Leiffel Bistrot & Creperie - Barrington, IL - December 23, 2010

L'Eiffel has quickly risen to the top of our list of favorite restaurants. We've been here a bunch of times and always had a great time - excellent food, a great wine selection, solid service, and completely reasonable prices.

We both had specials which are not available on the web menu, so forgive my vague descriptions.




Beef carpaccio with Roquefort - the blue cheese was pungent, the beef was a nice balance of meaty and salty.

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Half dozen raw oysters - they were great, but the wine real highlight is a Champagne vinegar shaved ice that's absolutely amazing, I'd come back here for that ice alone.

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Salad with roast duck, arugula, fennel, and a vinegar dressing.

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I hate taking pictures of soup because it's inherently a rather dull looking product dish, but their soups are consistently great - this is a corn and clam chowder.

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What I dig about L'Eiffel most is their wine service - there are many options by the glass, bottles start at under $30, wine flights, and a monthly "ultra pour" - which is a pricey, think $100 bottle range, wine available by the glass. We had the Champagne flight, three real Champagnes...

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And the French red flight.

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Forgive this photo, it's not the brightest place, this is steak frites, a 16 ounce prime ribeye with cajun fries. We actually came here for dinner because of the allure of steak - let's put it this way, we wanted steak, Ruth Chris is in the same shopping center, we chose here.

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Braised alligator, sliced venison, and - I'm sad to admit, I forget what else, lamb? Either way - three meats with a rice pilaf underneath.


If you want French in the Northwest suburbs, look no further - this is the place.