From France, With Crêpes

Adil Chokairy couldn’t afford to open a shop when he came to New Haven. He could afford a bike, barely. That proved enough to propel him into business. 

Now he’s ensconsed in downtown New Haven’s own crêperie, on Whitney Avenue near Grove.

Chokairy never intended on owning a crêpe business. Not in France, where they were plentiful, or in the United States, where they were not. As a child growing up in Paris’ 18th arrondissement, a boho-chic and rapidly gentrifying section of the city known for its history — a site where thousands died during the commune of 1871, seat of the city’s most repugnant monument to the monarchy, and a 19th and 20th Century haven for actors and visual artists — he ate warm crêpes that his mother, a Moroccan immigrant, made in their cozy and spice-scented kitchen. He would attend markets with her, carrying bags of fresh produce home through the winding, narrow streets so characteristic of the quarter: past the baker that they frequented, the butcher from whom they picked up their meats.

It was eating, not cooking, that he always considered his natural realm, adopting a love for slow-cooking foods as he grew up tasting what was bubbling away in their kitchen. 

That changed in 2005, when Chokiary moved to Branford for a woman with whom he was in love. He was 25, and suddenly, ​“You know, [I] needed to provide.”

Branford ​“was nice,” for a while, he recalled in an interview with WNHH radio’s ​“Open For Business.” But he didn’t have a job. He needed one. He and his then-wife found themselves moving to Providence, where he worked long, seemingly endless hours in banking.

The job exhausted him. One hour, he said, felt like six. He hoped desperately for a change.

And then it came. He moved to New Haven in 2013, where he took up something with a little more ​“initiative and spirit” — a crêpe cart attached to a bicycle. The cart debuted at the 2014 world cup party in Pitkin Plaza. After Chokiary pedaled a year across the city selling crêpes, his business bubbled and solidified into Choupette Crêperie & Café, the little, always fragrant shop on Whitney Avenue that holds fast to its French roots, sourcing locally when possible but drawing ingredients like sarrasin flour, caramel au beurre salé, and chestnut creme from France. 

Just before heading home for the holidays last month, Chokairy spoke about his journey as he delegated responsibility to others in the shop — teaching has been his priority in starting up Choupette — and tried his hand at a new recipe, layering avocado, smoked salmon and caviar in a wine glass. Batter sizzled and spread out over hot griddles, sending up fragrant steam as the soundtrack to Amélie played on in the background. Excerpts of the interview follow.

New Haven Independent: Can you tell me a bit about growing up in France?

Chokairy: I was in Paris, precisely the 18th district. That’s the district that has a lot of restaurants and small coffeeshops, crêperies and it’s very popular … it’s the most … maybe the dirtiest one in Paris. [Translated:] It’s full of culture. In fact it’s stuffed with culture. There’s the Théâtre des Abbesses … many things to do there too.

NHI: It’s gentrifying now … un peu bobo. Was it different when you were a child?

Chokairy: When I was a child I didn’t care that much, because I was just playing. When I grew up, I started discovering things, and started being curious about what culture is, and activities and food … everything changes every year.

NHI: And did you make crêpes growing up?

Chokairy: I would not say that. I was watching my mom making crêpes. I had no interest or no idea in my mind that one day I will do this as a professional. She’s actually a Moroccan immigrant to France as well. She was making the crêpes in the same time, so I was just … I was watching her all the time and without being curious, without having the intention to learn from her. Just eating, enjoying, and that was it.

NHI: Growing up, did you feel like Paris was very metropolitan, or did you feel like it was discriminatory at all?

Chokairy: No. It was, it was … so nice. Everybody is a citizen of the world there. I don’t know. Actually, France is different when you get out of Paris, so for me there is France and there is Paris. Two completely different countries.

NHI: Did you find that growing up at home was sort of a fusion?

Chokairy: No, no really. There was no fusion there. My dad doesn’t believe in fusion … neither my mom. You just have to cook the right way. Let’s not be creative that much.

NHI: So what did eating à la française mean to you?

Chokairy: Cooking à la française means an attention to ingredients, an attention to taste, and … it’s a little bit precise. A little bit fine, very subtle, even in the way of cooking or the way it tastes. Like for example, we’re not going to put too much mayonnaise to make it taste so good, or too much ketchup on the fries to make it sugary and good. Here I see all sorts of sauce in every food, and people think ​‘oh, it tastes very good!.’ it’s just the sauce that is good. The ingredients is a huge thing. I would not know that until I moved here.

NHI: You moved here for love, which is very French … romantique with the capital R. But not to New Haven Immediately.

Chokairy: Branford.

NHI: Did you like Branford?

Chokairy: I didn’t care, because … it was nice for me. Different. The whole experience was enveloped by love that I had for my ex-wife, maybe that I still have for her … so everything was automatically very nice. I think that’s because of the layer of the love that I had, that made everything look nice, taste good, feel good. It was different for me because it was quiet, and I came from a very very busy city. I felt like I’d retired at the age of 25 years old. It was nice.

NHI: And banking?

Chokairy: I have this ability … I can be anywhere and probably feel happy. You know, but I didn’t have the margin of creativity that I have here. I didn’t have initiative, spirit that we have here. People love what we do here and that’s amazing. It’s amazing! People don’t love what we do in banking. That’s the whole thing.

NHI: Tell me how Choupette started.

Chokairy: It started with the bike — I thought: ​‘okay, I can’t open a restaurant because I don’t have the means to open a restaurant.’ How about a food truck? I did my homework; it was also very expensive to build a food truck. So: truck — it escalated to downsizing the idea to bicycle. Bicycle: can I attach it to a food cart? That’s how the idea came up. That’s what I barely could afford at the time. Really barely. But I raced with myself and I pushed myself.

NHI: And do you feel like you’ve been able to impart French culture to New Haven a little bit?

Chokairy: Maybe, I don’t know. I’m not into the cliché of bringing something French to somewhere where it’s not … I just think I have to do the right thing. If I have something that I know how to do it, I have to do it and that’s all. I don’t think … I have to give the credit a lot to my mom, and her … she was staying at home all day, so her field was the kitchen. My dad was a businessman in transportation. He was a kind man. I learned from him … the business side, the human dimension of the business. I learned from her the products and what it’s supposed to be. What I got from France, or from Morocco, from Switzerland, or from the world really, is a richness of tolerance of people as well, and it illustrates in the way you do business.

To listen to the full interview, click on or download the audio above. This interview is part of WNHH Radio’s ​“Open for Business” series, following immigrant business owners in New Haven. ​“Open for Business” is sponsored by Frontier Communications. Frontier is proud to be Connecticut’s hometown provider of TV, Internet and Phone for your home and business. Call 1.888.Frontier or visit its website to learn more.