La Petite Crêperie

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted again, but I'm really excited about this post.

About a month ago, my mom and I woke up and wanted to go to breakfast at a local place in Lexington. So, I checked this list of places I'd come up with that I wanted to visit before the break, and one of those places was La Petite Crêperie, located on Kentucky Ave.

I actually just checked their website (http://petitecreperie.com), and apparently they're closed for the rest of the winter and will re-open when warmer weather returns.

Still, this restaurant deserves to be written about, and I'm just glad we managed to go before they took a break for the season.

La Petite Crêperie is a traditional french café serving only crepes and salads as far as food is concerned. They offer many different crepe options, including both sweet and savory versions of the thin pancake-like dish. The salad options also looked great, but since it was early in the morning, we were ready for some crepes and coffee to start the day off right.


Not knowing exactly what to expect when we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that La Petite Crêperie is actually a very affordable place to eat.

First, their crepes were only around $5 or $6 to begin with, and extra fillings or toppings were only $0.50-$1.00 extra. Even their salads are all under $7.

Plus, at least when we went early in the morning, the woman working there told us the coffee was free. So, I got this bowl-worth of coffee for no extra cost.

Then, when my mom got her apple crepe, and I got my lemon one, we were both amazed by how tasty and filling they were for such a small cost.

Also, the story of how the two women who own La Petite Crêperie got their start is pretty cool. To summarize what I learned on their website, the restaurant is owned by two women.

One of these women was born in the US, but travelled and studied throughout France. While she was there, she fell in love with the crepe, and missed them when she returned.

The other was born and raised in France before eventually moving to the US, working in many French restaurants as she was growing up, and bringing a great knowledge of French recipes with her to the states.

Between the two, they decided it was time for a place like Lexington, KY to enjoy some truly French cuisine (without the high cost generally associated with French restaurants).

So, La Petite Crêperie became a great addition to the city I call my home, and I am very glad it did!

Read the full story by clicking here, and be sure to stop by once they re-open in the spring! I promise you won't be disappointed!

Address: 191 Kentucky Avenue, Lexington, KY

Meadowthorpe Café

{ Pepper Burger }

So! As I admitted in my last post, I'm currently playing a bit of catch up on here. This post is actually from earlier during the same day as the last one, and this burger from the Meadowthorpe Café was delicious. 

I'm not sure of exactly how long, but this restaurant has been around in Lexington for awhile now. When I mentioned to my parents where we were headed to lunch that day, they both mentioned that they'd been here before. 

Meadowthorpe Café is open for breakfast, brunch, and lunch from 8:00 am- 2:00 pm Monday-Saturday, and they open an hour later on Sunday. 

As you can see from this picture, it's got a bit of a diner/burger joint feel, which was appropriate for what Kam and I were looking for that day. 

Since going I've heard that they have a pretty kick-butt breakfast too though, and I'll have to go back and try it sometime. 

Anyway, by the time he and I got here, we were starving... Luckily, our food came out fairly quickly, and we weren't a bit disappointed by it either.

Here's one more wonderful burger picture before I finish up this post and call it a day... I can't remember what it was called, but Kameron's was barbecue-y and didn't sit on the plate for another second after I forced him to let me take this picture. 

For more information on this lovely local Kentucky restaurant, click on this link visit their facebook page. 

Hope you'll stop by and try it!

Dad's Favorites

I discovered my new favorite sandwich place yesterday, and it is so so SO good. And it just so happens to be Kentucky Proud as well. 

Called "Dad's Favorites," this small business started when a man (who just so happens to be a dad) decided he wanted to share his delicious cheese spreads with the world... and turned it into a successful business, selling the cheese wholesale and opening his own (amazing) deli that I visited when I came home to Lexington this weekend.

Dad's Favorites is located in the Garden Springs shopping center, wedged between a coin laundry, a shoe repair place, and a barber shop. Although I had the address typed into maps on my phone, it took me a good ten minutes to actually find the place because I wasn't expecting to find a restaurant in this little old strip mall type building. 

