Crepes were gonna be the next big thing.
Then they never really got very big and popular. At least, not big like burritos or pho or chicken wings. Those sorts of eats appear on lots of menus and have entire restaurants built around them. It seems like crepes corralled a couple of food trucks and spots in the burbs, but that’s about it.
So it’s high time something like C’est Si Bon Cafe showed up in Bexley. It’s right next to the Drexel theater, and it serves everything in a crepe: beef crepes, chicken crepes, pizza crepes and dessert crepes. It’s all creped up.
Hence, it’s a good thing those crepe shells are good. Each order is based on a crepe with a mammoth diameter that’s folded into a tidy triangle which securely holds all the contents between the tender layers. It spite of its girth, the crepe itself is thin and delicate and just a little eggy. It makes a nice vehicle for both the sweet and the savory options at the eatery.
The entree offerings are fun, especially the non-traditional ones. The Black & Blue ($8.75), for example, is filled with sturdy slices of roast beef, big chunks of bleu cheese, soft sauteed mushrooms and onions, fresh arugula, and some mildly sweet bourbon sauce to tie it all together. The crepe was an unexpected table favorite.
That’s not to say that the Chicken Cordon Blue ($8.75) crepe suffers in comparison. This one contains slices of savory ham with big grilled chunks of chicken and swiss cheese. There’s a sweet mustard tying the elements together here. It works.
Even the Stromboli ($8.25) version is pretty good. Honestly, it was ordered because the concept of shoving pepperoni and capicola into a crepe sounds weird. It didn’t actually taste that strange. One of the nicest things about it is the fact that the meats are premium. C’est Si Bon doesn’t use the old, dried up, teeny pizza pepperoni slices -it uses big round deli slices of the meat. With the layers of marinara and melty provolone, it makes for a very tidy, delicate pizza-like-thing.
And there are dessert crepes. The Traditional ($5.25) is a great place to start, it has nutella, bananas and pecans. The rich, chocolatey nutella element infects every bite, and pretty much guarantees a winner in the taste department.
Straight up Banana ($5) is dynamite too, its butter and brown sugar make the flavors blend into something akin to old-school dessert favorite, Bananas Foster (minus the flames).
One of the most popular dessert crepes, however, was the least favorite during the visit. Lavender & Lemon ($4.75) gets high praises online, but… once you’ve had a crepe oozing with nutella, it’s hard to be thrilled by a sprinkle of lavender sugar and a squeeze of lemon.
C’est Si Bon Cafe can be found at 2258 E. Main St. It’s open Mondays through Saturdays from 9am until 8pm. It also offers breakfast crepes with combinations of ham, bacon, eggs and cheese; and the kitchen can make gluten-free crepes for customers too.
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/CestSiBonCafe.
Photos by Walker Evans.
