Breaking a sweat

The first time I had table-side Crêpe Suzette was in a fine dining French restaurant within the Cleveland Clinic campus in Cleveland, Ohio during a fellowship interview lunch. Almost four years later, my accomplishments now include making over 360 crêpes in less than three hours.

I have never been keen on culinary endeavors and toiling in front of a hot stove; however, I now understand the fun and, dare I say, rush, of having multiple pans quickly flying over the flames while doing the proverbial culinary "dance". With two crêpe pans cooking side by side and no tool except for my fingers for flipping, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the exciting, albeit sweaty, experience in front of the stove. By carefully controlling the intensity of the flame, the speed of crêpe production is determined as both pans are used simultaneously and without interruption while being careful not to let either crêpe become too brown. Of course, the expected turnover time for about 400 crêpes by an experienced pastry cook is two hours but I was slower!