Luckily I eventually spotted this sign and headed inside. When you walk in, the picture on the right is what you see. With how hard it was for me to find, I was surprised by how many people were enjoying their own lunches here, especially since I went later than the normal lunch rush. 

Granted, after trying it for myself, I can understand why. I love club sandwiches and I love spicy food, so when I got up to the counter I ordered a Pepper Jack Club, and I was not disappointed. I made it a Dad's Combo with a bag of chips and a refreshing cup of Ale8, and I ate the whole thing not 5 minutes after getting it. 

Also, all of that food together was only about $8, and I was totally stuffed after that. PLUS the Dad himself offers free cheese samples near the counter, and he'll tell you all about them as you stuff your face.

While I was ordering, I overheard how the brand's beer cheese came into being... Basically, he said that he never planned on making a beer cheese because everybody and his brother around Kentucky makes their own beer cheese and thinks it's the best, but then the boys at Country Boy Brewing (a local Kentucky microbrewery) and him got to talking and they came up with a beer cheese recipe using locally brewed beer.

I didn't have time to try it or any of the other spreads (except the Pepper Jack one from my sandwich!) since my 16 year old puppy was waiting for me in the car. So, I can't actually say anything specific about how good I'm assuming the "Stampin' Ground Cheddar Spread" (beer cheese) is... But the fact that this local business supports other Kentucky Proud businesses makes it that much cooler, and it was already awesome just because of how tasty my sandwich was!

Also, seeing the huge case of cheese spreads for sale, I decided I had to grab a tub to bring home to my parents. They're available at one for $6 or two for $10, and as you can see Katie (my dog) wanted a bite as soon as I got in the car... and my dad's already eaten over half of the one that I brought back. 

If that's not a good recommendation then I don't know what one is... anyway, if you're in the area, GO to Dad's Favorites. Short on time? They offer a carry out/delivery/ready when you arrive option. Just call or fax your order to (859) 309-1930. More information including menu on their website. (Link HERE)

Now you really don't have an excuse, so try this local Kentucky business because I'm serious when I say I just found my new favorite sandwich. 

Apple Pie

It's finally officially fall now, and I'm super excited about it. The weather is perfect, the leaves will be turning soon, and there are so many great fall desserts to make (and eat!).

My first fall-inspired project was this old fashioned lattice apple pie. After picking up a few pounds of locally grown apples at Boyd's last weekend, I was ready to make my very first made-from-scratch pie.

First things first, I whipped up some dough for the pie crust using my food processor and this recipe. After a slight mishap (6 cups of water is definitely not the same thing as 6 tablespoons!), the dough turned out perfect, and I put it in the fridge to chill for a little while.

Before making this pie, I'd always heard that the hardest part was making the crust, but making it in a food processor using the recipe above makes it super simple. The hardest part for me was peeling and slicing all of the apples up. 

The recipe called for 3 lbs of sliced apples, which amounts to about 8 cups. This is the most labor-intensive and time consuming part of making a pie.

After probably an hour and a half of peeling and cutting, and a couple of slightly sliced fingers, I finally had all of the apples I needed (and a few embarrassing bandages).

After putting all of the apple slices in a large bowl, I mixed up the ingredients for the filling and coated the apples with it. Again I used the recipe above, but I wasn't as happy with the results of the filling as I was the crust for this recipe.

I think next time I make a pie I'm going to try a different recipe for the filling and I'm going to use some kind of green apple instead of gala because although this pie was delicious, it was missing the tartness that I love in an apple pie.

But back to the baking! The last few steps were to roll out the crust, fill the pie, and make the lattice pattern on top. Once again, a slight edit I would like to make for the next time I bake a pie is to bake the bottom pie crust for a few minutes before filling it.

Overall I'd say this pie turned out pretty well for a first try, but the apples I used were so juicy that the bottom crust wasn't quite as crispy as I wanted it to be, plus as I mentioned before I think I should've used green apples rather than red. 

Anyway, that's my Kentucky Proud Pie! So if you're in the mood to try something new, pick up some fresh and locally grown fruit of your own and try your hand at making a pie from scratch... even if things don't go quite perfectly, I can almost guarantee it'll be delicious!