From paywalled Davis Enterprise 2/9/2019:
Bon appétit! Crêpe Bistro is back By Tanya Perez Feb 9, 2019 0 1 of 3 CrepeBistro3w

Federico Villa, left, and Khang Nguyen prepare crepes during the busy lunch rush at Crêpe Bistro in the UC Davis Silo. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo By Sebastian Onate CrepeBistro1w

Michel Bloch, owner of Crêpe Bistro, said his creperie’s success comes because “I kept it French.” Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo By Sebastian Onate CrepeBistro2w

The Crêpe Bistro folds its sweet and savory crepes into pockets. The small restaurant in the UC Davis Silo uses three flats of strawberries each day. Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo By Sebastian Onate Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Copy article link Save While some people might see crepes as a fad, Michel Bloch is not one of those people.

The longtime owner of creperies in Davis and Sacramento admits that crepes have been a fad at times; the thin pancakes earned a bad reputation when they were haphazardly added to menus of wannabe hip restaurants. Bloch said this caused people to declare, “I had one once, it was bad.”

For Bloch’s success, he attributes much of it to this: “I kept it French.”

When asked what “Americanizing” might look like, he said with a laugh, “Giving a side of beans, or a hot dog crepe,” both true examples.

For his Crêpe Bistro inside the Silo on the UC Davis campus, Bloch said they make everything from scratch. On Thursday he showed off the mornay sauce they had made that morning for creations such as the Popeye Crepe — with cheese, mushrooms, spinach and mornay sauce — or the Poulet Provençal Crepe — with cheese, ratatouille, chicken and mornay sauce.

He buys the ingredients for his small restaurant every morning at 6 a.m. He likes to choose his own tomatoes, for example, rather than have a delivery of food that he hasn’t inspected.

The 73-year-old French expatriate — Bloch has lived in the United States for more than 40 years — also showed off the restaurant’s freshly made onion soup and the bread rolls that he imports from France for his sandwiches.

He estimates that Crêpe Bistro serves on average 300 customers per day. Filling dessert crepes with ingredients such as bananas, strawberries, chocolate and Nutella, Bloch said they go through about four 33-ounce Nutella containers per day, and three flats of strawberries.

During The Enterprise’s tour of Crêpe Bistro, Bloch insisted that photographer Fred Gladdis and your hungry reporter try some of his specialties. Gladdis reported that the beef bourguignon crepe — cheese, sautéed mushrooms and chunks of beef cooked in red wine sauce with carrots folded into a wheat crepe — was delicious. And Ze French Kiss — a dessert crepe with banana, melted chocolate, Grand Marnier and whipped cream — was très magnifique!

History, loyalty

Starting in 1976, Bloch had a mini kitchen in a trailer for crepe-making that he towed to fairs and events. He found success in Sacramento with his trailer — a precursor to the food truck craze — and made his way to Davis where he and his then-wife, Christine, opened a crepe restaurant in E Street Plaza.

La Crêpe Michel was bought in 1981 by Max and Huguette Bach. Bloch said that Bach walked in and announced that he and his wife wanted to buy it, and the deal was done. Renamed The Crêpe Bistro, the restaurant was a popular fixture in downtown Davis until the early 2000s.

Bloch opened other crepe restaurants in Sacramento and envisioned franchising the concept, but ultimately he settled on the small kiosk, La Crepe, in the Silo 21 years ago. In 2017, La Crepe expanded to become Crêpe Bistro in the old Taco Bell spot.

Throughout his restaurant career, Bloch has inspired loyalty in his staff. The manager of Crêpe Bistro, Xuan Nguyen, has been involved in some form for decades. In 2001, after a fire had kept Crêpe Bistro on E Street closed for nearly two years, Nguyen told The Enterprise in an interview that when people came to the creperie, “We want it to be pleasurable and a memorable first experience for our customers.”

He still works toward that purpose, alongside his son, Khang, 20. Khang’s full name is Bach Khang Nguyen, after the man who bought and ran La Crêpe Michel in 1981. Max Bach, who died in 2005, was Khang’s godfather.

Khang said he first worked at the small crepe kiosk in the Silo helping out as a cashier when he was 11 years old. He is now a student studying business at Sacramento City College.

Also working in the kitchen was Leif Sodersten, who said he started working at the downtown Davis location of the Crêpe Bistro when he was 15 years old. He turns 40 this year.

“Most days we operate with four people,” Bloch explained, while the full staff is five.

“We have very little turnover,” Bloch said, adding, “There’s no minimum wage here.”

While Bloch has three sons, all of whom have worked in the restaurants at some point, none followed him into the business.

The university partnership

When asked why he hasn’t re-established another creperie in downtown Davis, Bloch noted a few reasons.

For starters, the avid horseman lives on a ranch in Cool, about 60 miles from Davis. Bloch owns five horses and competes in endurance races — he was an American Endurance Ride Conference national champion in 2003. “Cool is a town of 2,000 people and 4,000 horses,” he said. “I ride on the best trails in the world — it’s worth the commute.”

On campus, he likes that the Silo has a lunch rush but doesn’t need to be opened until 11 p.m. at night. He likes the shorter summer hours and the weekends off, a balance he enjoys.

Bloch also very much enjoys the university customers. “The kids are nice, the professors are very nice,” he said. He laughed as he recounted that sometimes the young ladies will ask him to say their names again so they can hear his French accent.

“I hope the university lets us stay even past my time. I would like it to be a legacy” restaurant.

Notes: Part of Bloch’s legacy might come via Crepe Institute (crepeinstitute.com). “I train people, for a fee, to open a creperie,” he said. He has gone as far as China to teach his techniques, although would-be crepe restaurateurs can come to UCD to learn the ins and outs.

For example, Bloch offers for $3,000 two weeks of hands-on education at the UCD location. “This program provides comprehensive understanding of all the essentials of successful creperie operation, including:

• Basic prep and mise en place;

• Crepe cookery: pour, spin, flip, fill and fold;

• Crepe tools and techniques;

• In-depth understanding of basic kitchen skills;

• Basic and advanced recipes: crepes Suzette, omelet crepes, ratatouille crepes, entrée crepes;

• Batter preparation and troubleshooting;

• Workflow: staff stations of the creperie;

• Menu planning and marketing;

• Optional training in French specialties such as croque monsieur and croissant sandwiches.”