ADDRESS 3342 SE Belmont St, Portland OR 97214 | PHONE: (503) 546-0892
HOURS Tuesday - Thursday 11:30AM - 10PM | Friday 11:30AM - 11PM | Saturday 9AM - 11PM | Sunday 9AM - 10PM
HAPPY HOUR Tuesday - Thursday 4PM - 6PM AND 9PM - 10PM | Friday 4PM - 6PM AND 11PM - 12AM
Suzette: Delicious Crepes Move Out of the Trailer
Thrillist, January 2012
Run by a lady who once held it down at SF's lauded Chez Panisse, Suzette Creperie formerly spent a quiet life spinning batter out of an Airstream on Alberta, but's now brick n' mortaring in an airy joint on Belmont with added seating and a full bar to make the whole shebang "more adult", which’s exactly what William Hung did with his less-popular “Smooth Jazz Remix.” read more>>
Mix Magazine, November 2011
Chef Jehnee Rains knows how to tackle a sweet tooth. Her background includes stints making desserts at Bluehour and Clarklewis before she settled into a delicious groove with Suzette, an Alberta District crepe restaurant where she’s showing a knack for savory dishes, too. Traipse down the gravel walkway and order dishes from the window of the sleek Airstream trailer, then head into the old building that’s been redone into a bright dining room. Start with a generous half salad of leafy greens tossed with apple slices and candied walnuts ($3), or a filling cup of French onion soup, with a rich beef broth, a monster-sized crouton and the classic topper of melted gruyère ($3). Then focus on the savory crepes, like a buckwheat crepe filled with prosciutto, gruyère and caramelized onions ($6.50). The vegan crepes, made with egg substitute and soy milk, get topped with a silken tofu garlic sauce. DIY fans will love the create-your-own crepes, which start at $4, with mix-and-match ingredients for 75 cents to $1. During happy hour, crepes are a buck off, and at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, the restaurant lowers a screen and shows free classic films (check the website for details). — Grant Butler
Portland Monthly’s Best Restaurants 2011: Portland’s 35 Greatest Meals
Portland Monthly Magazine, October 2011
NE Alberta Street’s quirky house of crêpes transforms in the winter: the big garage door seals shut, the patio furniture fades away, and the century-old carriage house turns into a toasty, eccentric escape. On Fridays, the movie projector spools up, flashing black-and-white movies against Suzette’s brightly colored walls and hodgepodge of typewriters, ancient telephones, and Christmas lights. But one thing is constant: dessert chef Jehnee Rains, who earned her pastry stripes at Berkeley’s esteemed Chez Panisse, still folds up Portland’s best sweet crêpes with artful flare. And you get to pick the fillings. Included in the winter lineup: cider-poached apples, marsala-soaked figs, and a scratch nutella from roasted hazelnuts. Even on a chilly night, a scoop of Rains’s honey ice cream is a must. Place your order, head inside, grab a hot cocoa with fresh-made marshmallows, and wait for your luscious origami to arrive.—Benjamin Tepler
Portland Monthly Magazine, August 2011
In all my months spent pottering around France past innumerable crêpe stands in Paris and middle-of-nowhere farmhouses in Normandy, I never tasted a crêpe quite like the one at Suzette on NE Alberta Street. read more>>
Surprising Crepes and Plenty of Charm
The Portland Mercury, February 2010
IT WOULD TAKE a Venn diagram to accurately describe NE Alberta's Suzette. Somewhere in the intersecting ovals of café, cart, and restaurant, you'd find a small area (let's shade it mauve) denoting the quirky little Northeast Portland crêperie. read more>>
The Oregonian, February 2010
Chef Jehnee Raines knows how to tackle a sweet tooth. Her background includes stints making desserts at Bluehour, Clarklewis and the closed Ripe restaurant group, before she settled into a delicious groove with Suzette, an Alberta District crepe restaurant where she's showing a knack for savory dishes, too. read more>>
How to Make the Perfect Crepes: Five Tips
from Suzette
Featured at The Kitchn, September 2010
