Bistro et Crèpe

UPDATE: I noticed that this post has been getting some traffic recently, and I thought I should update it with the information that Bistro et Crèpe has closed. (06.09.11)

We decided to try Bistro et Crèpe for an actual meal rather than just a crèpe or coffee either because the menu is reasonably ambitious without overreaching, or because Amy likes to eat anywhere that has falafel on the menu. Also, neither of us - oddly - felt much in the mood for either Snow Lion or Café Pizzaria-slash-Nick’s. We were the only ones in the place when we walked in, and the first bits of information from our server signaled an inauspicious beginning. They were out of falafel that day, and even though the menu still listed espresso drinks, those were no longer available as they had divested themselves of their espresso machine. (I’m no expert, but I suspect that making espresso without an espresso machine is both messy and cumbersome.)



I wasn’t fussed by the lack of falafel - none I’ve ever had at a restaurant have been anywhere close to the falafel my mom makes - and Amy wasn’t set on it, so we were able to proceed. We both ordered water and then perused the menu. The interior is one big space that feels a bit more like a coffee shop with lots of tables than a restaurant, but the attempt to evoke the mood of a Mediterranean bistro is well-executed. If it were a bit more worn, or the trappings slightly more ornate, you could almost picture Hemingway and Fitzgerald sitting in a corner and arguing about the best way to tell a story. Maybe.

Amy settled on the gyros platter ($12.95), and I chose the mushroom and Swiss crèpe ($8.95 and vegetarian); and though I did not clock the time it took the food to come out, I also did not look down at my watch wondering if, somewhere in the back, the animals to be made into the gyro meat for Amy’s platter were, in fact, still alive. An unassuming little salad dressed daintily with a homemade vinaigrette preceded the entrées.



Now, if you’re thinking that the thing pictured above is the most boring picture of a lunch entrée you’ve ever seen, I’m not going to disabuse you of the notion. In appearance, certainly, ‘twas the comestible equivalent of Melville’s Bartleby. Crèpes are thin pancakes made by pouring batter onto a griddle and turning it either by hand or by manipulating the griddle (or pan) to form a large circle. Once cooked, they are filled, folded (or perhaps rolled), and served - not exactly the French equivalent of the tortilla, but close.

This one was filled with mushrooms, Swiss cheese, garlic, shallots, and a sauce that was just a tiny bit spicy. I was expecting more cheese than mushrooms, and for the cheese to be less than completely melted. Not so, in either case - it was packed full of mushrooms and the cheese was beautifully melted; but the best part was that no one flavor overpowered any of the others, and when you’re talking about mushrooms, Swiss cheese, garlic, and shallots, that’s a lot of flavor ego for one little French pancake to support.



Amy’s gyro platter was exactly what you would expect, if perhaps heavy on the lettuce and tomato entourage. The meat, though a bit dry, was well seasoned; but it’s the tzaziki here that is worth mentioning. Tzaziki is a cucumber-yogurt sauce (often with sour cream and sometimes with garlic, too - especially at Santorini) traditionally served with Greek food in general and gyros in particular. The operative word is sauce. What is served here is closer to a relish - chopped cucumber mixed with just enough yogurt and sour cream to hold it together, and flecked with dill - not an unpleasant departure from usual zaz territory, although I do like the heavy garlic flavor of the Santorini kind. The hummus and pita served with the platter were excellent, as well - the pita more closely resembling the traditional Indian table bread called naan, and the clearly homemade (like the tzaziki) hummus creamy and earthy and gone before we knew it.

There was no trouble with the service this time, which (along with the menu overhaul) leads me to believe, though I did not ask, that the place has undergone a change of ownership since it first opened - improvements, both (though the dessert crèpe on that long-ago first visit was worth the wait). We will be back, though it may be awhile - there are so many options along a two to three block stretch of 4th Street (including a new Ethiopian place that recently opened in the space above Puccini’s La Dolce Vita) that repeating any place other than Snow Lion seems almost a culinary sacrilege.