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Restaurant Reviews

Blue Cows Crepes - Not Just Sweet, But Savory Too

While I was at Taste of Mequon, I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Schalk, the sole owner of The Blue Cow Creperie food truck. Peter serves up both sweet and savory crepes and has a large following – people who follow the truck and make an appearance at whatever event the truck is stationed at.

As I approached the truck, instantly I took in the lovely aroma of the cinnamon and sugar crepe. Peter started running the truck in 2015, and business has been great. “I almost doubled what I did last year,” Peter says. He admits he watches a lot of food shows and “thought it would be a neat thing to try.”

He says the veggie crepe is absolutely his best seller. A typical crepe is served with fruit, so when people see that there’s a savory option, people are weary, Peter acknowledges. However, he also notes that when people see others eating one of his savory crepes, they’re intrigued and ask them, ‘where did you get that’.

Because I love veggie sandwiches and the fact that it’s the fan-favorite, I decided to try “Le Veggie”, as the menu reads. The veggie contains quinoa salad, spicy avocado hummus, cilantro aioli, cucumber, feta cheese, and mixed greens in a gluten-free crepe. “I chose to use a gluten-free batter because it’s trendy and it’s also necessary for people with Celiac disease,” says Peter.

The crispy, light and airy crepe was folded over a bed of veggies while a heaping pile of leafy greens topped it off. The crepe had a nice texture and wasn’t too thin or too thick, just hearty enough to hold the mound of veggies and not fall apart.

Smeared on the crepe was the spicy avocado hummus which I could taste every time, from the first bite, to the second, to the last. It was extremely flavorful and paired perfectly with the pile of veggies. Hummus and veggies go great together, so adding this to the crepe was a great decision. It's a nice curve away from your traditional mayonnaise.

What meshed well with the hummus and made the veggie crepe even more appetizing  was the cilantro aioli. The herb taste in the aioli added a perfect amount of zest and tang to the entire dish. After laying down the hummus and piling on the veggies, Peter drizzles on the cilantro aioli – it’s a powerful taste so a drizzle is all you need.

In my opinion, the perfect veggie sandwich is complimented with a sharp, robust cheese, just like the feta Peter chose to add. The feta is crumbled in large chunks and scattered throughout the crepe, ensuring you get that rich flavor in every bite.

The fresh cucumbers added that extra crisp. Peter says, “they are the sweetest cucumbers I have ever bought.” He says he gets them from a woman at a local farmers market. He was right – I could taste the slight sweetness. When I was inside the truck talking with Peter, he showed me one of his whole cucumbers; they are ginormous! Maybe the cucumbers size has something to do with its succulent taste.

I came across pieces of red tidbits throughout the veggies. I asked Peter what they were; he just responded with a smirk. The uncertainty of whether they were tomatoes or red peppers left me wondering; or maybe it’s a combination of the two – who knows. I asked because the first few times I tasted them in my bite I immediately assumed they were tomatoes. But after, in my next few bites, I tasted the sharpness of roasted red pepper. I’m still pondering this. Either way, the red tidbits were a good addition – and a secret one.

Overall, this was the very best veggie sandwich/crepe I have ever tasted, there’s no doubt about it. I think what put it over the top was the blend of the couth dressings – the spicy avocado hummus and the cilantro aioli. The crepe itself was flawlessly cooked and held all the fresh ingredients perfectly.

I went to tell Peter how much I loved the veggie crepe and that I see why it’s the number one seller. He then offered me dessert; how could I resist, right? I accepted the offer and decided to try the cinnamon sugar crepe, because all I could remember was that sweet aroma of the cinnamon and sugar when I first walked up to the Blue Cow Creperie.

As I waited for my dessert crepe, I saw a little boy and his father sitting at the picnic table in front of the truck. The son’s face was covered in Nutella. The son’s father told me, “if you need a review on the strawberry and Nutella crepe, just ask my son; he’s covered in it.” The son had managed to wolf down the entire crepe in no time.  

I went to sit on the grass with my dessert, and suddenly I noticed the difference in the crepe. Compared to the slightly crispy crepe that held all those veggies, this crepe is much softer and looked thinner as well. It might be because the crispiness might take away from the simplicity but yet surprisingly sugary taste.

While it had that sugary taste, the two ingredients were portioned perfectly; not too much cinnamon and not an overwhelming amount of sugar either. You get a tad bit of graininess from the sugar, but not like you’re eating it raw. It shows that he uses real sugar and that it’s just slightly melted.

The crepe acted like a piece of toast for me today (yet the crepe was a lot softer). When I was little, I always asked my mom for cinnamon and sugar on toast. This definitely brought me back to my childhood. However, this version of cinnamon and sugar in a crepe is much better. I like how the cinnamon sugar is encased in the crepe, not open faced like toast.

If you can’t get enough sugar, what topped off this dessert crepe was the powered sugar sprinkled on top. When I bit in to the crepe, my lips hit the powdered sugar, I smiled, and I licked it off for an addition helping of sweetness. It was the greatest cinnamon and sugar meal I’ve had in a long time.

--Amanda Maniscalco--

--ON THE SIDE--

BLUE COW CREPERIE
Traveling food truck
262-339-9983
FB: @bluecowcreperie
Hours vary
Street parking or festival/grounds parking
Reservations not required

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