Ann Arbor Eats – What Crepe?
I’ve been sitting on this review for a while, deciding whether I should post it. See, I’ve been trying to be a more positive person and part of that is to try to fall back on the old adage, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” But honestly, I can’t really let this one slide. There’s a Groupon for this place that’s been available for quite a while and a lot of people are buying it.
In short, I really can’t recommend going there even at the discounted price. But I’ll try to be gentle here.
What Crepe? opened up in Ann Arbor a couple of months ago and is their third location. The other two are elsewhere in the Detroit area. The restaurant bills itself as…
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If any of my three long-time readers are still around, they’ll tell you I absolutely HATE the word “gourmet.” It’s overused and really means nothing. The only person who’s allowed to say it is Jules from Pulp Fiction.
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But hey, I can’t really fault a place for not knowing my pet peeve, right? So I’ll cut them a break for using “gourmet.”
Now, about that “European inspired” part…
According to their website, they are “euro-intimate dining” and I’ve seen it referred to elsewhere as a “French-style” eatery. I guess I can’t fault a place for trying to cover their bases by putting all those descriptors as their tagline, right? You know, instead of PICKING ONE THING. Let’s just say, in the spirit of niceness, I applaud their ability to open a thesaurus.
They aren’t lying, though. It IS in fact European in the “not-Asian” sense of the word and they do serve French food – savory and sweet crepes with dozens of different combinations. But other than that, there’s nothing really French about the menu – no coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, escargot, or even a croissant could be found. If I were French, I’d be insulted that my national cuisine has been reduced to just crepes. But then, if I was French I’d be insulted by a lot of things.
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The Décor
I do admit it’s a beautiful space – richly colored walls, elegant furniture, and chandeliers give it a lot of class. The tables being at two different heights do give it some visual interest and the bar is gorgeous.
See? I can be nice.
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The Food
I opted for the their Signature Ribeye Truffle crepe – pan-seared rib eye, spinach, wild mushrooms, swiss, and something called “truffle zip.”
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The steak itself was a little bland. But that’s OK – I don’t like flavorful meat before1 pm!
And look at all that grease natural juices on the outside of the crepe! It would’ve been terrible if I had a crepe that had stuck to the pan, thus coming to me torn and poorly wrapped. So they made sure that it was SWIMMING in grease natural juices. Maybe they should be applauded for trying to “re-invent” the crepe from something dry that can be handheld to something akin to a greased pig.
My son ordered the “Mushroom Madness” which had a blend of mushrooms, swiss cheese, and that truffle zip. Here’s a picture of one of the mushrooms swimming in grease natural juices.
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And I really don’t think the mushroom was from a can. It only tasted like it.
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The Verdict
I recently did a post about how I felt that some people were taking advantage of us kind-hearted souls by charging too much for locally-produced food. In it, I had mentioned a new vendor at the Farmers Market that was selling a couple spoonfuls of ice cream for about five bucks. Based on the comments I received there, I may be in the minority that feels like that was too much to pay. So maybe I wasn’t being very nice.
Let’s just say that – at $16.50 for the steak and $13.50 for the mushroom – the prices were in line with other locally-produced food.
In summary, in the spirit of being nice, I’d really recommend snatching up that Groupon for the experience of being in a not-really-French place to try to eat a crepe with meh ingredients inside and all kinds of crazy grease juices on the outside.
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By the way – being this nice sucks.
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15 comments on “Ann Arbor Eats – What Crepe?”
Leave a Reply to wanderingglutton Cancel reply
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Doppel Member, Baby!
I’m generally wary of any restaurant that includes “zip sauce” on its menu (it’s generally something that comes out of a bottle to cover the flavor of bad steak), but be that is it may . . . a ribeye crepe? I wondered how their simpler, real French-style crepes are. You know, things like a little ham and gruyere. So feeling a little disappointed, as I’ve wanted to try this place, I just went and looked online at the menu. There is no gruyere on the menu. No. gruyere. on. French. crepe. menu. They’ve got parmesan, asiago, cheddar, feta, and, oh, well, brie . . . but no gruyere, dude. Just scratching my head on that one.
Didnt even notice that. Maybe Euro-inspired means they’ll just tease you with it. You know I have an iron stomach and can sling down anything. But all that grease was a lil much for me. And that was on the OUTSIDE.
Zip sauce…? LOL! I can imagine that’s what the teenagers call it these days!
Wow, I would hate to see it when you decide to be even a little mean….
I used that groupon. I had a similar experience. At least I can check it off the list of pancake-inspired-eataries to check out.
I thought it was okay and they deliver on what they offer–a shit load of crepes. The decor, as you note, is absolutely gorgeous. I prefer Good Girls Go To Paris crepes in Detroit though.
I don’t think it is always necessary to be kind when reviewing food or drinks as long as you are being honest. Opinions differ and it is nice to hear different perspectives, whether they are similar or not. If I lived near here, I would be grateful to have honest feedback before spending my hard-earned money only to be disappointed.
Hahaha! — “European in the “not-Asian” sense of the word” — so sad yet often so true.
Okay… to be fair, meat has a natural juice and it can be nice when applied correctly. Mushrooms also have a natural juice that is excreted right before they get pitched into the can. It’s called funk. What those are swimming in is grease. Sorry, I just call a spade a fat, slimy, greasy, stinky spade.
We went to the one in Royal Oak last week and it was very good, nothing like how you describe the one in AA. I have not had good luck at Good Girls, though. Food was good there but service was rotten.
If history has anything to say about it, this will just be the latest restaurant to occupy that space for a brief time. The last one that was there for any length of time was Dinersty.
Yup. Remember Squares? sandwiches on – wait for it – square pieces of bread!
And Yoshi’s, though that place was barely even open at all. I think I walked by and saw it was going to open and about three weeks later and it was already out of business.
told you!
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