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Business & Tech

At Cafe Paris, Go with the Galette

Walnut Avenue BYOB serves memorable, filling crepes

Prompt service, large portions and galettes are the highlights of Cafe Paris, a small French BYOB located on Walnut Avenue, just south of South Avenue in Cranford's downtown.

In addition to 13 different galettes, or savory crepes, Cafe Paris also offers a wide selection of soups, quiches, salads, panini, traditional French dinners and desserts.

Owner Marie-Therese Fuller, a Parisian, opened the Cranford restaurant in 2001 before opening a second restaurant in Metuchen in 2004.

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I stepped inside the Cranford cafe on a recent weekday evening and sat down for a three-course meal with a friend who had recently returned from the real Paris. With French music playing and a handpainted mural of the Parisian cityscape depicting the the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Seine and the Eiffel Tower stretching the length of the restaurant, Cranford's Cafe Paris tries to give its diners a feel for the real thing.

The cafe is small and intimate, but bright, with six small tables for two and four tables for four clustered around, as well as one large table in the middle and a small bar. Outdoor seating is also available for the warmer months. The oversize plastic placemats were bent and slid easily, and while each table had a cute tealight, none was lit.

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Looking at the beginning of the multi-page menu, I was torn between the Paris French Onion Soup ($3.99/cup) and the Fresh Squash Soup ($3.99/cup). The French Onion Soup proved to be a good choice. It was served hot and full of flavor, with a piece of French bread covered with cheese in the middle of the cup. My friend opted for the Fresh Asparagus Crab Soup (also $3.99/cup), which included white and green asparagus. Thickened with egg, its texture was gelatinous, almost reminiscent of an egg drop soup.

Cafe Paris is known in town for its galettes, so I asked our server which of the 13 she recommended. She pointed me to No. 6 on the menu, the Galette Exotique ($12.99), a thin buckwheat pancake stuffed with spicy sausages, bacon, egg, roasted pepper, red onion, grated cheese and sour cream. What arrived was an explosion of flavor tucked into a paper-thin pancake, topped with a fried egg and drizzled with a bechamel sauce. It was served with an unimaginative but fresh side salad – mixed greens, two sliced tomatoes and a vinaigrette on the side. The dinner was more than I could consume in a sitting, and I have a large appetite. But I woke up the next morning craving another galette – a sure sign of a satisfying meal.

Other tempting galettes on the menu include the Galette Paris ($12.99) with sausages, red onion, swiss cheese, grated cheese and sour cream; the Galette Noix de Saint Jacques ($13.99) with scallops, shrimp, tomato, red onion and garlic; and, for the health conscious, the Galette Vegetarienne ($10.99), with tofu, tomato, carrot, asparagus, red beans, swiss cheese and grated cheese.

A classic beef borguingnon ($16.99) tops the entrée menu, and while our server recommended it to my friend, he instead chose the Poulet a l'Orange ($16.99), a chicken breast marinated in an orange sauce, served with steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes. The chicken arrived as three breast fillets covered in a rich orange sauce. The breasts were tough, and I'm not sure they were marinated in the sauce; they may have been steamed and then topped with the sauce. The mashed potatoes were without a doubt fresh, and the steamed vegetables were cooked perfectly, which was refreshing considering many restaurants have a tendency to overcook vegetables.

Cafe Paris also serves six varieties of quiche: Lorraine, ham, chicken, broccoli, spinach and asparagus, each for $9.99. Salad selections include Salade Nicoise ($10.99), Salade Roast Beef ($10.99) and Salade de Crevettes ($11.99). Sandwiches range from ham or turkey on a croissant ($9.99) to roast lamb and fresh mozzarella ($10.99), along with 12 other options.

Already full but intrigued by homemade chestnut crème, we ordered the Crepe Marron ($10.99) for dessert. Topped with chocolate sauce that tasted like the familiar Hershey's syrup, whipped cream and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, the crepe was large enough to split. We loved the chestnut crème and have no doubts it was homemade, but when I go back, I will probably try my second choice, the Crepe a le Banane ($9.99), stuffed with fresh bananas, walnuts and chocolate sauce.

Service at Cafe Paris was friendly and prompt, which are good attributes unless you're trying to squeeze in a walk to Breens Liquor on Union Avenue for a bottle of wine before the soup arrives at the table.

I would return to Cafe Paris, but more likely for lunch than for dinner. And I would stick to what this restaurant does best, something I cannot find elsewhere in Cranford: flavorful, memorable and filling galettes.

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