When she was a pastry chef at Chez Panisse, Jehnee Rains was asked to develop the restaurant's recipe for Crêpes Suzette. From the testing and retesting of several versions, she came up with what turned out to be the Holy Grail of sweet crêpes. She shared a few unusual tips that make these perfectly sweet crêpes stand out — and one very unusual ingredient. Can you guess? read more>>
Portland Picks, February 2010
Our 2010 goal is to visit Europe. We haven’t been in more than five years and have been longing for a Euro-tour with the Hubs. Our hope is to fly into London, catch the train to Paris, over to Switzerland, up to Germany, over to Amsterdam… or maybe just Paris? But until Tour de Europe 2010 embarks, we plan on getting our Euro-fix at Suzette, NE Alberta’s newest creperie and dessert cart. We have never tasted such authentic or delicious crepes in Portland. Ever. Suzette offers crepes of both the savory and sweet varieties in addition to a robust “build your own” menu that allows for seemingly endless combinations of deliciousness. (We confess that we also ordered a breakfast appetizer comprised of their divine little teacakes. We’re still debating whether we like our appetizer or our main course better.) So, yeah, that whole Europe thing? Maybe we’ll just stay in Paris… or maybe we’ll just stay in Portland! After all, we can get the essence of Paris—or at least a delicious taste— right down the street at Suzette.
Going vegan: A day of dining out is easy in Portland - a 'vegan paradise'
The Oregonian, February 2010
When I decided to go vegan, one of the first people to offer kind words and encouragement was Erik Marcus, who publishes the enormously useful website Vegan.com. He assured me that dining out as a vegan would be a snap. "Portland is vegan paradise," Marcus wrote. "You're making the switch in about the easiest city in the world." read more>>
Platter: Jehnee Rains takes the reins at Suzette
The Oregonian
It may be the fastest change of hands in restaurant history. On Sept. 19, Northeast Alberta Street's Tour de Crepes powered down. Five days later, esteemed pastry chef Jehnee Rains -- whose résumé spans Chez Panisse and three Bruce Carey restaurants -- reopened it as Suzette, also a creperie, but one boasting homemade ice creams, quality ingredients and addictive cider caramel sauce. read more>>
Dessert talent goes solo with new cart-eatery on
Alberta Street
The Oregonian
Jehnee Rains, one of Portland's top dessert talents, is opening her first solo project, Suzette - a combination food cart and eatery at 2921 Northeast Alberta St., scheduled to open Sept. 24. The sweetly oddball space combines an old Streamline trailer and a funky standalone building for indoor seating. It opened to acclaim in 2005 as Fold Creperie; more recently, it was home to the less-exciting Tour de Crepes.
Rains is planning more than a crepe stop this time around. Her current dream list includes morning pastries, soup and salad, sweet and savory crepes, plus what you'd hope from a pastry chef who decamped early on in her career at Chez Panisse: desserts. A dining room makeover and beer/wine are in the works, and the plan includes French film night on Fridays. In an email message, Rains says "This all happened very quickly: 23 days between answering the Craigslist ad to opening for business. What was I thinking?"
Sounds very Portland to us.
Stay tuned for more details.
The space from whence no crêpes return will soon boast another tenant. Suzette, a crêperie and dessert spot helmed by former Chez Panisse and Bluehour pastry chef Jehnee Rains, will open this Thursday in the lot at 2921 NE Alberta St.—the same space last occupied by Tour de Crêpes, and before that by Fold Crêperie. There’s hope this eatery will stay put: Rains plans to fight the French pancake curse with French almond teacakes, housemade ice cream and crème brûlée baked in little Mason jars—not to mention an arsenal of sweet and savory crepes served with champagne, wine and beer 9 am to 9 pm Wednesday through Sunday.
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