamin creperies in Manhattan. The staff is unfailingly polite and helpful, and predominantly French. Kaghat gave a Gallic shrug as he said that he had not gone out of his way to hire French people to work at the restaurant; it just seemed to have worked out that way. On one visit, we heard French being spoken by diners at several tables. The menu choices, too, contribute to the continental atmosphere.
The crepes are divided into savory and sweet categories. The batter for the savory crepes is made with buckwheat flour and oregano, and they are served with organic mesclun greens in a light olive oil dressing. The seafood crepe ($8.50) was filled mostly with scallops in a sauce that was creamy without being thick or pasty, and that was infused with a slightly salty seafood flavor. (Kaghat has since revamped the seafood crepe, and it is now made with smoked salmon, basil cream, and grilled vegetables.) The goat cheese and leek crepe ($6.50) was mouth-wateringly good: The pungent melted goat cheese was nicely complemented by the fresh leeks, and the herbed crepe batter worked particularly well with the combination.
One of the savory crepes makes a perfect lunch or light dinner, but larger appetites may want to round out the meal with a bowl of soup or a sandwich. The French onion soup ($5) was such a flavorful bowl of onions in a chicken-based broth, topped with a plentiful layer of tangy melted gruyere cheese, that I thought my companions were going to pick the bowls up and lick them after they finished scraping out the last spoonfuls.
The sandwiches are generous enough to satisy even the hungriest of diners, and are also accompanied by mesclun greens. In Le Gamin's version of the classic French grilled ham and cheese sandwich, croque-monsieur ($7), the meat and a little bit of gruyere cheese is pressed between two thick slices of bread, with a layer of melted gruyere and some herbs as a topping. It's served warm and is a perfect antidote to a cold, gloomy day.
I was skeptical of the smoked salmon sandwich ($8), doubting that salmon, hard-boiled eggs, and basil sauce would work together, especially on a crusty baguette. I was wrong. The flavors and textures mingled beautifully. The lamb sausage and roasted red pepper sandwich with Dijon mustard ($7.50) was disappointing, though. The sausage was mildly spicy and tasty, but there wasn't enough of it, and there wasn't enough mustard, either.
You can't leave a creperie without having a dessert crepe, so we tried the fresh fruit crepe ($5), and the flambee ($6). I loved the light, delicate fruit crepe, which was filled with chunks of apple, cantaloupe, red grapes, and pears and covered with tart-yet-sweet fruit sauce. The flambee, which can be ordered with calvados, rum, Grand Marnier, or cognac, was spectacular. The flames danced around the surface of the crepe for a couple of minutes after it was brought to our table, and when they subsided, we were left with a delicate flour crepe soaked but not soggy with the orange liqueur. We finished our meals with strong, frothy cappuccino ($2.75) and cafe au lait ($3), served in a large bowl without a handle.
In addition to wonderful coffees, Le Gamin also serves such breakfast items as tartine (baguette with jam and butter), croissant, yogurt, and fresh fruit.
Le Gamin has just been approved for a liquor license, and Kaghat says they will begin serving French wine and beer in about a week. I can't wait. What better way to finish off your evening than with a flambee and a glass of champagne?
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